Californian plants can’t take the heat - June 25, 2008
Hundreds of California’s endemic plants could be driven out of the state by climate change, according to a new study.
Researchers calculated that two-thirds of the plants could have their range reduced by 80% by 2100. Changes in rainfall and higher temperatures will drive redwoods north and send oaks packing for the Oregon border, say the authors of a new paper in PLOS One.
“Part of me can’t believe that California's flora will collapse over a period of 100 years," says study author David Ackerly. “It’s hard to comprehend the potential impacts of climate change. We haven't seen such drastic changes in the last 200 years of human history, since we have been cataloguing species.”
The researchers looked at data from 16 state plant collections and used two climate models to see where Californian species would have to move to survive. They say we should prepare for the change by establishing corridors between several potential “refuges” for species, such as mountain foothills.
“It is a timely analysis of the likely fate of the plants of California in the face of climate change,” Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, told the LA Times.
And Philip Rundel, plant expert at UCLA, told the paper the effects shown in this study “will surely be paralleled by what we can expect to occur with animal species”.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a zombie tree theme: older redwoods might continue, alone and hopeless in a world that has changed around them. “They may become the living dead,” says Ackerly. “The old ones will remain but the seedlings won’t grow.”
More coverage
Native California plants in peril because of changing climate – The Mercury News
Californian Plants Threatened by Warming, Study Shows – Bloomberg
Climate change to create "plant refugees" – Reuters
Image: Redwood National Park / US National Park Service
Comments
Along the lines of species reproduction in California, I was surprised to watch a certain redwood sprout - several - survive a rather dry summer at Jedediah Smith Redwoods.
Last winter, a big chunk fell off of El Viejo del Norte, which is about the 6th largest coast redwood known. In August, I noticed that sprouts had emerged from the wood and were healthy. The sprout was not a surprise, as that can be expected. The fact that it was healthy with vigour was the surprise.
In October, I returned again. The stem was even longer, and even more sprouts had emerged. This visit was a week into the first real rain. And the rain has continued.
The parent tree and the sprout called "Genesis" are part of the context of the following page and albums:
http://www.mdvaden.com/grove_of_titans.shtml
Apparently, the sprouts have a very good chance of survival. Some emerged from a large chunk of wood. A couple are from small branches that impaled into the soil.
This is one example to show that some adjacent trees thought to be genetically identical via root sprouts, may have grown through disintegration instead.
MDV
Oregon
Posted by: M. D. Vaden of Oregon | December 3, 2008 05:38 AM