PLANTS HEAD FOR THE HILLS, FLEEING CLIMATE CHANGE
Today the BBC, the Associated Press, and others report on a study appearing in today’s edition of Science that demonstrates for the first time that forest species are moving to higher altitudes in response to climate change.
“For the first time, research can show the ‘fingerprints of climate change’ in the distribution of plants by altitude, and not only in sensitive ecosystems, said Jonathan Lenoir of AgroParisTech in Nancy, France,” writes Randolph E. Schmid of the AP.
While smaller species—herbs, mosses, and ferns—that are reproductively faster on their feet have shifted quickly, larger species such as trees face a more difficult future, as do mammals that are currently surviving only at the highest altitudes.
Photograph by Jim Frazier / jimfrazier.com / Creative Commons
