Global warming chases plants uphill

WASHINGTON – Faced with global warming, plants are heading for the hills.

A study of 171 forest species in Western Europe shows that most of them are shifting their favoured locations to higher, cooler spots. 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.His team found “a significant upward shift of species optimum elevation, the altitude where species are the most likely to be found over their whole elevation range”.Indeed, comparing the distribution of species between 1905 and 1985 with their distribution between 1986 and 2005 showed a shift upward of 95 feet per decade, researchers led by Lenoir report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.The team studied the preferred location of plants from sea level up to more than 8 500 feet in six regions in France.Unlike animals, of course, plants can’t just pick up and move in search of a better home.But plant species do move, as seeds that are spread tend to grow better in one place than another – in this case at higher elevations in preference to lower ones.Quickest to relocate, not surprisingly, were plants such as herbs, ferns and mosses with shorter life spans and faster reproduction cycles.Not so fleet were large woody plants that reproduce more slowly.In fact, long-lived plants like trees that reproduce slowly are more threatened by climate change because they can’t quickly relocate, Lenoir said.Of the 171 species studied, 118 moved uphill.Nampa-APFor 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.His team found “a significant upward shift of species optimum elevation, the altitude where species are the most likely to be found over their whole elevation range”.Indeed, comparing the distribution of species between 1905 and 1985 with their distribution between 1986 and 2005 showed a shift upward of 95 feet per decade, researchers led by Lenoir report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science.The team studied the preferred location of plants from sea level up to more than 8 500 feet in six regions in France.Unlike animals, of course, plants can’t just pick up and move in search of a better home.But plant species do move, as seeds that are spread tend to grow better in one place than another – in this case at higher elevations in preference to lower ones.Quickest to relocate, not surprisingly, were plants such as herbs, ferns and mosses with shorter life spans and faster reproduction cycles.Not so fleet were large woody plants that reproduce more slowly.In fact, long-lived plants like trees that reproduce slowly are more threatened by climate change because they can’t quickly relocate, Lenoir said.Of the 171 species studied, 118 moved uphill.Nampa-AP