Richard Tafoya
Jun 24th, 2008, 09:05 PM
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-species-pg,0,6880171.photogallery
Two thirds of California’s unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their ranges by the end of the century due to rising temperatures and changing rainfall, according to a major new study (http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002502).
Those plant species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction due to greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers.
California’s flora face a potential “collapse,” said David Ackerly, a plant ecologist at UC Berkeley, who was the senior author of the paper. “As the climate changes, many of these plants will have no place to go.”
Half of the plant species that are unique to the continental United States grow only in the Golden State, from towering redwoods to slender fire poppies. Under likely climate scenarios, many would have to shift as far as 93 miles from their current location — a difficult task given slow natural migration rates and obstacles presented by surburban sprawl.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed, online journal PLoS One, is the first to analyze the effect of climate change on an entire floristic ecosystem. If California’s unique species migrate, they could be separated from their pollinators. Animals could be divided from the plants on which they depend, the researchers noted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-species-pg,0,6880171.photogallery
Two thirds of California’s unique plants, some 2,300 species that grow nowhere else in the world, could be wiped out across much of their ranges by the end of the century due to rising temperatures and changing rainfall, according to a major new study (http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002502).
Those plant species that cannot migrate fast enough to higher altitudes or cooler coastal areas could face extinction due to greenhouse gas emissions that are heating the planet, according to researchers.
California’s flora face a potential “collapse,” said David Ackerly, a plant ecologist at UC Berkeley, who was the senior author of the paper. “As the climate changes, many of these plants will have no place to go.”
Half of the plant species that are unique to the continental United States grow only in the Golden State, from towering redwoods to slender fire poppies. Under likely climate scenarios, many would have to shift as far as 93 miles from their current location — a difficult task given slow natural migration rates and obstacles presented by surburban sprawl.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed, online journal PLoS One, is the first to analyze the effect of climate change on an entire floristic ecosystem. If California’s unique species migrate, they could be separated from their pollinators. Animals could be divided from the plants on which they depend, the researchers noted.