A recent study from the University of Helsinki focusing on the Arctic Siberian primrose underscores the critical need to curb climate change to allow species time to adapt through evolution.
A recent study from the University of Helsinki focusing on the Arctic Siberian primrose underscores the critical need to curb climate change to allow species time to adapt through evolution.
A research group at the Finnish Museum of Natural History is investigating the adaptive potential of plant species amid a warming climate. Their recent study investigates the Siberian primrose, a plant species that occurs on the coasts of the Bothnian Bay and Arctic Ocean. Climate change is threatening the viability of the species.
“The Siberian primrose is a good example of a species threatened by rapidly advancing climate change. It cannot migrate to more favourable conditions due to geographic constraints, leaving adaptation in its current habitat as its only survival option,” says Marko Hyvärinen, title of docent, from the Finnish Museum of Natural History.
The study revealed that the Siberian primrose may only be able to adapt to climate change if the warming can be limited in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. This requires effective mitigation of climate change. Otherwise, the flowers and other important traits of the Siberian primrose are unlikely to have the time to evolve quickly enough to survive the changing conditions.
Read more at University of Helsinki
Image: The study revealed that the Siberian primrose may only be able to adapt to climate change if the warming can be limited in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. (Credit: Anniina Mattila)
