New CU Boulder-led research has established a causal link between climate warming and the localized extinction of a common Rocky Mountain flowering plant, a result that could serve as a herald of future population declines.
New CU Boulder-led research has established a causal link between climate warming and the localized extinction of a common Rocky Mountain flowering plant, a result that could serve as a herald of future population declines.
The new study, which was published today in the journal Science Advances, found that warmer, drier conditions in line with future climate predictions decimated experimental populations of Androsace septentrionalis (Northern rock jasmine), a mountain wildflower found at elevations ranging from around 6,000 feet in Colorado’s foothills to over 14,000 feet at the top of Mt. Elbert.
The findings paint a bleak picture for the persistence of native flowering plants in the face of climate change and could serve as a herald for future species losses in mountain ecosystems over the next century.
“Much of our historical data about species’ population-level responses to climate change comes from observational studies, which can suggest but not confirm causation,” said Anne Marie Panetta, lead author of the study and a post-doctoral researcher in CU Boulder’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EBIO). “Here, we show the mechanisms directly at work.”
Read more at University of Colorado at Boulder
Image: This is Androsace septentrionalis (Northern rock jasmine). (Credit: Anne Marie Panetta)
