Plant species may only need to move short distances to track their preferred habitats as the climate changes, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
Plant species may only need to move short distances to track their preferred habitats as the climate changes, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.
This finding contrasts with previous models that have predicted the need for major shifts in plant ranges.
It is widely predicted that many species will have to either adapt or move to survive as climate change alters the environment, a prediction that shapes current conservation policy.
Dr Ilya Maclean and Dr Regan Early, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, used historical data from 1977-1995 to model the distribution of 244 European heathland and grassland plant taxa, which they then used to project plant distributions between 2003-2021 to assess the impacts of climate variables.
Read more at University of Exeter
