Even common plants threatened by climate change, new study shows

New research from a team led by University of Georgia scientists from the Franklin College and the Odum School of Ecology reveals that even common plant species with a broad geographic distribution are at risk of decline based on climate change, potentially contributing to a loss in biodiversity. 

Published in Science , the study integrates ecological and evolutionary approaches to model past, present and projected climatic tolerances for Drummond’s rockcress (Boechera stricta).

The wildflower, a relative of common mustard, grows in mountain meadows from New Mexico up through the Rocky Mountains and into Canada and Alaska and can also occur in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Like most plant species in this region and others, Drummond’s rockcress now flowers weeks earlier than it did historically because of climate change.

First authors Jill Anderson and Megan DeMarche used more than a decade of experimental data to model how Drummond’s rockcress populations are likely to grow, remain stable or decline over time. Their results reveal that even common species that may not be showing obvious signs of decline now could be affected dramatically by climate change. Such impacts could occur across a plant species’ entire distribution, and they could occur suddenly, according to the authors.

“People often think that rare or endangered species are more susceptible to the effects of climate change,” said Anderson, professor with a joint appointment in the Odum School of Ecology and Franklin College Department of Genetics. “But what we found is that an extremely common species with a very broad geographic distribution that can live in many different locations is currently being threatened by climate change because it’s so highly adapted to specific conditions.”

Data collection for this project began in 2013, when Anderson created five experimental gardens at different elevations across the Elk Mountains of Colorado. The team transplanted more than 100,000 seeds and seedlings generated from local plant populations and performed a series of experiments that manipulated conditions in each of the five gardens—by adding or removing snow, and increasing temperature—to expose plants to conditions that reflected historical, recent and projected climates.

Continue reading...

Image: Drummond's rockcress (Boechera stricta) in flower in a meadow in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. (Photo: Jill Anderson)