https://www.futurity.org/climate-change-tropical-plants-3240762/
"Brown University biologists set out to better understand the effects of
climate change on plant species in tropical mountain regions. They found that
even small variations in temperature and moisture can have massive impacts,
threatening not only plants that live there, but also the ecosystems they
support.
Emily Hollenbeck, who conducted the research while earning her PhD in ecology
and evolutionary biology from Brown University, made the discoveries through a
series of laborious yet informative experiments conducted in the Monteverde
mountain region of Costa Rica.
Hollenbeck is devoted to learning how climate change affects tropical forests
and as part of her dissertation work, she spent five years leading research to
document the occurrences of plant species called epiphytes on three mountains
in Costa Rica and Panama. On one of the mountains, she transplanted plant
species among sites that varied in elevation, temperature, and aridity, and
then observed and quantified the effects on the plants.
According to the study in
Nature Communications, most epiphyte species
struggled to survive outside their native ranges in climate conditions even
slightly different from what they typically experience. The researchers
conclude that their work strengthened earlier conjecture about risks of
widespread extinctions from climate change in tropical mountain ecosystems.
“It’s already obvious to people who live here, even those who aren’t
biologists, that the natural world has been shifting in striking ways over the
last 20 or 30 years in response to climate change,” says Hollenbeck, who is now
president of the Monteverde Conservation League, a Costa Rican nonprofit
focused on conserving and rehabilitating tropical ecosystems and their
biodiversity.
“It felt really important to conduct a very specific, well-controlled
scientific study to provide context and evidence to support what we’re
seeing.”"
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
