Studies of ancient plants have shown that they react to changing climates by moving. While a single plant of course cannot move itself over large distances, seeds are often highly mobile.
They can be carried by wind, water and animals to new locations. And when they put down roots in more hospitable climes, the seeds of these lucky survivors can further advance into that region. This has been going on for millennia and entire ecosystems have shifted their ranges in response to changing environmental conditions.
When studies of living trees in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, USA, first noted this migration in the 1970s, scientists had not yet correlated the movements to a rapidly changing climate. Now, as human activities accelerate climate change, trees appear to be stepping up their game. Across the world, forests are moving away from the heat. Some are moving north, others west and some are even climbing mountains to find more temperate homes – moving upslope from where previous generations established.
As certain forests show signs of stress due to the increasing temperatures, some scientists are advocating for assisted migration – planting tree species in regions outside of their natural range to establish biodiversity reservoirs in case their stranded relatives perish.
Discover more amazing wildlife stories from around the world
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- Wildfires, ruptured cells and hot rivers: What happens when there’s no rain in a rainforest?
- Panama’s ocean upwelling fails for the first time in 40 years. Now scientists are worried
- In 2020, humans suddenly vanished from a popular bay in Hawai‘i. What happened next was remarkable
Top image: the Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire. Credit: Getty
