Stupid plants
(Science mag) Not all species flee rising temperatures. As the mercury has inched upward across western North America over the last 40 years, many plant species have moved downhill, toward—not away from—warmer climates, according to the results of a new study. The finding adds to growing evidence that temperature isn’t the only factor influencing how Earth’s life will respond to climate change.
“This is a very cool study and demonstrates what many of us have been saying—that we will get surprises,†writes Camille Parmesan, a climate change biologist at Plymouth University in the United Kingdom, in an e-mail to Science. She was not involved with the study.
Like animals, plants require specific environmental conditions—such as the right temperature, moisture, and light levels—in order to thrive. Even small changes in environmental parameters can affect the reproduction and survival of a species. As global temperatures rise, both animal and plant populations are projected to gradually shift toward northern latitudes and upward to higher elevations where temperatures are cooler in order to stay within their ideal range of environmental conditions.
Yes, as the mercury has inched up a massive 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since the mid-1800’s, doom. Well, except for the stupid plants which refuse to cooperate with said doom. Who knew that plants like warmth?
The results of the analysis were unexpected. More than 60% of plants shifted their distributions downward, toward warmer, lower elevations—despite significant climate warming across the regions under study, the team reported online on 24 July in Global Change Biology. Even more striking, all plants within a region—regardless of species—moved in the same direction.
It’s almost like nature is flipping the bird at Warmists for thinking that everything must stay static. Which, of course, it never does. There have been numerous cool and warm periods throughout the Holocene, much less the history of the earth, and things change. Life adapts. Except for flat earth Warmists.
