Following last week’s post on the Quaternary glaciation, it seemed like a good time to post about a paper that I found illustrating how tree taxa shifted latitude of elevation range in response to changes in Quaternary climate. Changes in geographic distribution of both plant and animal species can be seen within the fossil record as a result of climate change.
The cooling of the Quaternary climate is illustrated by the response of woody floral species that employ passive seed dispersal where seedlings will grow in whatever areas have suitable conditions. Interestingly, modern species are too responding to changes in climate. With increasing temperatures species are moving to higher elevations at a rate of 11 metres per decade and to higher latitudes at rate of 16.9 kilometres per decade.
Whilst floral species can change distributions to accommodate changing climates, they do also genetically adapt to changing conditions. This raises a concern for modern climate change; if rates of adaption cannot match rates of climate change then extinction is a possibility, and with current rates of climate change higher than ever, many species may not be able to adapt quick enough, thus extinction could certainly be on the cards.
Thank you for the comment! I think it would be too early to say whether or not range shifts amongst plant species could result in a desert-like landscape at the equator, range shifts seem to have been studied mostly in North America and Europe, it would be interesting to see if range shifts are observed in equatorial species. Colwell et. al. 2008 noted that evidence for latitudinal range shifts in the tropics is scarce, but there is some evidence for range shifts in elevation (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/322/5899/258).
I think if equatorial aridity is in our future, it will be a result from many confounding factors, rather than range shifts alone. I think it is also important to mention that the Permian's equatorial…
Hi, this is such an interesting post ! In reflection, do you think in the future there could be equatorial aridity, as seen in the Permian? Thanks!