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| Thu, 2nd Jul 2020 13:37:00 |
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Global heating will make it much harder for tropical plants to germinate, study finds |
Global heating will make it much harder for tropical plants around the world to germinate, with temperatures becoming too hot for the seeds of one in five plants by the year 2070, according to a new study.
Global heating will impact the ability of more than half of all tropical plants to germinate if emissions of greenhouse gases remain high.
The tropics are home to many of the world’s richest areas for biodiversity and scientists have long held concerns they could be especially susceptible to climate change.
Published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, the University of New South Wales researcher Alexander Sentinella examined germination data for 1,312 plant species held at the Millennium Seed Bank at Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
The seed bank is the largest and most diverse collection of seeds in the world.
Sentinella said it was assumed tropical plants had a narrower temperature range they could tolerate than species at higher latitudes.
But his study found the risk to tropical plants from global heating exists because they are already sitting towards the higher end of their temperature limits, not because they had a narrower range to begin with.
The study also suggests that global heating could benefit the germination of most plant species above 45 degrees latitude, but this benefit might be offset by other issues.
The study comes after research earlier this year found tropical areas that conservationists had thought would be safe havens may not escape global heating.
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