Word: kuparinen
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...latest evidence for that assertion comes in a study just published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, in which Finnish researchers looked at how the northern forests will respond as the growing season gets longer. In the current climate, says lead author Anna Kuparinen, of the University of Helsinki, pine and birch trees in the northernmost parts of Europe are stunted, in part because they have less time to grow each year than their more southerly counterparts. They've also evolved mechanisms that protect them from the harshest cold. "They actually stop growing before the frost comes," says Kuparinen...
...frost starts coming later, though, she says, they can't un-evolve overnight. "The current forests won't immediately start growing taller and stronger," she says. Eventually, the evolutionary process will catch up, as new seedlings without the frost response take over. "In principle, however," says Kuparinen, "this process will take a long time. The rate of evolution is slower than the rate at which climate will change." The forests would thus get no benefit, remaining stunted until seedlings without early dormancy genes can take root and take over...
...principle, plants can shift their ranges as the climate changes. But as Kuparinen and her colleagues are only the most recent to note, that shifting won't necessarily keep pace with a shifting climate. "In general," says Field, "we don't have very good understanding of the mechanisms that allow plants to move around on the landscape." Current estimates, he says, are based largely on studies of ancient ecologies. "But our models are mostly not validated for the modern, human-dominated environment...
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