Effect of global climate change on rare trees and shrubs
Abstract
In the past, climate has fluctuated with periods
of cooler, warmer, drier or wetter weather than
at present. Plants have been able to adapt,
but widespread, rapid warming could be disastrous
for rare trees and shrubs – i.e. those
native species that are among an area’s most
infrequent and most in need of conservation
efforts. Rare plants and rare plant communities
often exist as relicts of times past, and
have survived locally owing to very particular
combinations of environmental conditions.