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Posted Thu Oct 21 2010: from
PhysOrg:
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Climate change may create tipping points for populations, not just species http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1287663442
When species respond in different ways to the same amount of warming, it becomes more difficult for ecologists to predict future biological effects of climate change--and to plan for these effects.
In a study published this week in the journal Nature, University of Wyoming ecologist Daniel Doak and Duke University ecologist William Morris report on a long-term study of arctic and alpine plants.
The results show why some species may be slow to shift their geographic ranges in the face of climate change, and why we might expect to see sudden shifts as warming continues.... However, the researchers' results don't indicate that these plants, or other species, will be unaffected by warming conditions.
By looking at the performance of individual plants in particularly hot and cold years, they found that the compensatory effects across moderately cold to moderately warm years (lower survival balanced by more rapid growth) will not hold up with increased warming.
Instead, in the warmest years at all study sites, both survival and growth of the plants fell.
"Up to a point," says Doak, "we may see little effect of warming for many organisms. But past a climatic tipping point, the balance of opposing effects of warming will likely cease, leading to subsequent rapid declines in populations."
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[Read more stories about:
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