Climate Chaos & Changing Plant Communities

There might be no going back for legacy ecosystems

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Another excerpt from the book that Nikki Hill and I are working on, tentatively entitled, "Don't Blame the Messengers: A critique of the 'invasive plant' narrative."

In this chapter we discuss how climate chaos is causing range shifts for both native plants and animals, meaning that species are—on their own—moving into new areas. In some cases, these native species are now being called "invasive," believe it or not.

We also discuss how these range shifts present a challenge for restoration efforts, since a place that was good habitat for a plant in 1491 might soon be—or already might not be—as suitable for that plant.

We then talk about "assisted migration" which is an effort to preserve rare species with limited ranges by propagating them in new areas that are now or will soon be more hospitable for them, but which are outside their current range. We summarize the scientific debate on this topic.

We conclude with:

Climate chaos demands that we fundamentally alter our approach to relating with the rest of nature. A prerequisite is to drastically reduce our collective consumption, and take only what is needed. Continued habitat loss through new development and expanding resource extraction, even for the purpose of a “green energy transition” runs counter to that. It is essential that we radically modify our civilization at the systemic level.