New paper points to future plant adaptation mechanism

As temperatures on Earth rise, it can be hard to predict how the environment will adapt. But thanks to our researchers, we have a little more insight into the adaptation mechanisms of plants.

Dr Cesca McInerney and her former PhD student Allison Baczynsk have been analysing 56million year old plant and animal fossils from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period of extreme global warming caused by a rapid rise in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, their research analysed the chemical signatures of mammal teeth and leaf wax fossils at Bighorn Basin, USA. They found that plants may have adapted to the high temperatures of PETM by flushing leaves during the cool season. This exciting research could mean that similar changes occur today as the temperature increases from climate change.

Read the paper to find out more.