Plants on the move: Assisted migration of forest trees in the face of climate change

Koralewski, Tomasz E.; Wang, Hsiao‐Hsuan; Grant, William E.; Byram, Thomas D.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2015.02.014

Cited by 45 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…The strategy of assisted migration is based on the assumption that climate adaptation is the key driver of plant performance (Hewitt et al 2011;Sgr o et al 2011). Consequently, most practical recommendations rely on climatic models (Wang et al 2010;Iverson and McKenzie 2013;Ikeda et al 2014;Chakraborty et al 2015;Koralewski et al 2015;Yang et al 2015). Our results show that this can be misleading and that the translocation of warm-adapted ecotypes will not necessarily lead to an increase in performance in a warmer climate but that performance might even decrease, presumably because other adaptations to local or regional environmental conditions or biotic interactions play an even greater role than climate adaptation for the performance of the plants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…So far, most of the support for assisted migration comes from climate envelope models Hamann 2011, 2012) or from models connecting experimental data on plant performance with climate (Wang et al 2010;Iverson and McKenzie 2013;Ikeda et al 2014;Chakraborty et al 2015;Koralewski et al 2015;Yang et al 2015). However, the ultimate test of the effectivity of assisted migration is of course when plants adapted to the climate of another region outperform the local ones under climate change in a transplant experiment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plants adapted to warmer climate do not outperform regional plants during a natural heat wave

Bucharová

Durka

Hermann

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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With ongoing climate change, many plant species may not be able to adapt rapidly enough, and some conservation experts are therefore considering to translocate warm‐adapted ecotypes to mitigate effects of climate warming. Although this strategy, called assisted migration, is intuitively plausible, most of the support comes from models, whereas experimental evidence is so far scarce. Here we present data on multiple ecotypes of six grassland species, which we grew in four common gardens in Germany during a natural heat wave, with temperatures 1.4–2.0°C higher than the long‐term means. In each garden we compared the performance of regional ecotypes with plants from a locality with long‐term summer temperatures similar to what the plants experienced during the summer heat wave. We found no difference in performance between regional and warm‐adapted plants in four of the six species. In two species, regional ecotypes even outperformed warm‐adapted plants, despite elevated temperatures, which suggests that translocating warm‐adapted ecotypes may not only lack the desired effect of increased performance but may even have negative consequences. Even if adaptation to climate plays a role, other factors involved in local adaptation, such as biotic interactions, may override it. Based on our results, we cannot advocate assisted migration as a universal tool to enhance the performance of local plant populations and communities during climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plants adapted to warmer climate do not outperform regional plants during a natural heat wave

Bucharová

Durka

Hermann

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Based on the assumption that organisms are primarily adapted to their local climate, most support for assisted migration comes from climate envelope models (Gray & Hamann 2011, 2012) or models connecting plant performance in experiments with climate (e.g. Wang et al ; Iverson & McKenzie ; Ikeda et al ; Chakraborty et al ; Koralewski et al ; Yang et al ; Hällfors et al ). However, there are many other environmental factors affecting plant performance besides climate, including soil, other plants, herbivores, or pathogens.…”

Section: Where Is the Evidence?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assisted migration within species range ignores biotic interactions and lacks evidence

Bucharová¹

2016

Restoration Ecology

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In the context of climate change, many plant species may have problems adapting or dispersing rapidly enough to keep pace with changing environmental conditions. Given these potential problems, some experts argue against using local plant ecotypes for ecosystem restoration. Instead, they propose to use foreign ecotypes that are adapted to the predicted climate in an approach called assisted migration within species range or predictive provenancing. I argue that such actions may cause a mismatch in biotic interactions and have negative effects on other organisms. As such, assisted migration should only be considered in cases when the local ecotypes would fail to ensure ecosystem services. In fact, there is little experimental evidence on the assisted migration approach so far, and what little there is does not seem to support its use. Even in altered climates, local ecotypes mostly performed equally well or better than foreign ones selected for their adaptations to these climates. The reason is that even if adaptation to climate plays a role, this factor may be overridden by other drivers of local adaptation, such as soil or biotic interactions. Despite assisted migration being a popular concept that is repeatedly commended in scientific literature and propagated among practitioners, it should not be considered a universal tool to improve restoration outcomes during climate change. Given the lack of hard experimental data, I call for large-scale multispecies experimental studies that will provide the necessary evidence to derive general guidelines and recommendations for management of ecosystems during climate change. Implications for Practice• Assisted migration within species range as a tool to help species to adapt to climate change may have unpredictable effects on biotic interactions. • There is little evidence that assisted migration will lead to the desired effect of increased plant performance. However, there is general lack of data. • As long as there is not sufficient evidence, I recommend local or regional provenancing as the default strategy for restoration projects.

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“…Forest tree species are increasingly dependent on their ability to colonize new areas in order to cope with accelerated climate change and shifting cultivation patterns, which often involve the abandonment of extensive agricultural areas (Grau and Aide, 2008;Jump et al, 2009;Koralewski et al, 2015). However, colonization of seasonally dry new areas has been described as an extremely hazardous process because multiple biotic filters combined with the harsh abiotic conditions imposed by the long dry season prevent early establishment of seedlings and saplings (Vieira and Scariot, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of vegetation and herbivores on regeneration of two tree species in a seasonally dry forest

Torres

Renison

2015

Journal of Arid Environments

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Plants on the move: Assisted migration of forest trees in the face of climate change

Cited by 45 publications

References 47 publications

Plants adapted to warmer climate do not outperform regional plants during a natural heat wave

Plants adapted to warmer climate do not outperform regional plants during a natural heat wave

Assisted migration within species range ignores biotic interactions and lacks evidence

Effects of vegetation and herbivores on regeneration of two tree species in a seasonally dry forest

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