Biotech Updates

Climate Change Alters Genetic Diversity of Wild Plant Species

September 2, 2015

University of Liverpool scientists reported in Global Change Biology that the genetic diversity of wild plant species can be altered hastily by climate change. They discovered this after studying the genetic responses of various wild plants in the grassland ecosystem near Buxton in England during simulated climate change conditions including drought, enhanced rainfall, and increased temperature, over a period of 15 years.

DNA markers analysis in the wild plants showed that the climate change conditions caused a modification in the genetic composition of the plant populations. It also revealed a process of evolutionary change in one of the species studied, implying that genetic diversity may protect plants from the drastic effects of climate change, causing an "evolutionary rescue."

Read the news article from the University of Liverpool.