As the IPCC warns that we have only 12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half or risk significantly greater impacts from climate change, UC Berkeley scientists are charting the best course to save California’s native plants from these human threats.
As the IPCC warns that we have only 12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half or risk significantly greater impacts from climate change, UC Berkeley scientists are charting the best course to save California’s native plants from these human threats.
“We just have a decade or two given the rapid pace of climate and land-use change,” said Brent Mishler, a UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology and director of the University and Jepson Herbaria. “Our opportunities, even 10 years down the line, are way more limited compared to what they are now. What we are going to save, we are going to save quickly. We don’t have forever to leisurely conserve California.”
Graduate student Matthew Kling, Mishler and their UC Berkeley colleagues have created a computer model to prioritize the plants and growing areas needing preservation, linking this for the first time with the areas’ suitability for preservation.
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Photo: The Mt. Hamilton Range east of San Jose is one of the very highest priority areas for preservation in the state. This photo was taken in the spring of 2010 from Coyote Ridge east of Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County. CREDIT: Ron Horii
