Climate Change Threatens Mountain Flora’s Survival

Can mountain plants adapt to climate change?

Without human intervention, many plant and animal species will struggle to adapt to climate change, potentially leading to their extinction.

A study conducted in 2025 by a team of plant biologists, geneticists, and ecologists from the University of Georgia, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, the University of California, and Davidson College analysed data on Drummond’s rockcress, a common plant species found in mountainous regions across North America, over nine years.

Their findings indicate that climate change is outpacing natural gene flow, threatening the survival of these plants’ populations.

In the nine-year-long field experiment conducted in Colorado, researchers planted over 102,000 Drummond’s rockcress plants at various elevations and manipulated snowpack levels to simulate future climate scenarios.

This extensive dataset allowed the team to monitor the survival and reproduction of the plants across different environmental gradients and to investigate whether any evolutionary changes were occurring in response to rising temperatures.

Their findings paint a concerning picture: gene flow among plants, the natural process that spreads beneficial genetic variations, is not keeping pace with the rapid changes associated with climate change.

This challenge was observed across all elevations, not just in the warmest areas, increasing the likelihood of extinction for populations specifically adapted to their local environments.

These results challenge the assumption that plants can easily adapt to climate change or migrate to more suitable habitats. The researchers emphasise that while their study focused on a single species, the implications of their findings may extend to a wide range of plants living in narrow-band mountainous ecosystems.

They suggest implementing human-assisted gene flow by deliberately relocating plants to new areas to enhance these species’ survival chances.

Learn more about the study: Adaptation and gene flow are insufficient to rescue a montane plant under climate change