How Plants Respond to Climate Change: Migration Rates, Individualism and the Consequences for Plant Communities

The magnitude of climate changes forecast for the next century is comparable to the magnitude of warming during the last deglaciation. No climate change of similar magnitude has occurred since that event. The palaeoecological evidence of the response, especially of plants, to past climate change indicates that evolutionary adaptation has played no more than a minor role and that migration is the usual response of organisms to climate change. The individualism of response has important implications with respect to changes in the nature of vegetation and ecosystems (...)