Gum tree habitats in decline, study warns
Australians could see fewer suitable environments for the country's iconic eucalypt trees within a generation, according to a new international research project.
The findings, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, paint a stark picture with the habitat of more than 90 per cent of eucalypt species set to decline, with 16 species forecast to lose their home environments entirely within 60 years, due to climate change.
The study was led by the University of Canberra and included experts from the University of Melbourne, Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation- Corpoica, National Research Collections of Australia – CSIRO, University of California, Berkeley, University of Grenoble Alpes, France, National Science Foundation in the US, University of New South Wales, The Australian National University, James Cook University, Macquarie University, Griffith University, University of Queensland; and the Australian Museum.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Dr Laura Pollock and Dr Heini Kujala led the computer modelling work on eucalypt habitats.
The team used over 260,000 geospatial data points from eucalypt specimens stored in Australia herbaria and accessed through Australia's Virtual Herbarium. This information was used to create models of current locations and preferred environmental conditions for 657 species of eucalypt trees.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-09-gum-tree-habitats-decline.html#jCp
