As climate and land-use change accelerate, so must efforts to preserve California's plants
Monday, November 19, 2018 - 17:00
in Biology & Nature
A team developed a computer model that identifies the high-priority areas in California for preservation in order to save the state's native plants in the face of rapid climate change and habitat destruction. The model is based on three measures of biodiversity: genetic uniqueness (divergence), historic speciation rate (diversification) and independent evolutionary history (survival), but also includes assessments of how badly the area is degraded and thus whether it is worth the effort.