Global Warming

Alpine plants face extinction

Alpine flowers could go extinct after glaciers disappear as more competitive species colonise terrain higher up the mountain, new research has warned.

Glaciers are retreating at historically unprecedented rates, exposing new land for plants to grow, which benefits delicate alpine species in the short term. However, these early pioneers – some of which are endemic – soon become endangered as more aggressive species take over, driving them out of their remaining habitat and decreasing overall biodiversity.

Up to 22% of species studied on four glaciers in the Italian Alps would disappear from the area once the glaciers have gone, the researchers found. Endemic plants such as mossy saxifrage, purple mountain saxifrage and mignonette-leaved bitter-cress would probably become extinct 150 years after the glaciers disappeared.

Proglacial environments are highly sensitive to global warming, and mountain species are subject to the “escalator to extinction”. They need to move to a higher-altitude habitat as the climate warms, but there is no more space for them to do this.

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