Move Species Threatened by Warming, Scientists Advise

People should help species threatened by climate change move to new habitats, researchers argue in a new paper.

Warming temperatures have already sent animals and plants inching toward the poles or climbing up mountains to seek out tolerable habitats.
But many species aren’t able to move far enough or will have difficulty fleeing in the future, researchers say. That’s because natural barriers such as mountains and deserts block some species, while others are trapped in pockets of forest or other habitats fragmented by cities and cropland.

Now some researchers are supporting an idea called assisted colonization, or actively moving plants and animals to more favorable locations.

“Under these circumstances, the future for many species and ecosystems is so bleak that assisted colonization might be their best chance,” the authors write in tomorrow’s issue of the journal Science.