The Impact of Recent Climate Change on Plants

Abstract

Climatic conditions play a key role in the basic plants processes (photosynthesis, respiration, growth and development), their seasonal cycle, and in determining the limits of their distribution. Climate has a great impact on plant individuals, populations and species, as well as on their communities, ecosystems and biomes. As a result, concerns have grown in recent decades about the possible effects of global climate change on flora. The paper gives an overview of the observed climate change, primarily changes in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, air temperature (global warming), precipitation regime and extreme weather and climate events. Then, the observed effects of recent climate change on the plants are analyzed, primarily the effects on the physiology, phenology and distribution of plant species, as well as the effects on plant communities and ecosystems. The results of numerous studies in the world proved that recent climate change has led to significant changes in the plants distribution ‒ range (shifts to higher latitudes and higher altitudes), physiology (improving the rate of photosynthesis and water use efficiency, decreasing stomatal conductivity and increasing net primary production) and the seasonal cycle ‒ phenology (earlier onset of growing season and earlier occurrence of phenophases in spring and summer and delay of autumn phenophases ending the growing season, and as a consequence of these changes prolongation of growing season in many regions) as well as that changed climatic conditions have already led to changes in plant communities (through changes in composition and altered interactions between species such as pollination, competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, disease transmission, food chains, etc.) and local extinction of certain plant species.