Rapid evolution under climate change

The focal plant species (Biscutella didyma) © Martina Petru Ecosystems are threatened worldwide by rapid climate change. Plants play a critical role in all ecosystems because they are at the basis of all food webs. For many regions that are already very dry today, such as deserts or semi-deserts, climate scenarios predict even lower precipitation levels. A team of researchers led by Katja Tielbörger from the University of Tübingen has now discovered that certain plant species can evolve very quickly under drought conditions. This means that the modified plant traits are genetically fixed and passed on to the next generation. The study involved researchers from the Universities of Hildesheim and Cologne and Dr. Christian Lampei from the Institute of Landscape Ecology at the University of Münster. The study has been published in the journal "Ecology Letters".