The Once and Future Woods
November 22, 2024 at 09:54PMEngland’s climate is predicted to become warmer and dryer—similar to Barcelona today. What will happen to the ancient woodlands—the spaces known to be forested since record keeping began in 1600? Some trees, such as ash and oak, are already struggling with disease and erratic temperatures. For Nautilus, Veronique Greenwood reports on the work of the Millennium Seed Bank, an institute that collects and preserves the seeds of native trees while trying to predict which new and perhaps more tolerant species have the best chance of survival.
Jeffery used to tend the alpine plant collection at Kew Gardens, leaning over beds of gravel inhabited by flattened, miniature growing things. Since he switched to seed collecting, he jokes that he went from looking down all the time to looking up, and has had to retrain his neck muscles. He is looking today for the blackthorn tree, or sloe, and one of the native dogwoods, a pert little tree with black berries. He slices open the dogwood berries with secateurs, to check if there is a white seed within. At first glance, over half the slots in the berries where seeds should be are empty. It may have been too hot, too wet, too dry—so many things can affect the set of seeds. He and Negri look worried. They keep walking, hoping to find a tree with a better yield. In the future, there may not be such large populations to collect seeds from. “We do not know what climate and invasive pests and diseases may be around the corner,” Jeffrey says.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/11/22/the-once-and-future-woods/
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