Effects of climate change on plant biodiversity

[10] Plant species in montane and snowy ecosystems are at greater risk for habitat loss due to climate change.

[11] Heat and drought as a result of climate change has been found to severely impact tree mortality rates, putting forest ecosystems at high risk.

[13] There is already evidence that plant species are shifting their ranges in altitude and latitude as a response to changing regional climates.

Estimations from particular periods of rapid climatic change in the past have shown relatively little species extinction in some regions, for example.

Migratory birds use wintering and breeding grounds as a place to feed and recharge after migrating for long hours.

[25] Lowland forest have gotten smaller during the last glacial period and those small areas became island which are made up of drought resisting plants.

[28] The timing of phenological events such as flowering and leaf production, are often related to environmental variables, including temperature, which can be altered by climate change.

Both the insect pollinators and plant populations will eventually become extinct due to the uneven and confusing connection that is caused by the change of climate.

[33] A recently published study has used data recorded by the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau to confirm effects of climate change on the phenology of some species in the area of Concord, Massachusetts.

[40] Data from 2018 found that at 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), 2 °C (3.6 °F) and 3.2 °C (5.8 °F) of global warming, over half of climatically determined geographic range would be lost by 8%, 16%, and 44% of plant species.

[41][42] The 2022 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that while at 2 °C (3.6 °F) of global warming, fewer than 3% of flowering plants would be at a very high risk of extinction, this increases to 10% at 3.2 °C (5.8 °F).

These threats may possibly act in synergy to increase extinction risk from that seen in periods of rapid climate change in the past.