ghostsofevolution | Helping Plants Move North in Anthropocene Climate: Torreya Guardians 2013 Report @ghostsofevolution | Uploaded November 2013 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
This is the first of many VIDEO episodes in Connie Barlow's Florida Torreya series. Filmed in November 2013, she begins by explaining that climate is warming too fast for many plants (especially large-seeded plants) to move poleward to keep in sync. In July 2008, a group of citizen-naturalists (Torreya Guardians) legally acquired 31 seedlings of the most endangered conifer in the world — Torreya taxifolia (the "Florida Torreya") — and then planted the seedlings beneath wild forest canopy on two private properties in the mountains of North Carolina. In this richly illustrated, 75-minute videoblog, the founder of Torreya Guardians (Connie Barlow) presents what the group has learned thus far — and the frightening implications for how even common plants will soon require human assistance for keeping pace with human-caused climate change. TIME-CODED table of TOPICS below:
00:01 Helping the most endangered conifer move north — now
03:40 DANGERS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
06:02 Thomas Berry: Humans as a geological force
06:25 We are now in the Anthropocene epoch
07:14 N-S migrations during Pleistocene shifts in climate. CORRECTION: A few years after filming this video, Barlow visited an old horticultural Torreya tree in central Georgia, right along the Chattahoochee River. There she realized that the giant seed of Torreya often floats for a week in a jar of water before sinking — and thus it was the geography of Appalachian Mountain watershed flow directly southward that gave this ancient conifer a fast ride southward at the onset of glaciation. Likely, it did not return north during the brief interglacials, but as the Holocene became the Anthropocene and as forest logging inland of the Apalachicola River refuge in Florida impaired the cold seepages in the riverside ravines, threshold temperatures were exceeded, and native diseases were able to launch successful attacks.
08:03 A deep-time and wide-space perspective
09:38 History of "ASSISTED MIGRATION" controversy
11:03 Patrick Shirey 2013 confirms Torreya actions legal
11:53 "Rewilding" the endangered Torreya taxifolia tree
12:28 Torreya genus tracks climate for millions of years
13:16 Excerpts of Shirey et al paper 2013 (on legality)
13:58 Introducing the leaders of Torreya Guardians volunteers
14:56 Might Torreya take the place of dying Hemlock trees?
15:24 Site visits to sister species' habitats in California. UPDATE: In 2018 Barlow posted a 2-part VIDEO series on habitats of CALIFORNIA TORREYA: youtu.be/dpwFFo6LU7o
18:05 "REWILDING" Torreya: poster plant for climate change
20:03 Hypothesis: Torreya left behind in peak glacial refuge?
22:44 Torreya is not invasive; it is "return of a native"
23:27 Shirey et al: why citizens can act faster than ESA
25:34 REPORT on 2013 seed harvest of Torreya in North Carolina
25:55 A.J. Bullard's role in protecting North Carolina Torreya
26:51 The Clinton NC tree: Photo-rich report of 2013 harvest
31:39 Squirrels as the crucial seed disperser for Torreya
37:26 Torreyas in Mt. Olive, NC (planted by A.J. Bullard)
41:05 Horticultural propagation of Torreya is not "rewilding"
43:40 Torreya can produce female and male on same tree. . UPDATE: Visit the torreya webpage of both the Clinton tree and the Mt Olive trees, including photos of seed harvests at both sites in later years: torreyaguardians.org/clinton-bullard.html
46:33 REPORT on 2013 seed distribution and planting of seeds
46:58 The mountainside Evans property, Waynesville NC
47:55 2008 historic plantings: Torreya "rewilding" (photos)
49:48 Testing Torreya's possible affinity for deciduous canopy
50:47 Barlow and Martin 2004 paper on assisted migration
52:08 Naturally preventing squirrels from eating seeds
57:03 Artificially preventing squirrels from eating seeds. UPDATE: Best "free-planting" methods here: torreyaguardians.org/freeplanting.html#2
59:23 The fastest growing tree from our 2008 NC plantings
01:00:10 Audubon Magazine reported on 2008 NC plantings
01:00:30 Recruiting new sites and ensuring genetic diversity
01:03:55 Dissection: Green v. ripe (purple) seeds harvested
01:07:32 Do not call this tree "Stinking Cedar" (common name)
01:10:17 Recruiting youth to become Torreya Guardians
01:13:09 SUMMARY of assisted migration in a changing climate
For more information: torreyaguardians.org
Access a list of all the videos on Torreya trees at:
torreyaguardians.org/video.html
Two WIKIPEDIA pages put the citizen efforts of Torreya Guardians in context of the overall need for "assisted migration" poleward of native trees:
"Assisted Migration of Forests in North America" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_migration_of_forests_in_North_America
"Torreya Guardians" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torreya_Guardians
Barlow's VIDEO exploration of "assisted migration" prospects for trees native to different regions of North America is here: thegreatstory.org/climate-trees-legacy.html
This is the first of many VIDEO episodes in Connie Barlow's Florida Torreya series. Filmed in November 2013, she begins by explaining that climate is warming too fast for many plants (especially large-seeded plants) to move poleward to keep in sync. In July 2008, a group of citizen-naturalists (Torreya Guardians) legally acquired 31 seedlings of the most endangered conifer in the world — Torreya taxifolia (the "Florida Torreya") — and then planted the seedlings beneath wild forest canopy on two private properties in the mountains of North Carolina. In this richly illustrated, 75-minute videoblog, the founder of Torreya Guardians (Connie Barlow) presents what the group has learned thus far — and the frightening implications for how even common plants will soon require human assistance for keeping pace with human-caused climate change. TIME-CODED table of TOPICS below:
00:01 Helping the most endangered conifer move north — now
03:40 DANGERS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
06:02 Thomas Berry: Humans as a geological force
06:25 We are now in the Anthropocene epoch
07:14 N-S migrations during Pleistocene shifts in climate. CORRECTION: A few years after filming this video, Barlow visited an old horticultural Torreya tree in central Georgia, right along the Chattahoochee River. There she realized that the giant seed of Torreya often floats for a week in a jar of water before sinking — and thus it was the geography of Appalachian Mountain watershed flow directly southward that gave this ancient conifer a fast ride southward at the onset of glaciation. Likely, it did not return north during the brief interglacials, but as the Holocene became the Anthropocene and as forest logging inland of the Apalachicola River refuge in Florida impaired the cold seepages in the riverside ravines, threshold temperatures were exceeded, and native diseases were able to launch successful attacks.
08:03 A deep-time and wide-space perspective
09:38 History of "ASSISTED MIGRATION" controversy
11:03 Patrick Shirey 2013 confirms Torreya actions legal
11:53 "Rewilding" the endangered Torreya taxifolia tree
12:28 Torreya genus tracks climate for millions of years
13:16 Excerpts of Shirey et al paper 2013 (on legality)
13:58 Introducing the leaders of Torreya Guardians volunteers
14:56 Might Torreya take the place of dying Hemlock trees?
15:24 Site visits to sister species' habitats in California. UPDATE: In 2018 Barlow posted a 2-part VIDEO series on habitats of CALIFORNIA TORREYA: youtu.be/dpwFFo6LU7o
18:05 "REWILDING" Torreya: poster plant for climate change
20:03 Hypothesis: Torreya left behind in peak glacial refuge?
22:44 Torreya is not invasive; it is "return of a native"
23:27 Shirey et al: why citizens can act faster than ESA
25:34 REPORT on 2013 seed harvest of Torreya in North Carolina
25:55 A.J. Bullard's role in protecting North Carolina Torreya
26:51 The Clinton NC tree: Photo-rich report of 2013 harvest
31:39 Squirrels as the crucial seed disperser for Torreya
37:26 Torreyas in Mt. Olive, NC (planted by A.J. Bullard)
41:05 Horticultural propagation of Torreya is not "rewilding"
43:40 Torreya can produce female and male on same tree. . UPDATE: Visit the torreya webpage of both the Clinton tree and the Mt Olive trees, including photos of seed harvests at both sites in later years: torreyaguardians.org/clinton-bullard.html
46:33 REPORT on 2013 seed distribution and planting of seeds
46:58 The mountainside Evans property, Waynesville NC
47:55 2008 historic plantings: Torreya "rewilding" (photos)
49:48 Testing Torreya's possible affinity for deciduous canopy
50:47 Barlow and Martin 2004 paper on assisted migration
52:08 Naturally preventing squirrels from eating seeds
57:03 Artificially preventing squirrels from eating seeds. UPDATE: Best "free-planting" methods here: torreyaguardians.org/freeplanting.html#2
59:23 The fastest growing tree from our 2008 NC plantings
01:00:10 Audubon Magazine reported on 2008 NC plantings
01:00:30 Recruiting new sites and ensuring genetic diversity
01:03:55 Dissection: Green v. ripe (purple) seeds harvested
01:07:32 Do not call this tree "Stinking Cedar" (common name)
01:10:17 Recruiting youth to become Torreya Guardians
01:13:09 SUMMARY of assisted migration in a changing climate
For more information: torreyaguardians.org
Access a list of all the videos on Torreya trees at:
torreyaguardians.org/video.html
Two WIKIPEDIA pages put the citizen efforts of Torreya Guardians in context of the overall need for "assisted migration" poleward of native trees:
"Assisted Migration of Forests in North America" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_migration_of_forests_in_North_America
"Torreya Guardians" - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torreya_Guardians
Barlow's VIDEO exploration of "assisted migration" prospects for trees native to different regions of North America is here: thegreatstory.org/climate-trees-legacy.html
