Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Understanding how climate change will affect the natural world requires us to be able to identify locations where plants and animals can persist despite rising temperatures. Researchers are looking at whether Ozark oases at Tyson Research Center, Washington University’s environmental field station, can provide safe refuge. Common Ozark landscape features like sheltered coves, north-facing bluffs or valleys that have cooler temperatures than the surrounding region are all potential examples of climate change refugia or “microrefugia.” With support from the Living Earth Collaborative, scientists from the Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University are working together to build detailed temperature maps that they can pair with local plant surveys and then identify the features that can buffer change. This kind of research can help us to know what kinds of features are important to conserve to protect biodiversity.
→Subscribe: bit.ly/WashUSubscribe
About Washington University in St. Louis:
Washington University is a leader in research, scholarship and patient care. Through our world-class faculty, students, physicians, staff, alumni and friends, WashU brings us closer to the knowledge that matters and the stories that inspire us to change the world.
Get more from Washington University:
Official site: https://wustl.edu
The Source: https://source.wustl.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/wustl
Instagram: instagram.com/wustl_official/?hl=en
Understanding how climate change will affect the natural world requires us to be able to identify locations where plants and animals can persist despite rising temperatures. Researchers are looking at whether Ozark oases at Tyson Research Center, Washington University’s environmental field station, can provide safe refuge. Common Ozark landscape features like sheltered coves, north-facing bluffs or valleys that have cooler temperatures than the surrounding region are all potential examples of climate change refugia or “microrefugia.” With support from the Living Earth Collaborative, scientists from the Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University are working together to build detailed temperature maps that they can pair with local plant surveys and then identify the features that can buffer change. This kind of research can help us to know what kinds of features are important to conserve to protect biodiversity.
→Subscribe: bit.ly/WashUSubscribe
About Washington University in St. Louis:
Washington University is a leader in research, scholarship and patient care. Through our world-class faculty, students, physicians, staff, alumni and friends, WashU brings us closer to the knowledge that matters and the stories that inspire us to change the world.
Get more from Washington University:
Official site: https://wustl.edu
The Source: https://source.wustl.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/wustl
Instagram: instagram.com/wustl_official/?hl=en
