Species loss hastened by climate change

Palaeoclimate research shows that past global warming events triggered significant ecological changes, favouring deciduous forests over evergreen ones, according to an analysis by Mongabay-India (MI).

- Meena Janardhan

The analysis highlights a recent discovery of fossil evidence of a tree species now considered endemic to the Western Ghats, in a coalfield in the state of Assam in India, saying it sends a clear message. If global warming continues at its current pace, earth risks losing or severely restricting many of its precious taxa.

The MI analysis states that scientists from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences unearthed fossilised leaf remains of 'Nothopegia oligo travancorica' and 'Nothopegia oligo castaneifolia', in the Makum coalfields of Assam. The “oligo” in the name stands for the geologic time period Oligocene, or the period of time when a fossil was formed, dating back approximately 24 million years. The findings of the study suggest that these species, once widespread across northern and northeastern India, gradually migrated and found refuge in the Western Ghats, where they have since persisted in pockets.