How did climate drive the historical distribution of relict plants: a case study on Metasequoia using deep-time ecological niche modelling
Junmei Chen, Ai Song, Li Wang, Shufeng Li, Tao Su · 2026
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Description
Junmei Chen and colleagues reconstruct, in 2026, how climate shrank the range of dawn redwood, a famous relict tree now confined to a small corner of China. Using 755 fossil records with deep-time niche modelling, they trace where the genus could live across past eras.
The tree spread widely across mid-to-high latitudes in the earlier era, then retreated toward lower latitudes as the world dried and cooled. Yearly rainfall was the key driver across both eras. Ice ages of the recent period then crushed its range. The authors say the story guides conservation of relict plants under future warming.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Junmei Chen, Ai Song, Li Wang, Shufeng Li, Tao Su |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 29834 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |