Climate, Trees, and Legacy: 03 - Lessons of Joshua Tree

Climate, Trees, and Legacy: 03 - Lessons of Joshua Tree
Published on Apr 11, 2014
In this third installment of traveling across the USA in 2014 evaluating the need for "assisted migration" of trees in a time of rapid climate change, Connie Barlow focuses on Joshua Tree of the Mojave Desert.

Her conclusions: (1) Experiment with assisted migration to learn the actual northern range limits of Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) in today's climate. (2) People get possessive about their trees. (3) Value biodiversity over "native range."

Human impacts and climate adaptations encountered in California and Arizona include the world's largest Solar Electric Generating System: Ivanpah. Also, the vulnerability of Phoenix to drought that impairs the water flow within the Central Arizona Aqueduct system and that curtails electrical generation via the dams along the Colorado River.

The March 2014 AAAS climate report, "What We Know," is highlighted, along with the 2014 Working Group II report of the IPCC: "Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability."

The series host, Connie Barlow, is the founder of the citizen activist group Torreya Guardians. She is the author of "The Ghosts of Evolution" and is speaking along the 2014 route of The Great March for Climate Action (from Los Angeles to Washington D.C.).

Click on the timecodes below to advance immediately to topics:

00:45 Intro to forests and climate change
02:25 IPPC 2014 reportt "Impacts, Adaptation, Vulnerability"
04:12 trees are most vulnerable to climate change
07:15 what is / is not "assisted migration"
08:53 Lesson 3 on Joshua Tree begins
10:26 road trip in CA-AZ looking for Joshua Tree
23:22 extinction of Joshua Tree's seed disperser (sloth)
25:09 Joshua Tree lags behind in moving north
26:44 map of projected future range shift for Joshua Tree
28:44 plea to begin assisted migration experiment now
30:56 challenges of assisted migration in desert
33:01 "Leaf a Legacy" recommended action
33:38 moth pollinator must be moved north too
35:32 indehiscent v dehiscent fruits re seed dispersal
38:53 megaherbivores disperse seeds in their dung
41:43 Paul S. Martin and ghosts of evolution
43:48 some yuccas have fleshy fruit
44:40 Lesson 1: experiment with northern range now
45:25 Lesson 2: people get possessive with their trees
47:22 Lesson 3: biodiversity value trumps native range
50:39 Janzen & Martin 1982: ecological anachronisms
51:42 book "After the Ice" - Holocene migrations north
55:28 Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
58:48 aqueducts in California and Arizona
01:00:10 Ten best and worst cities for climate change
01:02:25 AAAS report March 2014 on climate change

OTHER EPISODES in this series:

Pt 01: "Introduction" http://youtu.be/JqksZfXwO44
Pt 02: "Lessons of Torrey Pine" http://youtu.be/6MQ9smQyJ5k