Black and white and bamboo…what do we do?
Effects of Climate Change 1.7
This is my seventh post for “Effects of Climate Change”. The purpose of these posts has been to bring awareness to just some of the many species and environments that have been negatively impacted by climate change. Thanks for reading, and onto the post….
One of the world’s beloved animals is still in trouble. Bamboo forests are on the decline, and so, habitats available for the giant panda (and red panda) are shrinking.
The availability of bamboo plays a key role in the distribution of the habitable areas for giant pandas. It has been determined that by 2070, giant panda habitats would be reduced by ~71% (2.89 million ha down to 1.31 million ha). ha = hectares.
Historically, pandas did live in warmer areas, and there are species of bamboo that pandas no longer eat as a result of moving higher up.
Why do you think that is?
It’s mainly due to anthropogenic causes (obviously not a surprise). The pandas moved up into higher elevations to be further from human activity.
Humans are still a problem (#StopPoachingPandas), such as in poaching, hunting, and habitat loss. Pandas are also dealing with an additional problem: climate change.
While a warming climate means that bamboo species from lower elevations will be creeping up and colonizing higher elevations, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen anytime soon. Bamboo has a very limited dispersal ability…and the giant pandas need the bamboo, well, now. Predictions indicate, however, that we shouldn’t expect these “new” bamboo species to be a main food source for the pandas for at least another hundred years.
“…sexual reproduction of bamboo happens once every 60–120 years…”
Let’s get right to it. Why is this important and how does this relate to what we’ve talked about so far?
Bamboo sexual reproduction is very different from the kind of plant reproduction we may be used to seeing because bamboo reproduce by the means of mass flowering. Shortly after flowering, the entire bamboo forest dies…even if separated by miles. While it may seem counterintuitive, evolutionary, it has been an advantage.
Think about it like this: if a plant species were to flower at separate times, then it would give predators more chances to eat up all the seeds. However, if all of a plant species flowered at once, then there are so many seeds that predators would have a difficult, if nearly impossible time to consume all the seeds. Thus, survival of the species remains high. *If you want to learn more about how bamboo developed such an interesting cycle of reproduction, then check out this article.
This is great for bamboo, but once the bamboo dies, the pandas begin to starve as they wait for the bamboo forest to grow again. Between the 1970s and 1980s, 270 pandas died. It’s not great for pandas when mass flowering only happens once every 60–120 years (although, time can vary) since it can lead to starvation, but as the climate gets warmer, more frequent mass flowerings could be triggered.
As we can see, this is a problem that weaves itself through other problems. (Here’s another problem: habitat fragmentation prevents gene flow, which in turn, decreases genetic diversity and the ability for panda populations to survive).
Scientific research on climate change is not gray or unclear — it’s black and white (and red), just like our little friends hiding in the mountains in China.
Let’s keep it real, let’s keep those genes flowing, and let’s stop climate change
Claudia A.
References:
Li, R.; Xu, M.; Wong, M. H. G.; Qiu, S.; Sheng, Q.; Li, X.; Song, Z. Climate change-induced decline in bamboo habitats and species diversity: implications for giant panda conservation http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12284/abstract (accessed Oct 13, 2016).
Li, R.; Xu, M.; Wong, M. H. G.; Qiu, S.; Li, X.; Ehrenfeld, D.; Li, D. Climate change threatens giant panda protection in the 21st century http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0006320714004625 (accessed Oct 13, 2016).
Zimmer, C. Bamboo Mathematicians http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/15/bamboo-mathematicians/ (accessed Oct 13, 2016).
