Dr. Cuauhtémoc Sáenz Romero, his colleagues and students continue their experiments of reciprocal transplants of oyamel (Abies religiosa) at contrasting elevations. One and a half years after the current part of their experiment started, the sites where most of the seedlings were planted at a higher elevations than where they originated, i.e., 3400 m, continued to show very good survival rates (98% on average). Those planted at 2600 m, in a site chosen to mimic a warmer climate (between 2°C to 4 °C higher than the one where the seedlings originated), showed an average 30% survival rate. Results suggest the need to reforest at progressively higher altitudes, to compensate the effects of climatic change, A new site with altitudes well beyond the upper altitudinal natural distribution limit of the species was established at Nevado de Toluca as shown in the video below.
Projects
Assisted migration 2021
Ongoing reciprocal transplant experiments of oyamel at different altitudes.
July 06, 2023