New research published May 20, 2021 in Science found that humans have stressed plant ecosystems more severely, and for longer, than previously thought.
The last time plants were forced to change at this pace was between 16,000 and 8,000 years ago, when mosses, sedges, shrubs and lichens had to quickly adapt to a planet that had warmed by 10 degrees Fahrenheit, National Geographic reports. However, plant populations stabilized after the ice age thawed. It wasn’t until about 4,000 years ago that they began mass adaptations once again, reacting not to retreating ice sheets, but to the changes humans were making to Earth’s landscape.
“This work suggests that 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, humans were already having an enormous impact on the world (and) that continues today,” Jack Williams, professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and one of the study authors, said in a press release.
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