Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Climate change is messing with temperatures all over the world. For humans, that means more of us need air conditioning. But what about plants? What happens when the place they call home gets too hot for them to handle?
Andrea Li and Sedi-Anne Blachford from our Possibly team have the story of one rare tree from Florida that might be happier in a new location.
Andrea Li: Hi, Megan!
Sedi-Anne Blachford: Hello!
Megan Hall: So, tell me about this tree.
Andrea Li: OK, I want you to imagine a short, shrubby evergreen with vibrant, spiky green leaves.
Sedi-Anne Blachford: If you crush those leaves, they give off a strong odor. That’s why some people call this tree a “stinking cedar.”
Andrea Li: But it’s most commonly known as the “Florida Torreya.”
Megan Hall: What makes this tree special, other than its stink?
Sedi-Anne Blachford: This tree is also extremely rare. There are only a few hundred left in the wild.
Megan Hall: Why is it so rare?
Andrea Li: Well, a lot of Florida Torreya have died because of a fungal disease. The heat in Florida is also making it hard for the tree to survive.
Sedi-Anne Blachford: But a group of people who call themselves the “Torreya Guardians” are working to change that. Here’s one of the members, Fred Bess.
Fred Bess: Our goal, our mission, is to preserve Torreya taxifolia, because of its status as critically endangered. There are less than about 500 trees left in the wild because of a disease that’s killing them.
Andrea Li: They think the tree would be more successful in cooler parts of the US. That’s because according to Fred…
Fred Bess: Move the trees north away from their natural habit, their current natural range, and the disease does not show itself.
Sedi-Anne Blachford: There’s pretty limited research into the tree’s decline, or what moving it will accomplish. But so far, their project is working. The tree has managed to grow in places like Cleveland, Ohio where Fred is, in Connecticut and even in nearby Massachusetts.
Andrea Li: If you look at the Wikipedia page for the Torreya Guardians you can even see a picture of Fred with the tree in his front yard. He looks ecstatic as he stands next to this bulbous green and spiky tree that reaches his shoulder.
Megan Hall: That’s great! But are there any downsides to moving a tree like this into a completely new location?
Sedi-Anne Blachford: To find out, we spoke to Dov Sax, a professor of environment and society at Brown University. He says.
Dov Sax: There are a lot of really interesting ethical questions, everything from, are we obligated to try to save species from human induced climate change to if we do take those actions, are we risking causing more harm?
Andrea Li: He says, one of the biggest concerns is…
Dov Sax: If you move species north of their native range, that they might do too well and become invasive.
Sedi-Anne Blachford: And there are a lot of science questions too. Like what kind of species are likely to become invasive? What habitats are most likely to be invaded? And how much damage do invasive species do?
Andrea Li: The thing is, while scientists have been working on these questions for decades, people like Fred aren’t waiting for the answers.
Fred Bess: If we hadn’t migrated tomatoes to Italy, what would you put on your pasta? What would the Irish do without potatoes, also native to South America?
Andrea Li: Today, if you go to the Guardians’ website, you can see the little saplings growing in the wild, outside of their usual habitat.
Sedi-Anne Blachford: Whether or not that helps save the species, and what the consequences are for other species, remains to be seen.
Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, Andrea and Sedi-Anne!
That’s it for today. You can find more information, or ask a question about the ways your choices affect our planet, at ask possibly dot org. You can also subscribe to Possibly wherever you get your podcasts or follow us on social media at “ask possibly”
Possibly is a co-production of Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society, Ocean State Media, and WBRU
