Smithsonian Magazine
October 20th, 2020
To adapt to climate change, some flowers are darkening their hue to protect themselves from the sun’s radiation, new research shows.
Around the globe, plant and animal species have tweaked their reproductive strategies, shifted their home ranges, and altered their appearance as they quickly adapt to the effects of climate change—and flowers are no exception.
A new study published in the journal Current Biology suggests that over the past 75 years, the ultraviolet (UV) pigments in flowers have increased in response to rising temperatures and a thinning ozone layer, reports Lucy Hicks for Science. Their analysis revealed that UV pigmentation went up by an average of 2 percent per year from 1941 to 2017. The flowers won’t look any different to humans, since we can’t see UV radiation, but pollinators perceive the higher levels of pigment as a darker hue, which could be confusing when they try to scope out colorful flowers to land on.
