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Climate change could erase iconic plant species and reshape Earth’s landscapes, scientists warn
- Admin UKK
- Berita
WASHINGTON, May 26 — Some of the plants that make familiar landscapes recognizable may not survive by century’s end as climate change becomes an increasingly important driver of species loss, according to scientists, reshaping and often shrinking suitable habitats that the plants need to survive.
Researchers modelled future ranges for numerous species of vascular plants, a category that accounts for almost all the world’s plants - those with water- and nutrient-carrying tissues. They looked at more than 67,000 species, meaning about 18 per cent of the world’s known vascular plants.
They found that 7 per cent to 16 per cent could lose more than 90 per cent of their range, placing them at high risk of extinction. Examples include Catalina ironwood, or island ironwood, a rare endemic California tree, bluish spike-moss from a plant lineage dating back more than 400 million years, and roughly one third of Eucalyptus species, one of Australia’s most recognizable plant groups.
The researchers came to their estimates after examining millions of records on plant locations as well as greenhouse-gas emissions scenarios for 2081-2100.
A plant’s habitat is not simply a place on a map, but the full array of conditions it needs: temperature, rainfall, soils, land use and landscape features such as shade.
“One way to picture this is to imagine plants trying to follow a moving ‘climate envelope.’ As temperatures warm, many species can shift northward or uphill to stay cool enough. But temperature is only part of the story,” Junna Wang, a Yale University postdoctoral researcher, and Xiaoli Dong, a professor of environmental science and policy at the University of California, Davis, said in joint comments to Reuters.
Wang and Dong helped lead the study published in the journal Science.
In many places, the study indicated, climate change is shrinking these combinations, leaving fewer areas where all the conditions that a species needs still exist together.
For plants, movement, or dispersal, usually happens across generations, via seeds or spores carried by wind, water, animals or gravity. Yet when the researchers compared realistic movement with a scenario in which plants could reach any newly suitable habitat, extinction rates were very similar.
“If slow movement were the main problem, then allowing unlimited dispersal should dramatically reduce extinction risk. But that is not what we found,” Wang and Dong said.
That matters for conservation
“If dispersal limitation were the main driver, then strategies like assisted migration - physically helping species move to new areas - could solve much of the problem. But if climate change is reducing the amount of suitable habitat overall, then simply helping species move may not be enough,” they added.
The projected impacts vary by region. Cold-adapted plants in the Arctic may lose habitat as extreme cold climates shrink. Dry regions, including parts of the western United States and Mediterranean-climate regions, face risk from stronger drought, lower soil moisture and more frequent wildfires. In southern and eastern coastal Australia, coastlines may limit poleward shifts.
At the same time, local plant diversity could rise across about 28 per cent of Earth’s land surface as species move into newly suitable areas, including parts of the tropics and subtropics where increased rainfall - rather than temperature alone - could make conditions suitable for additional species, the researchers found.
They described this as a global reshuffling, with some species disappearing from parts of their historical range while others move into new areas, but said local gains do not mean plants are doing better overall.
These shifts could also create “novel communities” - combinations of plants that have not historically lived together but would begin encountering one another for the first time. How would these interactions play out? The researchers said they do not know.
Plants underpin most terrestrial ecosystems. They store carbon, stabilize soils, support wildlife and provide food, timber, medicines and other materials. So changes in plant diversity can have cascading effects on nature and people.
“If climate change reduces vegetation cover, ecosystems may absorb less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which can further intensify warming. That creates a feedback loop in which climate change harms plants, and reduced plant cover/productivity in turn worsens climate change,” Wang and Dong said.
“Ultimately, protecting plant diversity is not only about conserving nature for its own sake - it is also about maintaining the ecological systems that support human societies,” they said. — Reuters
PUTRAJAYA, 25 Mei: Pesawah di utara Semenanjung Malaysia dijangka dapat memulakan aktiviti penanaman padi dalam masa terdekat susulan bekalan air yang semakin pulih.
Menteri Pertanian dan Keterjaminan Makanan, Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu berkata, ketika tinjauan beliau ke Perlis semalam, kawasan petak sawah didapati telah menerima bekalan air manakala paras air empangan juga menunjukkan peningkatan.
“Saya nampak semalam saya pergi ke Perlis, saya lalu dengan kereta dan nampak semua sawah telah ada air, barangkali mereka menunggu selepas Raya Haji dan akan mula menanam.
“Air di petak telah ada serta air empangan mula meningkat (dan) saya yakin mereka dapat lakukan dalam masa terdekat,” katanya selepas merasmikan Pusat Informasi Pertanian Kebuniti atau Gardentopia di Wisma Tani, hari ini.
Mohamad mengulas kebimbangan dibangkitkan Pertubuhan Persaudaraan Pesawah Malaysia (PeSAWAH) di kawasan Lembaga Kemajuan Pertanian Muda (MADA) semalam yang memaklumkan hanya kira-kira 10 peratus daripada 56,000 pesawah telah memulakan penanaman padi.
Situasi itu berpunca daripada kebimbangan terhadap bekalan air serta peningkatan kos operasi yang menyebabkan sebahagian besar pesawah masih belum memulakan aktiviti penanaman.
Mohamad dalam pada itu berkata, faktor cuaca sememangnya memberi kesan terhadap keputusan pesawah, namun keadaan semasa menunjukkan bekalan air kini semakin mencukupi.
“Keadaan perubahan cuaca ini bukan kita boleh cakap, kerana orang yang menanam mahu tanaman itu mendatangkan hasil.
“Tetapi melihat keadaan sekarang, saya agak air semua sudah mencukupi dan kita harap mereka dapat menanam selepas ini. MADA juga sentiasa memantau penanaman padi,” ujarnya lagi. -TVS
Putrajaya: Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat Malaysia (JBPM) Wilayah Persekutuan (WP) Putrajaya menggerakkan anggotanya untuk memantau situasi kenaikan air di sebuah pusat beli-belah di sini, susulan hujan lebat berterusan hari ini.
Penolong Pengarah Bahagian Operasi Kebombaan dan Penyelamat JBPM WP Putrajaya Muhamad Haziq Hazmi berkata, pihaknya menerima laporan berkaitan kenaikan air di kawasan itu dan pemantauan segera dilaksanakan bagi memastikan keadaan terkawal serta tidak melibatkan sebarang mangsa.
Sementara itu, beliau berkata, JBPM WP Putrajaya juga telah menerima beberapa aduan berkaitan kejadian air bertakung dan kawasan berisiko banjir susulan hujan lebat melanda sekitar Putrajaya bermula dari pukul 3 hingga 4 petang tadi.
Susulan itu, pihak bomba melalui Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Presint 7 serta BBP Presint 14 telah melaksanakan rondaan dan pemantauan di beberapa lokasi tumpuan bagi memastikan keadaan selamat dan terkawal.
DUA petani, Siriporn dan Amnat Taidee sebelum ini membakar sawah mereka di antara musim penanaman, kaedah lazim membersihkan sisa tanaman yang sering kali mencetus jerebu toksik di sebahagian besar Thailand.
Kaedah itu cepat dan murah untuk menyediakan kitaran penanaman baharu dan sejak sekian lama dianggap satu-satunya pilihan praktikal bagi jutaan pesawah di negara itu.
Namun kini, pasangan dari Chiang Rai itu sudah meninggalkan cara lama dan beralih kepada penyelesaian mikrob yang membawa manfaat lebih besar.
Dengan bantuan bakteria yang memakan sisa tanaman selepas tuaian, tanah mereka kini menjadi lebih subur, hasil meningkat malah kos baja juga semakin berkurangan.
“Kehidupan saya berubah. Saya sangat gembira. Kami kini tidak perlu membakar lagi,” kata Siriporn, 63, ketika berjalan di sawah menghijau di Chiang Rai.
Setiap tahun antara Januari hingga April, asap daripada sisa tanaman, kebakaran hutan dan pelepasan industri ditambah jerebu dari negara jiran menolak kualiti udara Thailand ke tahap berbahaya.
Permintaan terhadap formulasi baharu untuk menguraikan jerami meningkat mendadak sejak kerajaan menguatkuasakan tindakan tegas terhadap pembakaran terbuka beberapa tahun lalu.
Keluarga Taidee merupakan antara yang terawal beralih kepada produk dikenali sebagai Soil Digest yang dibangunkan saintis Thailand menggunakan lima strain bakteria Bacillus, salah satunya berasal daripada kacang soya yang ditapai secara tradisional.
Siriporn berkata, larutan itu menguraikan sisa jerami yang teruk dalam masa beberapa hari dan membantu memulihkan tanah.
“Padi tumbuh dengan baik dan tanah semakin subur. Teknologi mikrob ini benar-benar mengubah keadaan,” jelasnya.
Setakat ini, kira-kira 2,000 daripada 100,000 pesawah di Chiang Rai, antara wilayah utama penanaman padi Thailand mula beralih kepada teknologi mikrob itu.
Di Pathum Thani, wilayah penanaman padi di tengah Thailand, petani Samart Atthong membelanjakan 1,200 baht (RM145) untuk mengupah dron pertanian menyembur Soil Digest di sawahnya.
“Orang mungkin hanya nampak kos tambahan awal daripada penggunaan mikrob, tetapi mereka perlu melihat dalam jangka panjang. Apabila tanah pulih, kita tidak perlu lagi membeli banyak baja. Di tempat saya, pembakaran hampir sifar,” katanya.
Melangkah dalam udara dipenuhi debu yis, Saintis Thailand, Wichien Yongmanitchai memantau rapi mesin menghasilkan campuran mikrob ciptaannya.
Beliau memulakan dengan mengasingkan strain bakteria tempatan, yakin bakteria asli lebih sesuai dengan persekitaran tropika Thailand. Beliau juga berharap ciptaannya itu dapat menyelesaikan krisis jerebu tahunan Thailand.
Tanpa rawatan mikrob, jerami padi mengambil masa sekitar 30 hari untuk cukup lembut bagi dibajak tetapi larutannya hanya mengambil lima hingga tujuh hari. Ujian awal menunjukkan peningkatan hasil sehingga 20 peratus.
Wichien juga berkata, bakteria itu mampu mengurangkan pelepasan metana dari sawah sekurang-kurangnya 20 peratus, membantu Thailand memenuhi komitmen iklimnya.
“Ini antara manfaat terbesar untuk mencapai neutral karbon di sawah padi,” katanya.
Namun beliau sedar operasi kecilnya tidak mampu mencapai 20 juta petani di Thailand sendirian. Tanpa sokongan kerajaan dan korporat, jurang itu mungkin sukar diatasi.
Pakar bebas bersetuju teknologi ini berpotensi tetapi memberi amaran sistem sokongan perlu berubah.
Sebagai permulaan, beliau mencadangkan subsidi bersyarat yang dikaitkan dengan komitmen tidak membakar yang digabungkan bersama akses mesin dan pendidikan kepada petani.
Wichien kini melihat produknya melangkau ke sawah di seluruh Asia Tenggara dan akhirnya Afrika.
“Saya tidak mahu apa-apa lagi. Saya hanya mahu memastikan ia berjaya,” katanya. –UTUSAN
Putrajaya reports no new deaths from Covid-19 this year as Singapore battles fresh wave
- Admin UKK
- Berita
KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The current Covid-19 situation in Malaysia remains stable and has shown a significant downward trend compared to last year, with no deaths recorded so far this year.
The Ministry of Health (MOH), in a statement today, said although neighbouring countries have recently reported an increase in cases, the number of Covid-19 cases in the country up to Epidemiological Week (EW) 19/2026 had declined by 12.6 per cent (9,682 cases) compared to the same period last year.
“Although there was a 0.7 per cent increase (575 cases compared to EW18/2026), the situation remains under control.
“This is because the vast majority of reported cases only involve mild symptoms that do not require hospital treatment, and no Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded thus far this year,” the statement said.
The ministry said continuous genomic sequencing activities had also detected several new subvariants within the community, but the variants did not show any tendency to trigger a serious wave of infections.
“The ministry will continue to strengthen traveller screening at International Entry Points and cooperate with the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) in monitoring activities and public health preparedness to ensure early detection and immediate action can be implemented should there be an increased risk of Covid-19 transmission from abroad,” it said.
MOH said Covid-19 infections are now being managed under the category of common respiratory tract infections such as the common cold and influenza.
In this regard, the public is advised to continue practising self-healthcare measures, including maintaining hand hygiene, wearing face masks when symptomatic or in crowded areas, and obtaining vaccination protection.
“Vaccination is highly encouraged, especially for high-risk groups such as senior citizens, individuals with chronic illnesses, immunocompromised groups, and pregnant women to reduce the risk of infection complications.
“These vaccination services are available at selected government health clinics nationwide,” the statement said.
Recently, Singapore was reported to be monitoring a rise in Covid-19 cases after 12,700 cases were recorded for the week of May 10 to 16, compared to 8,000 cases in the previous week. — Bernama