List of Potential Plant Species for Student Research on Climate Impacts on Plants

List of Potential Plant Species for Student Research on Climate Impacts on Plants

Below is a list of plants that would be good candidates for student research. The goal would be to make some predictions on their response to climate change with regard to geographic distribution, pollination, habitat needs, growth patterns. This list would work nicely with the plants represented in the Ed Tisch Memorial Arboretum ( ) on the Peninsula College campus, but many are very familiar species that may either be represented on college campuses or could be viewed in a field trip to a local arboretum or garden.

Information on vulnerability comes from the following reference:

Devine W, Aubry C, Bower A, Miller J, Maggiulli Ahr N. 2012. Climate change and forest trees of the pacific northwest - a vulnerability assessment and recommended actions for national forests. In:U.S. Department of Agriculture, editor. Olympia, WA: Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. p. 102. Available:

Tree species list from Table on page 16 of the executive summary.

NATIVE TREE SPECIES OF WESTERN WASHINGTON

Group 1: Widespread forest canopy species (with vulnerability scores for Group 1 only)

Vulnerability Score > 50
Alaska yellow-cedar / √ / √
Bigleaf maple / √
Black cottonwood / √
Douglas-fir / √
Engelmann spruce / √ / √
Grand fir / √ / √
Mountain hemlock / √ / √
Noble fir / √
Pacific silver fir / √ / √
Red alder / √
Sitka spruce / √
Subalpine fir / √ / √
Western hemlock / √
Western redcedar / √
Western white pine / √

The report does not specify a vulnerability index on Group 2 or Group 3 species. Any of the species that are represented in the Arboretum might be useful to research for information regarding responses to climate change.

Group 2: Less common or non-canopy species –

Species / Represented in Arboretum
Bitter cherry / √
Black hawthorn and Suksdorf’s hawthorn / √
Cascara / √
Douglas maple / √
Oregon ash / √
Oregon white oak
Pacific dogwood Pacific madrone / √
Pacific willow
Pacific yew / √
Paper birch
Quaking aspen / √
Scouler’s willow
Shore pine and lodgepole pine / √
Western crab apple / √

Group 3: Species rare in western Washington

Species / Represented in Arboretum
Golden chinquapin
Ponderosa pine / √
Rocky mountain juniper / √
Whitebark pine

Here are some other species that are represented in the Arboretum (not mentioned in Devine et al. 2012) that would likely be good candidates for student research on their responses to climate change.

High elevation dependent shrubs in the Arboretum that might be vulnerable due to alpine and subalpine habitat

Rosy spirea - Spiraea splendens (or Spiraea densiflora? – check)

Rocky Mtn juniper -

Microhabitat dependent trees and shrubs in the Arboretum that might be vulnerable due to restricted and specific habitat requirements or climate-limited pollinators-

Madrone – Arbutus menziesii

Ponderosa Pine – Pinus ponderosa

For Peninsula college, final research papers on these plants could be edited and uploaded to the Arboretum website and linked to the species descriptions of the plants. Ideally there would be a new section on Climate Responses by Plants on the website. The text would be generated by this assignment.