Proponents of 'Assisted Migration' Try to Rescue the Torreya Pine, Threatened by Climate Change. By Chris Berdik, BGlobe, October 12, 2008. "Only several hundred Torreya pines remain in the wild, clinging to a few ravines by Florida's Apalachicola River, less than 1 percent of the stock a century ago. Most of the survivors are stunted and unable to produce seed. The most common explanation for the tree's downfall is the repeated disease infestations that set upon it in the second half of the last century. But [others] have their eyes on another culprit: Florida is too hot... They are trying to save the species from global warming... This mission of the Torreya Guardians, as they are known, represents the first deliberate implementation of a radical conservation idea known as 'assisted migration.' As the planet warms, many plants and animals are pushing toward the poles, or to higher elevations, in search of comfortable habitat... Some species may not be able to find their way over, around, or through all of this to cooler climes, and so some scientists are entertaining the idea of giving them a hand."
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