Plant Reproduction in a Warming World: Uncovering the Adaptability of Mass Flowering to Climate Change

Mass flowering, i.e. the synchronized, interannual production of pollen, underderpins forest regeneration and provides essential ecosystem services to people and wildlife. However, whether mass flowering will persist on a warming planet remains uncertain. This project will use fossil pollen DNA and morphology to investigate how past periods of global warming affected mass flowering of key tree species and to predict future trends. The grant will fund a PhD student and a postdoc.