New PNAS paper finds that urban trees may skew climate change predictions
A new study led by Meghan Blumstein (University of Virginia) and Sophie Webster (Harvard University) reveals that urban trees respond differently to warming than rural forests due to low genetic diversity. This can lead to inaccurate climate models, as urban heat island data underestimates changes like earlier leaf-out. Co-author David Basler contributed to the study’s field sampling and led the phenology analysis using drone imagery while at working at Harvard University, before joining the PPE group in Basel in 2019.