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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Emily Beament

Climate crisis is changing when plants flower, artificial intelligence study finds

Converting pressed plant and fungi collected over the past two centuries into digital records can help transform conservation efforts, highlighted in Kew science team's latest "state of the world's plants and fungi" report - (PA)

Artificial intelligence has unveiled a stark reality: plants worldwide are significantly altering their flowering times due to the escalating climate crisis, a new report has revealed.

A global study, leveraging AI to scrutinise eight million digitised plant specimens spanning a century, found that flowering has shifted by an average of 2.5 days earlier or later per decade. This disruption poses a critical threat to the delicate relationships between plants and their vital pollinators.

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