A new study reveals how plants have evolved to cope with the cold, but as VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports, these same mechanisms may not provide the same defense against human-induced climate change in a rapidly warming world.
The Study of Plant Evolution
![Sunrise through an oak-hickory forest canopy at Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jonathan Myers)](https://gdb.voanews.com/BE155A93-5D09-4DE3-BA67-A5C290C6EF3E_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
1
Sunrise through an oak-hickory forest canopy at Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jonathan Myers)
![The leaves of a sugar maple start to yellow as winter approaches, Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jonathan Myers)](https://gdb.voanews.com/13DE3A0F-BBED-47BE-B99B-0522B6397F03_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
2
The leaves of a sugar maple start to yellow as winter approaches, Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. (Jonathan Myers)
![An ornamental cherry tree loses its leaves in the fall at the Tidal Basin, Washington, DC. (Amy Zanne)](https://gdb.voanews.com/6DE2A371-86D1-47B1-8F07-FB0ED2D73527_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
3
An ornamental cherry tree loses its leaves in the fall at the Tidal Basin, Washington, DC. (Amy Zanne)
![A frost covered dandelion head spreads as winter arrives at the University of Idaho Arboretum, Moscow, Idaho. (Simon Uribe-Convers)](https://gdb.voanews.com/0CEB8164-68EE-463C-B76D-DC683CA86468_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
5
A frost covered dandelion head spreads as winter arrives at the University of Idaho Arboretum, Moscow, Idaho. (Simon Uribe-Convers)