A new study by a scientist in South Africa suggests agricultural crops may be more susceptible to climate change than has previously been thought.

Wits University scientist Dr Kelsey Glennon claims plants will not be able to adapt as quickly to climate change as some scientists previously believed. Glennon has overturned a long-standing hypothesis about plant speciation (the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution), suggesting that agricultural crops could be more vulnerable to climate change than was previously thought.

Unlike humans and most other animals, plants carry multiple copies of their genes – in fact some can have more than 50 duplicates of their genomes in every cell. Scientists used to believe that these extra genomes helped polyploids survive in new and extreme environments, like the tropics or the Arctic, promoting the establishment of new species.

However, working as part of an international team of scientists, Dr Glennon tested the long-standing hypothesis and found that it didn't stand up; Glennon and her colleagues discovered that, more often than not, polyploids shared the same habitats as their close relatives with normal genome sizes. The study looked at plant species in Europe and North America.

She explained, "This means that environmental factors do not play a large role in the establishment of new plant species and that maybe other factors, like the ability to spread your seeds to new locations with similar habitats, are more important."

"This study has implications for agriculture and climate change because all of our important crops are polyploids and they might not be much better at adapting to changing climate than their wild relatives if they live in similar climates," she elaborated.