The Rock Orchid, Dendrobium speciosum, which grows along the east coast of Australia, has shown us how climate change can drive the evolution and survival of species.

Past climate change drove the evolution of this orchid into two subspecies, increasing its genetic diversity, but future climate change is likely to severely reduce its diversity.

Genetic analysis carried out by researchers at the Australian Tropical Herbarium and the Australian National Herbarium has revealed the rock orchid, once thought to be a group of 11 different species, is a single species made up of a northern subspecies, which grows north of Mackay to Cape Melville in Queensland, and a southern subspecies, which grows south of Rockhampton to Genoa in Victoria.

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