Beans are moving north

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the main source of protein and nutrients in both Africa and Latin America. This study focused on assessing the impact of climate change and how future climatic scenarios might intensify stress in the plant’s development.

GBIF-mediated data resources used : 108,601 species occurrences
Well-stored common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Well-stored common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) by ICIPE licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the main source of protein and nutrients in both Africa and Latin America. This study focused on assessing the impact of climate change and how future climatic scenarios might intensify stress in the plant’s development. Using mainly GBIF-mediated occurrences, researchers created an ecological niche model to describe current and future bean distributions. The model predicted that by 2100, the Southern Hemisphere might no longer be suitable for bean cultivation, whereas the Northern Hemisphere stands to increase its potential climatic suitability. These findings are essential to strategic planning, especially in developing countries now reliant on beans as a staple crop that are likely to lose the ability to grow it in the future.

Ramirez-Cabral NYZ, Kumar L and Taylor S (2016) Crop niche modeling projects major shifts in common bean growing areas. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Elsevier BV, 102–113. Available at doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.12.002.

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  • Australia
  • Mexico
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  • Agriculture