Photos: California wildflowers managed to outsmart the worst drought conditions in a century
Mar 22, 2016; 12:00 PM ET Storms from October created the perfect conditions for a spring superbloom of wildflowers in Death Valley, California.
California wildflowers outsmarted the extreme drought that has gripped the state, a new study found.
Native wildflowers banked seeds underground at a higher rate than normal, proving their resiliency during drought conditions.
Researchers at UC Davis found that seeds of native wildflowers increased by 201 percent underground from 2012-2014. Above ground, seeds increased by 14 percent.
The study used a sample of 22,000 seedlings from a reserve in Northern California.
In this Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016 photo, wildflowers bloom near Badwater Basin in Death Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
California suffered the most severe drought conditions in the last century from 2012-2014, according to a 2014 study.
“Seed banking is a form of bet-hedging,” said Marina LaForgia, lead author of the study and a graduate student at UC Davis' Department of Plant Sciences.
Wildflowers and other plants can store seeds in soil, saving them for the future in better conditions.
Wildflowers are a low risk, low reward type of better, she said, while grass takes a riskier approach.
However, extended drought conditions still pose a threat to the wildflower population.
“...more frequent, severe or prolonged future droughts could eventually exceed these native species’ capacity to put more and more seeds into the seed bank for their long-term survival," LaForgia said.
Still, some of the toughest wildflowers were beating the odds during the worst of the drought. Drought-tolerant wildflowers increased by 13 percent above the ground.
California wildflowers, such as these miniature lupine and denseflower Indian paintbrush flowers, were more resilient to the recent drought than they may have appeared. (Credit: Marina LaForgia/UC Davis)
Their below-ground seed banks grew by more than a staggering 260 percent as the flowers adapted to the arduous conditions.
LaForgia said it is important to think about what is happening below the ground during similar drought events, not just what the eyes can see.
Grass takes a nearly immediate and visible hit during drought, and is not as tolerant as native wildflowers. The study suggested that native annual wildflowers should be a more integral part of restoration works when drought conditions subside.
Native California wildflowers include poppies, bluebells, buttercups, clovers, and hundreds more. According to the California Native Plant Society, there are more than 2,000 annuals native to California.
In this March 19, 2017, photo, visitors walk among the poppy bloom at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, Calif. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Gilia blooms in Lancaster, Calif. (Flickr photo/tdlucas5000)
Poppies cover a hill in Southern California in 2014. (Flickr photo/tdlucas5000)
