As the climate warms, sugar maples expanding their populations uphill could outrun their insect predators and flourish on the 'happy edge' of their range.

Morgane Urli and her colleagues at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, transplanted two-year-old sugar maples (Acer saccharum) uphill to sites just at, and beyond, their current elevation range limit. Some were given protection from herbivores. Of seedlings without protection, more than 75% at the range edge and beyond survived, compared with just 30% at the centre of the current range. The difference narrowed markedly in protected plants, suggesting that the increased survival was largely due to 'enemy release' at and beyond the current range.

Previously, the team showed that seed predation beyond elevation range limits is very high. However, those few seeds that do escape can look forward to a healthy future.

Ecology http://doi.org/bp5t (2016)