Impact of climate change on medicinal plants in the Canadian boreal forests and Subarctic

Climate change is rapidly impacting the Arctic, and the Boreal forest in Canada. Perception of changes is vivid amongst Inuit and First Nations who have voiced their concerns regarding the rapid pace of change and its impacts on medicinal plants. Some Indigenous people have mentioned that berries are now bigger and more watery or burnt in the tundra. A few Inuit shared their observations regarding medicinal roots, berries, leaves as tasting differently than some 30 years ago. Following Inuit’s and Indigenous people’s advice, we have sampled a number of medicinal plants along a latitudinal gradient: Labrador Tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum ), Pitcher Plant ( Sarracenia purpurea ), Mountain Ash ( Sorbus decora ), Black Spruce ( Picea mariana ) as well as different berry producing plants (redberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea ; crowberry, Empetrum nigrum ; bog bilberry, Vaccinium uliginosum ). We have used key metabolites and gene expressions to understand how environmental factors linked to latitude have modulated their concentrations. Bioassays have been used as well (antioxidant; adipogenesis). Berries were harvested between 2008 to 2011 from eight locales in the Canadian Arctic. At each sites, berries were compared between Open Top Chambers and controls plots. Although there’s a trend of decreasing concentration over the years, results were not significant. Latitude did impact metabolite concentration with higher concentration at higher latitude until species reach their northern limit. A long term study is necessary to capture the direction of changes in metabolites. Medicinal plants in the Arctic are also impacted by shrubification, change in phenology, and pollinators. That’s why some plants like it cold! Publication History Article published online: 05 March 2026 © 2026. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany