Going back 22 000 years into the past and projecting 50 years into the future, ecologists from Stellenbosch
University simulated the palaeo- and future geographic range of the quiver tree, Aloidendron dichotomum,
previously known as Aloe dichotoma. This iconic tree occurs in the arid landscapes of Namibia and South Africa’s
Northern Cape, and the ecologists hoped to understand how its past response to natural climate change could be
used to predict its future response to anthropogenic, or human-induced, climate change.