Food systems across island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific are particularly vulnerable, being hit hard by a combination of heat waves, droughts, and unseasonal rain. And the impact of climate change in these areas is likely to increase significantly in the next decade, especially for farmers of the most common staples like corn, wheat, and soy.

But there is one crop that loves the heat and is not easily discouraged by swings in the weather. It is called breadfruit, and it is undergoing a quiet revival in its Pacific island and Caribbean homelands, where people are hoping that the tree, and its produce, will thrive in a climate-changed future.

“There’s not really a climate that is too hot for breadfruit,” says Russell Fielding, a geographer at Coastal Carolina University….

The range of where these trees can grow is steadily expanding as temperatures rise worldwide, and owing to their wide-spreading root system, breadfruit trees are virtually indestructible. They survive hurricanes, Fielding says, and can also grow near salty or brackish water, a big plus as ocean levels continue to inch up.

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