Climate change is truly changing our planet in unimaginable ways. From the increasing intensity of hurricanes to causing green algae to appear in icy-cold regions of the Antarctic.?
And now, it might even be causing birds to change the way they breed.
This is according to research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (reported first by Phys.Org) conducted by Clark Rushing, Assistant Professor at the Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Centre, Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, and his colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey.?
They looked at data from the ¡®Breeding Bird Survey¡¯ which is actually regarded as one of the oldest and longest citizen-science programmes in the whole world.?
Andy Royle, a USGS senior scientists and co-author of the study explains, ¡°Thousands of devoted volunteers, cooperators, and a joint U.S.-Canadian wildlife management team have contributed to the success of the surveys for the last 54 years. The Breeding Bird Survey is fundamental to our understanding and management of wild bird populations in North America."
They combined this with state of the art computer models to look for changes in breeding patterns for 32 species of birds across eastern North America.?
They found that some birds are expanding their ranges. Birds that both breed and winter in northern America are stretching their ranges further north to take advantage of warm places to breed. They¡¯re also maintaining their southern ranges. This data indicates good news that some bird species (like the red-bellied woodpeckers and Carolina wrens) could not have any impact of future climate change on them.
Researchers also saw the range of some birds shrinking. Neotropica migratory birds (like buntings, warblers, orioles and flycatchers) breed in North America in the summer and migrate to the Caribbean, Central America and South America during winters. However, the research shows that they¡¯re not expanding to the north with their southern ranges reducing.?
What¡¯s worse is that over the last 50 years, Neotropical birds have seen a drop in population by about 2.5 billion individuals. Rushing explains, "There's a real risk that, if these declines continue at their current pace, many species could face extinction within this century. Neotropical migrants are vulnerable to future climate change, putting them at risk of greater declines."
Now this occurrence is strange as Neotropical birds generally are known to fly thousands of kilometres every year to breed. So what¡¯s really changed with the climate warming? Researchers feel the conditions where the birds are residing during winter could be the reason behind this.?
It is no news that migrating from one place to another requires a good deal of energy, with abundant food and moisture. Sadly, many habitats in the Caribbean, Central and Southern America are being degraded, due to which the birds can¡¯t store enough energy during winter, forcing them to not extend their journeys farther.?
Rushing concluded stating, "That's just one explanation and it highlights how little we know and how much more research is needed."