Climate Change May Reduce Winter Migration Of Birds And Their Population

Birds migrating from Europe to southern regions such as Africa could gradually come to a halt thanks to climate change, claims a new study.

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This is according to a study, published in Global Change Biology, conducted by author Keiran Lawrence, who¡¯s an ecologist at Durham University.

For the study, Lawrence and his colleagues looked at data on local bird sightings collected by ornithologists in the Gambia from 1964 to 2019 and members of the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society from 1991 to 2018.

Researchers looked at changes in migratory birds' arrival and departure dates over time while comparing changes in climate and vegetation along the way.

They found that birds are arriving at their winter migration destinations later into the autumn than they did before. Moreover, they were also heading back north earlier during spring.

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Lawrence explains, ¡°If the trends we have seen in this study continue we may see that, in time, some birds will spend no time at all in sub-Saharan Africa, and instead spend the full year within Europe. The changes in migratory habits we are already seeing could lead to longer breeding seasons for these species, as well as knock-on effects on other species ¡ª both here in the UK and in the traditional winter migration destinations.¡±

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He added, ¡°In Europe, the longer presence of traditionally migratory birds could lead to increased competition for autumn/winter food and resources for resident bird species that do not migrate. Meanwhile, in the traditional migration destinations of sub-Saharan Africa, a reduction in the time migratory birds spend there could have implications for ecosystem services such as insect consumption, seed dispersal and pollination.¡±

Stephen Willis, a bioscientist at Durham further stated that the team is now working on a new model being developed at Durham to simulate these complex migrations that could be applied to future scenarios to understand how the patterns we have identified in trans-Saharan birds over recent decades could continue or change.

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