Blogs
How are birds and their connection to the ecosystem threatened by Climate change?
Our Song bird population is already being affected by climate change. The change in suitable temperature range and timing caused by climate change throws off every aspect of a bird's schedule (from mating times to egg laying to migration dates) and region (local region with correct temperature, habitat and food sources. In the past 40 years North american land birds have been found on average 47 miles further north than the traditional range.) This shift in timing and location is detrimental because not every aspect of the birds environment will change at the same rate, so food will be scarcer at times and suitable habitat will be less available, causing new competition between species.
The species that are most at risk are the migratory birds that follow temperature cues from their region for specific activities (like their arrival and departure dates during migration.) This is a problem because with the migration shift there will be a mismatch between bird behavior and their environment. They will start laying eggs too early, they'll arrive before sufficient populations of insects are present and the required egg laying temperatures will be out of sync with the availability of habitat.
These changes will cause entire species to starve or miss brooding seasons and will cause the mass reduction and extinction of bird species, particularly bird that migrate, rely on water, and species that are sensitive to changes in habitat. to give an idea of how quickly the changes will occur, 30% of migratory songbirds may go extinct with a change in temperature of 2.0 degrees Celsius. It won't take much to change the change the traditional rituals of Ontario's birds, and soon our birds will be gone forever.
1. http://naturecanada.ca/what-we-do/bird-conservatio...
2. http://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/2007/index44c...
3. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/probl...
4. http://web4.audubon.org/news/pressroom/bacc/pdfs/B...
5. http://heritagetoronto.org/climate-change-and-bird...
