Community | March 11, 2010 | 4 comments

Feds: U.S. birds declining due to changing climate

source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/03/feds-us-birds-declining-due...

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WakeUpPeople
Nearly one-third of U.S. bird species "are endangered, threatened or in significant decline," due to climate change, Department of the Interior chief Ken Salazar said Thursday.

Salazar issued a report, "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change", created by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in collaboration with conservation groups. In it, researchers looked at five factors affecting bird species and weighed them against climate change effects. The factors were migratory vulnerability, breeding ground vulnerability, specialization to particular ecological niches, ability to move home terrains and breeding pattern robustness.

"The results indicate that a majority of birds dependent on oceans, and birds on Hawaiian Islands, are highly vulnerable to climate change," says the report summary. All 67 species of oceanic birds, such as petrels and albatrosses, nest on islands that face flooding from rising sea levels.

For threatened mainland species such as the golden-cheeked warbler, whooping crane, and spectacled eider, "the added vulnerability to climate change may hasten declines or prevent recovery." And common birds such as the American oystercatcher, nighthawk, and northern pintail "are likely to become species of conservation concern as a result of climate change."

"Birds are excellent indicators of the health of our environment, and right now they are telling us an important story about climate change," said Dr. Kenneth Rosenberg, director of Conservation Science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, in a statement on the report. "Many species of conservation concern will face heightened threats, giving us an increased sense of urgency to protect and conserve vital bird habitat."
  1. groups:
    Community,   Green,   Progressive America,   Humanism,   2 more
  2. tags:
    Climate Change,  Animal Protection,  Birds,  Animal Rights - Not Animal Welfare,  15 more
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4 comments // Feds: U.S. birds declining due to changing climate

  • dariusvons
    • 0
      dariusvons  

    • climate change isn't killing these animals, we are. paving over nesting sites, draining marshes, diverting rivers... it's us. not the climate. life can adapt to climate change.

      for example spruce trees and the last ice age... there were abundant spruce trees in the southern states of the US durring the last ice age, but now practicly none. why? simple, their habitat moved north with the ice and the south became too warm and humid for them... the spruce trees in the north didn't evolve up there... they evoled to fit a habitate that shifts with climate and so they are found where that climate just happens to be at the time. if the ice sheets come back the trees will be pushed further south again... all life does this. these birds are experiencing a similar problem. they must move with the climate, but humans have been taking away more and more places they could move to.

    • 2 years ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • EthicalVegan
    • 0
      EthicalVegan  

    • Sad and sobering. And yet, who gives a damn?! Word MUST be spread in a way to reach the masses... those who are still incapable of thinking for themselves, and need a good mental slap in the face.

      I'm so glad you posted this, and so sorry that it needed to be posted.

    • 2 years ago
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