http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080729234302.htm
European Birds Flock To Warming Britain, While Some Northern Species
Not Faring As Well
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2008) — Researchers at Durham, the RSPB and
Cambridge University have found that birds such as the Cirl Bunting
and Dartford Warbler are becoming more common across a wide range of
habitats in Britain as temperatures rise.
Unfortunately, some northern species, such as the Fieldfare and
Redwing, are not faring quite so well and their numbers are falling.
Researchers looked at twenty-five year population trends of 42 bird
species in relation to changes in climatic suitability simulated using
climatic envelope models.
Professor Brian Huntley from The Institute of Ecosystem Science at
Durham University says: "The results are what we expected to find
given the changes in climate over the last 20 years.
"Because the UK is in the middle Latitudes of Europe, we expected that
recent climatic warming would favour species with ranges located in
the south of Europe and adversely affect northern species."
Bird spotters may have to refer to new books to identify some of the
new visitors to our shores but Britons who've visited the
Mediterranean region may recognise the increasing presence of the
famously explosive song of Cetti's Warbler.
Northern species that are under threat also include the Slavonian
Grebe, a bird whose range extends at its southern margins to Scotland.
The Fieldfare and Redwing - birds that are familiar as winter visitors
to bird tables and gardens in the north-east but that breed only
locally in parts of Scotland - are also suffering a downturn in numbers.
The models used to explore these trends are the same models that have
been used to predict long term changes in all bird species across
Europe; Durham's ornithological expert Brian Huntley has compiled 'A
Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds' to map potential changes in
distribution of all of the continent's regularly occurring nesting
birds. His work shows the need for urgent action on climatic change to
avoid calamitous impacts on birds.
The new work has important implications for predicting future trends.
Researchers can now look at what has happened in the past to help
predict the future species and numbers of birds in
Britain.==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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