John Leonard said:
"Any changes as a result of global warming would be against a background of
general habitat fragmentation, alternation and destruction that has been the
case since Europeans arrived in Australia."
John makes an extremely valid point here. While I join the majority of
people in the belief that humans are contributing significantly to global
warming, I think we must be careful about attributing ALL recent ecological
trends to climate change. I believe that habitat clearance, fragmentation
and degradation has altered the distributions of many Australian bird
species, either as range reductions or expansions, depending on the species.
Increased predation and competition between species has also influenced the
distribution of many bird species.
While there is strong scientific evidence that links climate change with
changes in distribution and abundance, migration times and breeding times of
bird species, it seems as if in the last 10 or so years we have largely
forgotten these other influences, which may or may not be greater than the
influence of global warming.
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde NSW
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