North American Birds Still Not Fully Adjusted Due to Climate Change, New Study Finds

Some North American bird species have not entirely changed their ranges in response to current climate change.

The habitats of these birds have gotten increasingly disconnected from their ideal climatic conditions, while other aspects of the ecosystem have become more restrictive.

This tendency of climate decoupling is especially evident for habitat specialists and decreasing species.

These are the findings of research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution by the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), and the Doana Biological Station.

Climate decoupling caused by continuing climate change may put additional strain on many bird species and accelerate population reductions.

North American bird adjustment to changing climate

(Photo : Boris Smokrovic/Unsplash)

Plants and animals face a multitude of issues as a result of climate change. For example, when the climate changes, many species' acceptable climatic circumstances vary, and others may perish entirely, as per ScienceDaily.

This is likely to worsen when the climate changes in tandem with some other human-caused changes, including land usage for agriculture or other purposes.

Climate decoupling occurs when there is a growing divergence here between climatic conditions favorable for a given species and its abundances throughout time.

A research team led by iDiv, Leipzig University, and MLU examined the best available evidence on bird population changes over time from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), and discovered that at least 30 of 114 species of North American birds, or 26%, have become less well adapted to their climate over the last 30 years.

This means that throughout time, their distributions and abundances became progressively detached from climate.

The causes may range depending on the species.

Some animals may choose to stay in regions where they have previously resided.

Meanwhile, some species may be hampered by climate-independent resources and habitats.

Furthermore, certain species may be diminishing as a result of global changes and hence unable to adapt to changing climate.

Around 10% of the species investigated showed positive time trends in climate matching, indicating that they were more related to climate through time.

There was less support for substantial temporal changes in climate matching for the other species, suggesting that the adjustment of their abundances and ranges to climate remained more stable across time.

Climate decoupling was found to be more common among habitat specialists than among generalists, according to the researchers.

In increasingly altered environments, these specialists may have a more difficult time locating the proper mix of acceptable habitat and climate conditions.

Also Read: Large Mammals Can Play a Major Role in Reducing Effects of Climate Change

Animal adaptation we can learn

According to Thor Hanson, a biologist, in this period of fast change, he believed that generalists with adaptable habits and the ability to roll with the punches will thrive.

They have a significant advantage over specialized species that only perform one thing, as per Brightly.

Since specialized species cannot adapt as easily as generic ones, they become susceptible. However, there is an advantage to determining which species are endangered: experts can devise strategies to assist them.

According to Hanson, humans, like animals, adapt to changes in the environment.

Consider the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2004.

The city and the citizens who remained after the disaster worked hard to adjust to life in a hurricane-prone area. For protection, they constructed a new seawall.

However, migration is another aspect of nature, and many New Orleans citizens fled the city because the environment wasn't any longer acceptable to them.