BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Climate 'hitting Europe's birds'

Description

Climate change is already having an impact on European bird species, according to British scientists.

Details of the study by an international team of researchers have been published in the journal Plos One.

Some birds are expected to do well as temperatures rise, but these are in the minority, the researchers write.

"Overall, the trend is towards net loss," said a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which contributed to the study.

Strong Link

The researchers found birds that are expected to do well as temperatures rise had indeed increased in number since the 1980s.

But some 75% of species studied by the researchers had declined in the same period.

The study compared the change in population numbers of bird species over the last two decades with the projected change in their ranges and found a strong link.

These shifts in species territory are thought to be associated with climate change.

Of the 122 species included in the study (out of 526 species that nest in Europe), 30 are projected to increase their range, while the remaining 92 species are anticipated to experience a contraction in their territory.

Rising temperatures

The latter group includes the lapwing, currently found throughout the UK as well as much of western Europe. That however, is predicted to change with the Lapwing disappearing from areas of southern Europe as temperatures change.

The scientists developed a measure, which they call the climate change indicator, to describe how changes in temperature are affecting species.

Rising temperatures are likely to have a positive effect on some species, said co-author Dr Stephen Willis, from Durham University. This means some birds are likely to extend their ranges north.

That means some mainland species could colonise the British Isles if they continue to respond to climatic ...

Original URL

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921936.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7921936.stm