The report, a follow-up to a comprehensive report from a year ago showing that almost one-third of the nation's birds are either threatened or in "significant decline," was issued by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Thursday.
From the press release:
"For well over a century, migratory birds have faced stresses such as commercial hunting, loss of forests, the use of DDT and other pesticides, a loss of wetlands and other key habitat, the introduction of invasive species, and other impacts of human development,” Salazar said. “Now they are facing a new threat--climate change--that could dramatically alter their habitat and food supply and push many species towards extinction.”
The study -- take it for what you will -- the release notes, was a collaborative effort of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and several leading conservation organizations.
The idea of an apparently changing climate's effect is not necessarily "news" to anyone who pays close attention to goings on outside in the natural world. For years, the patterns of migratory birds, for example, have seemed to be shifting. And many bird in the northern hemisphere, for example, have also apparently been making their winter sojourn south at later and later times. The question is whether or not the changes have come too fast for species to fully adapt. Or, perhaps more critically, whether they might be starting to come, or in the near future, might, in such a rapid manner as to increase the rate on non adaptive responses.
Salazar seems to at least be hinting at this possibility, suggesting, whether rightly or wrongly, that birds might once again, so to speak, be a sort of "canary in a coal mine:"
“Just as they did in 1962 when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, our migratory birds are sending us a message about the health of our planet,” Salazar said. “That is why--for the first time ever--the Department of the Interior has deployed a coordinated strategy to plan for and respond to the impacts of climate change on the resources we manage.”
The report covers some of the ways in which a rapidly changing climate can negatively effect already threatened bird populations. Among them, as written in the text of the report:
- Altering habitats, allowing for the increase of invasive species. As invasive species expand, they can outcompete native species, leading to the reduction or loss of native plants and wildlife.
- Spreading disease. Distribution of disease patterns and changes in wildlife occurrence will affect the transmission of diseases. It is also expected that infectious diseases will emerge more frequently and in new areas due to climate change.
- Exacerbating the impacts of storm-surge flooding and shoreline erosion. Increasingly developed coastal communities and rising sea level will limit potential habitat for coastal birds.
- Changing the distribution and availability of surface and ground water. Climate change will constrain water resources, further increasing competition among agricultural, municipal, industrial, and wildlife uses.
Time will tell. At least, according to some scientists, however, it is already.
(Cross posted on ScienceClimateandEnergy.com)