The Mojave Desert has seen disappearing rainfall over the last 100 years due to climate change. This has led to around 30 percent of the bird species and 43 percent of all species in the area to all but disappear from the numbers that existed in the region a century ago. A new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, were able to make these calculations based on the very strong note-taking established by Joseph Grinnell who first surveyed the area beginning in 1908.
"Deserts are harsh environments, and while some species might have adaptations that allow them to persist in a desert spot, they are also at their physiological limits," said Kelly Iknayan, who conducted the survey for her doctoral thesis at UC Berkeley. "California deserts have already experienced quite a bit of drying and warming because of climate change, and this might be enough to push birds over the edge. It seems like we are losing part of the desert ecosystem." [...]
Though the decline has happened across the entire Mojave Desert, sites with available water saw less decline, suggesting that dehydration is a major factor. To halt further losses, the authors suggest, it may be necessary in the short-term to create additional water resources and limit groundwater pumping, which depletes desert springs. The best long-term solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change, the authors say.
Not all of the bird populations have been hurt. Raptors, who survive on meat, have been able to thrive, being less affected by diminishing plant life. The turkey vulture, for example eats the remains of dead animals. I suspect that this is the natural model people like the Kochs, Trump, and Secretary Ryan Zinke are considering when they leech the planet of its resources and hope to feed off of the carcasses left in its ruin.