Climate change affects bird migration timing in North America

Climate change affects bird migration timing in North America
Geographic variation in phenological response and example trajectories of temperature and arrival date. Credit: Hurlbert AH, Liang Z (2012) Spatiotemporal Variation in Avian Migration Phenology: Citizen Science Reveals Effects of Climate Change. PLoS ONE 7(2): e31662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031662

Bird migration timing across North America has been affected by climate change, according to a study published Feb. 22 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

The results are based on a systematic analysis of observations from amateur birdwatchers. This approach provided access to data for 18 common North American bird species, including orioles, house wrens, and barn swallows, across an unprecedented geographical region.

The researchers, led by Allen Hurlbert of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found that the average arrival time for all species and all locations was shifted earlier by almost a full day for every degree Celsius of warming of the spring temperature, and some species shifted their arrival time by as much as 3-6 days per degree. These results highlight both the power of citizen science for obtaining data, and the potential important impacts of climate change on .

"We now have a much better idea of which parts of the country are seeing big shifts in migration timing, and which species may be least able to adapt to the changing climate", says Dr. Hurlbert.

More information: Hurlbert AH, Liang Z (2012) Spatiotemporal Variation in Avian Migration Phenology: Citizen Science Reveals Effects of Climate Change. PLoS ONE 7(2):e31662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031662

Journal information: PLoS ONE

Citation: Climate change affects bird migration timing in North America (2012, February 22) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2012-02-climate-affects-bird-migration-north.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Climate change plays major role in decline of blackbird species

0 shares

Feedback to editors