A major study looking at changes in where UK birds have been found over the past 40 years has validated the latest climate change models being used to forecast impacts on birds and other animals.
A major study looking at changes in where UK birds have been found over the past 40 years has validated the latest climate change models being used to forecast impacts on birds and other animals.
Led by the University of Adelaide, in collaboration with an international team of researchers, the scientists compared forecasts from ecological models with observed changes to the bird populations – and found the latest models were working well.
“Models have been developed in recent years to predict how the area where a bird species lives – known as its range – will change as the climate does,” says lead author Dr Damien Fordham from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute.
“The results show that the enormous effort being invested into improving tools for forecasting the effect of climate change on species range movement and extinctions is working.
“We are now a lot more confident in what models should be used, and when, to provide a more accurate picture of biodiversity loss from climate change. While this study was on UK birds, we expect these results will also hold for many other birds and animals.”
Continue reading at University of Adelaide
Photo: Eurasian bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula, male. Lancashire, UK.
Photo Credit: Francis Franklin via Wikimedia Commons
