A total of 55 animal species in the UK have been displaced from their natural ranges or enabled to arrive for the first time on UK shores because of climate change over the last 10 years (2008-2018) – as revealed in a new study published today (18 July 2019) by ZSL scientists.
A total of 55 animal species in the UK have been displaced from their natural ranges or enabled to arrive for the first time on UK shores because of climate change over the last 10 years (2008-2018) – as revealed in a new study published today (18 July 2019) by ZSL scientists.
Making use of a previously overlooked source of data, the team turned to social media to search for rare species sightings. The researchers conducted searches both on Twitter and Google, attributing 10 out the 55 species identified to people posting images online of the animals in unusual places.
The study led by Dr Nathalie Pettorelli, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, explains that, due to regular sightings from environmentalists, UK wildlife is one of the most intensively monitored in the world, but there is very little centralised tracking of species arriving for the first time in the country or moving to places outside of their known UK range, due to climate change.
The analysis also considered UK Government environment reports as well as 111 scientific papers, leading to a total of 55 species (out of 39,029 species in the UK) being identified. The research focused solely on species which have established sustainable populations through natural, rather than human-assisted movement.
Read more at Zoological Society of London
Image: European bee-eater (Merops apiaster). (Credit: Elgollimoh)
