Spring is in full swing. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and birds are singing.
Spring is in full swing. Trees are leafing out, flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and birds are singing. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that those birds in your backyard may be changing right along with the climate.
Clark Rushing, assistant professor in the Department of Wildland Resources and Ecology Center in S.J and Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, and colleagues at the U.S. Geological Survey wanted to know how climate change has already affected where birds breed. They used data from the Breeding Bird Survey, one of the oldest and longest citizen-science programs in the world, to conduct their research.
“Thousands of devoted volunteers, cooperators and a joint U.S.-Canadian wildlife management team have contributed to the success of the surveys for the last 54 years,” said Andy Royle, a USGS senior scientists and co-author of the study. “The Breeding Bird Survey is fundamental to our understanding and management of wild bird populations in North America.”
The research team combined Breeding Bird Survey data with powerful computer models to discover changes in breeding range for 32 species of birds found in eastern North America.
Read more at S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University
Photo Credit: 272447 via Pixabay
