Birds could end up with large beaks and indistinct plumage as climate change threatens to wipe out species with more “extreme” features.
- Birds with “extreme” characteristics are most at risk of extinction due to climate change
- Biodiversity loss in birds likely to occur faster than expected, scientists find
- Species are also developing larger beaks to help maintain body temperature
- The results reveal that we may be losing species with unique traits beneficial to humans
By Fiona Jackson for Mailonline
Published: 18:54, 21 July 2022 | Updated: 18:54, July 21, 2022
Soon you may not be able to tell your pigeon from your parrot as climate change threatens to wipe out birds with more extreme physical characteristics.
New research from the University of Sheffield suggests they are adapting to global warming by developing large beaks and losing distinctive features.
Scientists found that the world’s smallest and largest birds are likely to be most at risk of extinction.
They also found that diversity loss could happen faster than we might expect based on species loss alone.
This could lead to the extinction of birds with unique traits that could benefit humans.
Lead author Dr Emma Hughes said: “As species become extinct, you would expect that the traits they represent would also be lost.
“But what we found was that with morphological diversity, traits were lost at a much, much, much greater rate than species loss alone could predict.
“This is really important because this can lead to a significant loss of ecological strategies and functions.”
According to the study, the stork-billed kingfisher (pictured) is found in tropical areas of Southeast Asia, an area at risk of biodiversity loss due to climate change.
Scientists found that the world’s smallest and largest birds are likely to be most at risk of extinction. Ostriches are the largest living bird in the world (pictured)
MAMMALS CHANGE SHAPE TOO
According to researchers from Australia’s Deakin University, mammal species are also undergoing remarkable changes.
Although most studies of the effects of climate change on mammals have focused on overall body size, some researchers have observed changes in particular appendages.
For example, wood mice are growing longer tails, while masked shrews are developing larger tails and legs.
Bats have also been found to have increased the size of their ears, tail, legs and wings in tandem with warming.
Read more here
The study, published today in Current Biology, describes how the team analyzed physical traits, such as body size, beak shape, and leg and wing length, of 8,455 bird species worldwide from museum collections.
They then modeled how biodiversity would change in a world where species currently classified as “critically endangered,” “endangered,” and “vulnerable” became extinct, sequentially eliminating species from those least threatened to extinction
They found that as species were lost, so was the diversity in their physical characteristics, and they tended to have small to medium body sizes and short beaks.
Birds vary wildly in size and shape, from the giant, flightless ostrich to the tiny, buzzing hummingbird.
Dr Hughes said: “We find strong evidence to support the hypothesis that larger and smaller species are likely to be more at risk of extinction.”
Like humans, birds are warm-blooded, so they must maintain a higher body temperature than their environment.
The researchers also found that birds are developing larger beaks to help them maintain a constant temperature as the climate changes.
Parrot bills, for example, have grown up to ten percent larger in the 150 years since the start of the industrial revolution.
The results of the study revealed that species with extreme features such as unique plumage are more likely to be lost as a result of the effects of climate change. In the photo are black and red beaks, which live in Cambodia, an area at risk of loss of biodiversity in birds.
Certain regions are more likely to be left with populations of bird species that resemble each other as their extreme traits are gradually eliminated. Pictured is the Siberian Blue Robin
The study found that some regions are more likely to be left with populations of bird species that resemble each other as their extreme traits are gradually removed.
Bird researcher Dr Hughes said: ‘The mountains and foothills of the Himalayas are particularly at risk, and the loss of trait diversity is likely to be considerable.
“The dry and wet forests of southern Vietnam and Cambodia are also vulnerable.
“They include Siberian blue robins, stork-billed kingfisher, black-and-red bill, and eastern paradise flycatcher.”
The team hopes their work will help people understand how biodiversity loss will change the world.
He added: “The global extinction crisis doesn’t just mean we’re losing species.
“It means we’re losing unique traits and evolutionary history, including species that could confer unique benefits to humanity that are currently unknown.”
Future warming threatens marine life in more than 70 percent of the oceans’ most biodiverse areas
More than 70 percent of the most biodiverse areas of Earth’s oceans are threatened by climate change.
The researchers determined where species would have to move to find habitable space amid warming oceans.
They used a new technique to compare past and future extremes of ocean warming, allowing them to map global exposure to future climate change and determine the distances species would have to move to find better climate conditions.
“Our research shows that places with exceptionally high marine biodiversity are most exposed to future ocean warming, making them particularly vulnerable to 21st century climate change,” said lead author Dr. Stuart Brown, from the Institute of the Environment at the University of Adelaide.
Read more here
New research reveals that some of the most biodiverse ocean areas on Earth are threatened by climate change. Left: A caretta caretta Right: Gray tip and blacktip tip