As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 9 June 2019

How climate change could affect some of West Africa's iconic bird species


MAY 28, 2019
by Benedictus Freeman, The Conversation
If scientists know how particular species are responding to the realities of global climate change, they can help to recommend better conservation strategies.
But information about climate change response and adaptation is either limited or not available for many tropical bird species. This is a glaring oversight: particularly for range restricted tropical birds—that is, species with narrow ranges that occur only in a particular place or habitat. Scientists have shown that range restricted tropical birds are extremely vulnerable to global climate change, owing to their specialized habitat requirements. These species include a number of West African birds which occupy the region's tropical forests.
Like most regions on the continent, future climate change projections for West Africa suggest there's a high chance of temperature increases. But they're more equivocal with rainfall: different projections indicate significant increases or decreases in future rainfall, with little consensus among models.
My colleagues and I wanted to address the gap in knowledge about what's needed to protect West African species from the effects of changes in climate.



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