Non-migratory songbirds could be
under threat from a warming climate, according to the findings of a 15-year study.
The University of Queensland's
Dr. Brad Woodworth, who led the study with researchers from the University of
Windsor and University of Guelph in Canada, said the research showed that hot
weather reduced the survival of tropical birds.
"Our study suggests that
further increases in temperature may threaten the persistence of tropical
animals accustomed to hot environments – unless they are able to shift to
cooler areas," Dr. Woodworth said.
The research team studied a
population of rufous-and-white wrens living in the Guanacaste Conservation Area
in Costa Rica.
Each year, they captured birds in
mist nets, gave each animal a distinctive combination of coloured leg bands,
and then surveyed the population to see which birds were still alive and which
had perished.
"We found that wren survival
did indeed vary with climate – so when temperatures were high, the wrens
suffered higher mortality," he said.
The forests of north-western
Costa Rica experience two seasons—a dry season from
December to May, and a wet season with as much as three metres of rain from May
to December.
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