Climate Change Driving Tropical Birds to Higher Elevations

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/climate-change-driving-tropical-birds-to-higher-elevations

Climate Change Driving Tropical Birds to Higher Elevations

Dec 08, 2011

NOTE: German Forero-Medina is available for additional comment at [phone] or [e-mail]. Stuart Pimm is available at [phone] or [e-mail].
— keyword(s): biodiversity, faculty dean, Stuart Pimm

DURHAM, N.C. – Tropical birds are moving to higher elevations because of climate change, but they may not be moving fast enough to keep up, according to a new study by Duke University researchers.

The study, published today in the peer-reviewed online journal PLoS ONE, finds that the birds aren’t migrating as rapidly as scientists previously anticipated based on recorded temperature increases.

…

The biologists found that although the ranges of many bird species have shifted uphill since Terborgh’s time, the shifts fell short of what scientists had projected based on temperature increases over the four decades.

“This may be bad news,” Pimm says. “Species may be damned if they move to higher elevations to keep cool and then simply run out of habitat. But, by staying put, they may have more habitat but they may overheat.”

http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0028535