A
study conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has
discovered a connection between diminishing populations of 16 United
Kingdom bird species, and rainfall patterns in their migratory
destinations of the African Sahel region near the Sahara Desert.
Many
of the species, including the tree pipit and the turtle dove, have
experienced up to 85% population declines since 1966. The researchers
believe that lower rainfall patterns and reduced habitats in Africa are
in turn making fewer fruits and seeds available for the birds.
British
Trust Ornithology ecologist Dr. Nancy Ockendon noted that birds flying
back to the UK according to a regular migratory schedule might be too
weak from lack of adequate food to survive the migration, while those
that delay to build up enough energy for the return flight could arrive
too late to nest and create new families.
Both possibilities
place the species’ survival in jeopardy. Dr. Ockendon, we thank you and
your colleagues at the British Trust for Ornithology for highlighting
this crucial connection between a warming climate and avian survival.
May
concerned leaders and citizens alike engage in effective mitigation to
maintain the healthful lives of both our human and animal
co-inhabitants.During an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand,
Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the plight being endured by many of
our animal co-inhabitants while offering insight into how we can best
ensure their survival.
Supreme Master Ching Hai: Our
animal friends are suffering terribly due to the effects of global
warming. Many of the animals are dying or at the brink of extinction or
already gone due to unbearable temperatures or they are being forced out
of their habitats.
Birds of all kinds in every corner of the
globe are also imperiled. According to the World Wildlife Fund, some
bird populations declined by up to 90%. Some already disappeared.
With
the expected 2-degree C temperature rise, bird extinction rates could
reach 38% in Europe, and 72% in Northeast Australia. We have lost so
many innocents already. But the animals know exactly what is happening
without a word. They know that the solution lies not so much in words
but in daily actions, and the essential change that will be the most
restorative for our world is to be vegan.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7981699/Migratory-birds-decline-in-UK-due-to-low-African-rain.html