Not Just A Theory – Desert Bird Diversity Dropped 30%
Mojave Desert birds crashed over the last century due to climate change; Bird diversity dropped by nearly half, primarily because of decreased rainfall from changing climate
Robert Sanders, August 7, 2018 (University of California – Berkeley)
“Bird communities in the Mojave Desert straddling the California/Nevada border have collapsed over the past 100 years, most likely because of lower rainfall due to climate change…[A three-year survey of 61 sites by University of California, Berkeley, researchers found,] on average, 43 percent of the species that were there a century ago…The collapse could have an impact on desert plants that rely upon birds to spread their seeds and for pollination…as well as on a host of creatures that prey on the birds. Though the decline has happened across the entire Mojave Desert, sites with available water saw less decline…[ Raptors, with their meat-based diet, were one of the groups of birds that declined the most. Rare birds are now even rarer. The only birds more common today in the Mojave are the common raven and those that migrated from even harsher environments. It] may be necessary in the short-term to create additional water resources and limit groundwater pumping…The best long-term solution is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse climate change, the authors say…” click here for more
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