MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 26, 2020
Recent articles sound the alarm for our bird populations with respect to climate change. In September of 2019, an article in the journal Science reported scientists found that North American bird populations have lost three billion birds compared to populations 50 years ago. Of the 519 species analyzed, 57.4 percent are in a state of decline. Climate change is an important factor in driving these declines. This month, an article in the journal Nature said researchers used temperature and rainfall data since 1850 to predict the environmental limits of 30,000 species of plants and animals from both the terrestrial and marine realms. If global warming continues at its current pace, their model predicts the collapse of entire communities and ecosystems. ~ Herb Wilson