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Bird migration has also been critically affected by climate change in the last few years. Birds rely on signals from the sun to start their journey back North in the early spring. Unfortunately, the sustenance they rely on to fuel their journey is no longer appearing in conjunction with their flight. Because temperatures have been rising successively, caterpillar larvae have been appearing earlier in the first months of spring: by the time birds make their migration, many of these critical sources of protein and fat have already flown away--either as butterflies or moths. Because birds rely on a fixed signal to begin their journey, it is virtually impossible for them to coordinate their voyage with their food source. A nearly 50% decline in many bird species has been noted in the last few years. Indeed, a 90% decline in populations of Pied Flycatchers in the Netherlands has been attributed to these alternating cues and their consequences.

Polar bears threatening geese as diet ravaged by climate shift Premium Article ! Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button. Options Premium Article ! To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the The Scotsman site. Subscribe Registered Article ! To read this article in full you must be registered with the site. Sign In Register « Previous « Previous Next » Next » View Gallery Published Date: 18 June 2010 By Emily Beament A CONSERVATION success which has seen barnacle geese numbers bounce back from the brink could be under threat from hungry polar bears struggling to cope with cl

A CONSERVATION success which has seen barnacle geese numbers bounce back from the brink could be under threat from hungry polar bears struggling to cope with climate change, experts said yesterday. The number of Svalbard barnacle goslings that overwintered in the Solway Firth this year was just half that expected, according to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT).

on eggs in the nests

Climate change is starving Scotland’s seabirds into a drastic population decline that leaves some species dangerously close to extinction, the RSPB has warned. A major 10-year study by the Westminster Government’s conservation adviser found that the number of common gulls in the UK has fallen by almost half over the last decade. Scarcity of traditional food sources as sea temperatures rise may be forcing them to seek alternatives on land, which may be why residents of some seaside towns have complained that the birds, also called European herring gulls, are becoming more aggressive.

In its report, published today, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) says that over a decade the number of breeding kittiwakes has fallen by 40%, while there has been a 38% decline in fulmars. The biggest drop affects the common gull, however, with a 43% reduction in breeding pairs between 1999 and 2009.

The JNCC’s Population Trends and Causes of Change 2010 report uses UK-wide figures, with no regional breakdown available, but the RSPB said anecdotal evidence in Scotland seemed to confirm an impact north of the border. “Early reports of seabird breeding performances on RSPB Scotland’s coastal reserves unfortunately seem to reflect this worrying trend, with things particularly tough in the Northern Isles,” said Doug Gilbert, the charity’s Scottish reserves ecologist.

Australia's peanut farmers are on the move and some are relocating nearly 2,400 kilometres away for better access to water; last year 88 people in Victoria died on the way to hospital as a result of the heat wave that preceded the disastrous bushfires in early February; the average temperature across the Australian continent has risen by more than 0.8°C in the past 60 years; the Great Barrier Reef is degrading; and more than 40% of the nation's farmers are seriously worried about the viability of their businesses in the face of climate change.These are just some of the effects of climate change unveiled by academics, scientists, social scientists and public servants from universities, research institutes and government agencies at a Universities Australia National Policy Forum held at Parliament House in Canberra in March. The contributors provided unequivocal evidence that climate change was occurring across Australia, that it was accelerating and that its impact on society and the national economy was already apparent. Universities Australia is the peak industry body representing Australia's 39 universities in the public interest, nationally and internationally. The forum was held at Parliament House to attract the attention of the politicians who, for the most part, have paid little mind to tackling the problems caused by climate change. Speakers at the forum backed the detailed measurements of climate change presented in a report released just before the forum by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Farmers are among the first to feel the impact of climate change. Already the peanut industry had assessed its future and a part had decided to move, said Professor Graham Baker and Dr Roger Stone from the University of Southern Queensland. They noted that the cotton industry was also undergoing a consultation process about where it was headed while the rice crop in the Riverina had dropped from a million tonnes a year to less than 50,000. The harvest date for wine growers has been moving a day earlier each year since 1980, according to data accumulated by Professor Snow Barlow of Melbourne University's school of land and environment. Snow is a professor of horticulture and viticulture and Convener of a primary industries adaptation research network. He said dry-land crops were being sown later and harvested earlier. This added to the evidence of changes in the timing of the life cycles of flowering plants and birds, according to his colleague, Dr Marie Keatley of the university's department of forest and ecosystems. "In many places in Australia, such as grain-cropping in the Mallee in northern Victoria, we are getting to the limits of adaptive management where farmers can change what they are doing within their existing system," Barlow said. "Given the climate data from the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, it won't be too long before we have to consider changing our agriculture systems entirely." But not all the news was bad, said Professor Amanda Lynch from the school of geography and environmental sciences at Monash University in Melbourne: "By an accident of our geography, Australia is a country that is subjected to very large changes over a decadal time scale because of the El Niño phenomenon. "So we already have an agricultural sector and a water management sector that is used to large swings over long time scales. We are used to pragmatic, messy, contingent approaches."

Plankton, base of ocean food web, in big decline

Despite their tiny size, plant plankton found in the world's oceans are crucial to much of life on Earth. They are the foundation of the bountiful marine food web, produce half the world's oxygen and suck up harmful carbon dioxide. And they are declining sharply. Worldwide phytoplankton levels are down 40 percent since the 1950s, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The likely cause is global warming, which makes it hard for the plant plankton to get vital nutrients, researchers say. The numbers are both staggering and disturbing, say the Canadian scientists who did the study and a top U.S. government scientist. "It's concerning because phytoplankton is the basic currency for everything going on in the ocean," said Dalhousie University biology professor Boris Worm, a study co-author. "It's almost like a recession ... that has been going on for decades."

Half a million datapoints dating to 1899 show that plant plankton levels in nearly all of the world's oceans started to drop in the 1950s. The biggest changes are in the Arctic, southern and equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans. Only the Indian Ocean is not showing a decline. The study's authors said it's too early to say that plant plankton is on the verge of vanishing. Virginia Burkett, the chief climate change scientist for U.S. Geological Survey, said the plankton numbers are worrisome and show problems that can't be seen just by watching bigger more charismatic species like dolphins or whales. "These tiny species are indicating that large-scale changes in the ocean are affecting the primary productivity of the planet," said Burkett, who wasn't involved in the study.

"We have seen a decrease in crane numbers due to a lack of tubers called nang, which the crane feed upon, which were destroyed by floods last year.