|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
December 16, 2004Local wildlife diversity could be affected by warming trendMigratory birds may be vulnerableBY JOHN FLESHERThe Associated Press TRAVERSE CITY - From the endangered Kirtland's warbler to fledgling wolf and moose populations, wildlife in the upper Great Lakes region will face new challenges from climate change, scientists say. Many species have been migrating northward in recent decades as warmer temperatures - believed caused largely by factors such as greenhouse gas emissions - affect their food and habitat. The trend likely will continue during the next century, said a report issued Wednesday by The Wildlife Society. "It's difficult to predict exactly how each species will be affected," said Doug Inkley, senior science adviser for the National Wildlife Federation. "But we know we are tearing apart the ecological fabric on which many species depend. It's a huge experiment and we don't know what the outcome is." Inkley chaired an eight-member committee that conducted a three-year study for The Wildlife Society, a 9,000-member association of scientists with state and federal agencies, universities and organizations. The study drew on findings from a variety of literature and models to document climate-related changes that already have taken place and speculate on what might happen in the future. It urges wildlife managers to factor in climate change as they draw up plans for protecting animal habitat and migratory corridors. Warmer temperatures could lower water levels and dry up crucial wetlands in the Great Lakes region, although others might be created as the lakes recede, the study says. Marshes and other wetlands are vital habitat and breeding grounds for waterfowl. The endangered Kirtland's warbler, which spends winters in the Caribbean and summers in jack pine stands of northern Michigan, is an example of migratory birds that could be particularly vulnerable, the study says. That's because their survival depends not just on favorable conditions in a single area, but in all their living and breeding areas and travel routes. "Endangered species such as the Kirtland's warbler have smaller, less diverse gene pools and more restricted habitat," Inkley said. "Climate change is one more stressor being added to the stressors already there." The report says the Great Lakes region could lose 50 percent of its existing species of neotropical migrant birds within a century.
|
|
