A study conducted in the US has shown that climate change may be causing many species of birds to nest and lay eggs earlier than they did a century ago.
Researchers who undertook the study found that these species of birds, including killdeer, yellow Warblers and field sparrows, now lay their eggs 25 days earlier, on average, than they did 100 years ago.
The team led by researchers at the Field Museum of Natural History in the US found that earlier spring warm-up could lead to a mismatch between nesting activities and food availability for migratory bird species.
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The study which assessed changes in nesting dates of 72 bird species in the Upper Midwest of the US and published in the Journal of Animal Ecology, compared contemporary lay dates with those obtained from archived, historical museum nest records over a 143-year period (1872-2015).
Using carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration as a proxy for temperature and an environmental indicator of climate change, they found that global climate change impacts species and ecosystems in potentially harmful ways.
Overall, the researchers found that lay dates advanced about 10 days over the 143-year period.
Story was adapted from the Tribune.
