Climate change is affecting Europe’s birds

A British study shows climate change is having a detectable impact on birds across Europe,.

Durham University researchers said their findings are the world’s first indicator of climate change impacts on wildlife at a continental scale.

The scientists — working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds — said they showed a strong link between recent population changes of individual species and their projected future range changes associated with climate change. The species included a number of widespread and common European birds, including the goldfinch and the lesser spotted woodpecker.

The impact of climatic changes, both positive and negative, can now be summarized in a single indicator which we’ve called the Climatic Impact Indicator, said Durham University lecturer Stephen Willis. Our indicator is the biodiversity equivalent of the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) index, only instead of summarizing the changing fortunes of businesses, it summarizes how biodiversity is changing due to climate change, said Willis. Unlike the FTSE, which is currently at a 6-year low, the climate change index has been increasing each year since the mid-80s, indicating that climate is having an increasing impact on biodiversity.

The study is reported in the online journal PLoS One.