Effects of Climate Change on Bird Phenology and Population Trends
Mentor 1
Peter Dunn
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
Climate change is affecting the phenology, or timing of breeding, of many different organisms. Previous research on birds has suggested that warming temperatures might lead to a mis-match between the timing of food they need to feed their young (ie, insects) and when they start to breed (lay eggs). Insect are emerging sooner in the spring as a response to climate change, so there is concern that birds may not ‘keep up’ with this advancement and may miss the peak of food abundance. In this project I conducted a literature search and meta-analysis across bird species to determine if: 1) the timing of laying is advancing, 2) changes in laying date lead to changes in clutch size and 3) changes in phenology are associated with changes in population size. I found that laying dates have become significantly earlier, but clutch size has shown no significant change, nor is there any correlation between laying date and changes in population size. Thus, it appears that phenology is changing, but to date it does not appear to be causing mis-matches that could decrease productivity and lead to smaller populations.
Effects of Climate Change on Bird Phenology and Population Trends
Union Wisconsin Room
Climate change is affecting the phenology, or timing of breeding, of many different organisms. Previous research on birds has suggested that warming temperatures might lead to a mis-match between the timing of food they need to feed their young (ie, insects) and when they start to breed (lay eggs). Insect are emerging sooner in the spring as a response to climate change, so there is concern that birds may not ‘keep up’ with this advancement and may miss the peak of food abundance. In this project I conducted a literature search and meta-analysis across bird species to determine if: 1) the timing of laying is advancing, 2) changes in laying date lead to changes in clutch size and 3) changes in phenology are associated with changes in population size. I found that laying dates have become significantly earlier, but clutch size has shown no significant change, nor is there any correlation between laying date and changes in population size. Thus, it appears that phenology is changing, but to date it does not appear to be causing mis-matches that could decrease productivity and lead to smaller populations.
