The size of the bird is getting smaller due to the effects of climate change
A recent study revealed that the part of the Amazon where people have not yet set foot is also affected by climate change. The research article got published in a scientific journal named ” Science Advances ” on November 16, 2021.
According to the study’s conclusions, the Amazon, an evergreen forest that is called the lungs of our planet, has seen a drop in the size of the birds that sail through it, even though their wings have grown larger. The warmer and dryer weather over the last four periods of time, according to the study, has had this effect.
Researchers believe that such changes in birds are due to various nutritional and physiological risks, especially during the dry season from June to November.
The ecologist at the Integral Ecology Research Center said, “The biggest issue for me is that it has nothing to do with man-made disasters in the heart of the world’s largest evergreen forest, such as deforestation.” He added that this was also a topic to be discussed at the COP26 conference.
In the study, Vitek Jirinec and his colleagues analyzed data over more than 15,000 birds. They have worked in the field for 40 years. During this time, they caught birds, measured bird size, and weighed and identified them for surveillance.
Researchers have found that almost all birds have become lighter since the 1980s. Most species have lost an average of 2% of their weight per decade. In other words, in the eighties, the weight of a bird was 30 grams; now, its average weight is 27.6 grams.
The study conducted by Vitek Jirinec and his colleagues collected bird data from a large area of the Amazon, not a specific area. It means the findings of this study represent the whole scenario of Amazon.
Philip Stoffer of Louisiana State University, co-author of the study, said that it was significant when this happened to all birds in the Amazon.
Everyone involved in the study believes that other species around the world are under similar pressure. It is not known because the data of those species have not yet got preserved.
“These consequences are happening all over the world. There is no doubt about it. It is true not only of birds but of other species as well,” Philip Stoffer further added.
