Birds expected to adapt well to climate change show advantage

Birds that were expected to do well due to climate change have out­performed other species in the past 30 years, a study of wildlife in Europe and the US has found. Scientists said they have shown that common bird populations thousands of miles apart are responding to changing weather in a similar, pronounced way. The international team, led by Durham University, found that birds they thought would be suited to the changing conditions "substantially" outperformed those expected to suffer between 1980 and 2010. The research, conducted in collaboration with the RSPB and the United States Geological Survey, is published in the journal Science. They studied 145 common European birds and 380 American birds, having split them into groups of ones they thought would prosper through climate change and ones that would struggle. They found a clear difference in the average population trends of bird species either advantaged or disadvantaged by climate change in both continents. Populations of bee-eater and Cetti's warbler – species with a southerly distribution in Europe – have increased in recent years, while more northerly distributed species such as the willow tit and brambling have...

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