Wires, more: Not only is wildlife on a warming migration, the pace surprises scientists
Comma Butterfly, UK
Migration of birds, insects, forest cover, salmon, grizzly bears, and many other species to new locales as climate warms is an accepted aspect of a changing world – but it’s back with a big splash in the news today. In Science is a report that the pace of change is higher than had been reported before – perhaps by two or three times.
Led by a conservation biologist at the University of York in the UK, the study’s authors say they pulled together data from across much of the globe, reflecting more than 100 earlier studies. One is uncertain how useful they are to wildlife biologists, but the averages they computed from the studies are arresting. Every ten years in recent history, species ranges have moved uphill an average of 36 feet, and more toward the poles about ten miles. That’s considerably faster than a somewhat similar study estimated eight years ago. I extract those numbers from the Washington Post, where Brian Vastag writes it up and includes helpful links to earlier studies and other sources.
Other stories:
- Independent (UK) Steve Connor: Climate change drives animals to higher ground ;
- USA Today – Elizabeth Weise: Temps push animal, plant species to higher elevations ;
- AP – Seth Borenstein: Study: Fauna fleeing north / Animals avoiding global warming ;
- Ars Technica – John Timmer: Climate change causing species to change habitat faster than expected ;
- AFP: Climate change forces species to move fast ;
- CNN: Matt Smith: Warming drives animals to higher ground, latitudes, study finds ;
There is considerably more coverage. The news is handled straight up at major agencies, no evidence seen of ‘false balance’ of consultation with prominent skeptics. Another sign that while public interest and thus coverage may be down a bit, what coverage that exists seems to have fully recovered from the hysteria of ‘climate gate.”
Grist for the Mill: University of York Press Release ;
- Charlie Petit
