Latest news with #Deforestation
Japan Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Japan Times
Climate heat extremes driving tropical bird decline: study
Tropical bird populations have plummeted not only due to deforestation but also extreme heat attributable to climate change, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Intensifying temperatures caused a 25% to 38% reduction in tropical bird populations between 1950 and 2020, compared to a scenario without global warming, scientists based in Europe and Australia reported. "The findings are pretty stark," lead author Maximilian Kotz, a researcher at the National Supercomputing Centre in Barcelona and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), said. Bird populations in the tropics now face 30 days of heat extremes per year compared to three per year in the mid-20th century, he noted. "This has major consequences for how we think about biodiversity conservation," Kotz said by email. "Protecting pristine habitats is crucial, but without dealing with climate change it won't be enough for birds." Nearly half of all bird species are found in biodiversity-rich tropical regions. These often colorful animals perform essential services for ecosystems, such as dispersing plant seeds. But birds living in these regions may already be "close to the limits" of their tolerance to high temperatures, which can cause heatstroke (hyperthermia) or dehydration. The overview study does not provide figures for individual species, but earlier literature is rich with examples of the devastating impact of rising temperatures. One documented the heat-related decline of birds in Panama, including the king quetzal, the red-crested quetzal, the two-colored kingfisher and the aurora trogon. Another study published in 2017 showed how some tropical hummingbirds are now forced to seek shade to regulate their temperature in extreme heat, cutting into the amount of time they can spend searching for life-sustaining nectar. Extreme heat waves, which are becoming more frequent, represent a far greater threat than increases in average temperatures or rainfall, another result of human-induced climate change. Up to now, it has been assumed that the decline in bird populations worldwide was due mainly to other well-identified factors, especially habitat loss, pesticide use, hunting, and invasive species, especially snakes that snack on bird eggs and mosquitos carrying avian malaria. But the new findings "challenge the view that direct human pressures have so far been the dominant driver of impacts on bird populations compared to climate change in tropical regions," according to the authors. To reach this conclusion, they analyzed observational data from more than 3,000 bird populations around the world and used statistical modelling to isolate the effects of extreme weather from other factors. The findings help complete the picture of tropical bird decline, noted Aimee Van Tatenhove, a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University's Center for Avian Population Studies who was not involved in the study. "Deforestation has an obvious impact — trees are cut and habitat is destroyed," she said. "We need long-term datasets like the authors used to understand how extreme temperatures impact avian populations." "This study is an important reminder that we need to continue examining different causes of population declines and apply those findings to conservation initiatives," she continued.
Malay Mail
4 days ago
- Science
- Malay Mail
Extreme heat from climate change driving sharp decline in tropical bird populations, study finds
PARIS, Aug 12 — Tropical bird populations have plummeted not only due to deforestation but also extreme heat attributable to climate change, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Intensifying temepratures caused a 25-38 per cent reduction in tropical bird populations between 1950 and 2020, compared to a scenario without manmade global warming, scientists based in Europe and Australia reported. 'The findings are pretty stark,' lead author Maximilian Kotz, a researcher at the National Supercomputing Centre in Barcelona and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), told AFP. Bird populations in the tropics now face 30 days of heat extremes per year compared to three per year in the mid-20th century, he noted. 'This has major consequences for how we think about biodiversity conservation,' Kotz said by email. 'Protecting pristine habitats is crucial, but without dealing with climate change it won't be enough for birds.' Nearly half of all bird species are found in biodiversity-rich tropical regions. These often colourful animals perform essential services for ecosystems, such as dispersing plant seeds. Invasive species another threat But birds living in these regions may already be 'close to the limits' of their tolerance to high temperatures, which can cause heatstroke (hyperthermia) or dehydration. The overview study does not provide figures for individual species, but earlier literature is rich with examples of the devastating impact of rising temperatures. One documented the heat-related decline of birds in Panama, including the king quetzal, the red-crested quetzal, the two-coloured kingfisher and the aurora trogon. Another study published in 2017 showed how some tropical hummingbirds are now forced to seek shade to regulate their temperature in extreme heat, cutting into the amount of time they can spend searching for life-sustaining nectar. Extreme heat waves, which are becoming more frequent, represent a far greater threat than increases in average temperatures or rainfall, another result of human-induced climate change. Up to now, it has been assumed that the decline in bird populations worldwide was due mainly to other well-identified factors, especially habitat loss, pesticide use, hunting, and invasive species, especially snakes that snack on bird eggs and mosquitos carrying avian malaria. But the new findings 'challenge the view that direct human pressures have so far been the dominant driver of impacts on bird populations compared to climate change in tropical regions,' according to the authors. To reach this conclusion, they analysed observational data from more than 3,000 bird populations around the world and used statistical modelling to isolate the effects of extreme weather from other factors. The findings help complete the picture of tropical bird decline, noted Aimee Van Tatenhove, a post-doctoral fellow at Cornell University's Center for Avian Population Studies who was not involved in the study. 'Deforestation has an obvious impact—trees are cut and habitat is destroyed,' she told AFP. 'We need long-term datasets like the authors used to understand how extreme temperatures impact avian populations.' 'This study is an important reminder that we need to continue examining different causes of population declines and apply those findings to conservation initiatives,' she continued. — AFP
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
A journalist was killed while writing a book on the Amazon. Here's how friends completed his work
After British journalist Dom Phillips was shot and killed while researching an ambitious book on how to protect the world's largest rainforest, friends vowed to finish the project. Three years later, their task is complete. 'How to Save the Amazon,' published Tuesday in Brazil and England ahead of its U.S. release, was pieced together by fellow journalists who immersed themselves in Phillips' notes, outlines and the handful of chapters he'd already written. The resulting book, scheduled to be published in the U.S. on June 10, pairs Phillips' own writing with others' contributions in a powerful examination of the cause for which he gave his life. In addition to the core group who led the work on finishing the book, other colleagues and friends helped to edit chapters, including The Associated Press journalists Fabiano Maisonnave and David Biller. Phillips, who had been a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper, was taking one of the final reporting trips planned for his book when he was gunned down by fishermen on June 5, 2022, in western Amazon's Javari Valley. Also killed was Bruno Pereira, a Brazilian expert on Indigenous tribes who had made enemies in the region for defending the local communities from intruding fishermen, poachers and illegal gold miners. Their deaths made headlines around the world. Nine people have been indicted in the killings. 'It was just a horrifying, really sad moment. Everybody was trying to think: How can you deal with something like this? And the book was there,' said Jonathan Watts, an Amazon-based environmental writer for The Guardian who coauthored the foreword and one of the chapters. Under the leadership of Phillips' widow, Alessandra Sampaio, a group of five friends agreed to carry the project forward. Along with Watts, the core group also included Andrew Fishman, the Rio-based president of The Intercept Brasil; Phillips' agent, Rebecca Carter; David Davies, a colleague from his days in London as a music journalist; and Tom Hennigan, Latin America correspondent for The Irish Times. 'It was a way to not just feel awful about what had happened, but to get on with something. Especially because so many of Dom's friends are journalists,' Watts said. 'And what you fall back on is what you know best, which is journalism.' Unfinished work researching rainforest solutions By the time of his death, Phillips had traveled extensively across the Amazon and had completed an introduction and nearly four of the 10 planned chapters. He also left behind an outline of the remaining chapters, with different degrees of detail, and many pages of handwritten notes, some of them barely legible. 'I think it's fair to say even Dom didn't yet know what he would do exactly in those chapters,' Watts said. Phillips was searching for hope. He promised his editors a character-driven travel book in which readers would get to know a wide-ranging cast of people living in the area, 'all of whom know and understand the Amazon intimately and have innovative solutions for the millions of people who live there.' The group led by Sampaio selected writers for the remaining chapters, with subjects ranging from a bioeconomy initiative in Brazil's Acre state to global funding for rainforest preservation. Indigenous leader Beto Marubo of the Javari Valley was recruited to co-write an afterword. The team also launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to pay for more reporting trips. Among the group's challenges was ensuring that the book reflected a political shift in Brazil's approach to the Amazon in the years since Phillips' death. Most of Phillips' research was done during the term of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, as Brazil's Amazon deforestation reached a 15-year high in 2021. The pace of destruction slowed after Bolsonaro's 2022 defeat by leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Fragments of hope, grim statistics Throughout the finished book's more than 300 pages, fragments of hope mix with grim realities. In Chapter 2, 'Cattle Chaos,' Phillips notes that 16% of Brazil's Amazon has already been converted to pasture. Even a farmer who has become a model for successfully increasing productivity without clearing most of his land is criticized for his widespread use of fertilizers. In his chapter on bioeconomy, journalist Jon Lee Anderson visits a reforestation initiative where Benki Piyãko, an Ashaninka leader, promotes environmental restoration coupled with ayahuasca treatment and a fish farm. But the veteran reporter doesn't see how it can be scalable and reproducible given man-made threats and climate change. Later in the chapter, he quotes Marek Hanusch, a German economist for the World Bank, as saying: 'At the end of the day, deforestation is a macroeconomic choice, and so long as Brazil's growth model is based on agriculture, you're going to see expansion into the Amazon.' In the foreword, the group of five organizers state that 'Like Dom, none of us was under any illusion that our writing would save the Amazon, but we could certainly follow his lead in asking the people who might know.' But in this book stained by blood and dim hope, there is another message, according to Watts: 'The most important thing is that this is all about solidarity with our friend and with journalism in general.' ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
