Climate change is causing nerver-before-seen levels of natural disasters, environmental shifts, and mass extinctions. For birds, not only does this mean an increase in biodiversity loss, but it also goes well beyond species loss.
A recent study uses statistical modeling to predict that the species extinction will decrease the bird's morphological diversity among its remaining species at risk of losing regions most susceptible to homogenization.
Bird Extinction and Biodiversity Loss
Emma Huges, a bird researcher at the University of Sheffield, England, spent her career analyzing broad morphological characteristics in birds. She has studied the distribution of various beak shapes across the globe. Hughes says that she began to wonder what would occur with the global changes. Hence, not only how traits are distributed globally today but also what might happen if morphological and phylogenetic diversity is under a global extinction crisis.
She adds that as species become extinct, it is reasonable to expect that the traits they represent will also be lost. However, the team found that morphological diversity, the traits that were lost, were at a greater rate of less than the species could predict. This vital information can lead to major loss of ecological functions and strategies worldwide, reports EurekAlert.
In the study published in the journal Current Biology, titled "The homogenization of avian morphological and phylogenetic diversity under the global extinction crisis," diversity loss is most likely to affect species of birds with extreme features. The size and shape of birds vary wildly across the different classes, from giant, flightless ostriches, to tiny, buzzing hummingbirds. Hughes says that those are the sort of species that are expected to be at more risk of extinction.
Biggest and Smallest at More Risks of Diversity Loss and Extinction
She states that the team found compelling evidence supporting the hypothesis that the largest and smallest animal species are more at risk of extinction.
Not only is diversity loss riskier for certain birds, but specific regions are also most likely to be homogenized populations soon. Hughes says that the Himalayan mountains are at particular risk. The loss of trait diversity in the region would likely be considerable. Adding that dry and moist forests in southern Vietnam and Cambodia are also at risk.
Together with her team, researchers hope their work will help people understand how biodiversity loss will change the world. She explains that the global extinction crisis does not only mean that we're losing species. It also means that unique traits and evolutionary history will be lost, including species that confer unique benefits to humanity.
With climate change quickly changing life on Earth as we know it, more and more compelling evidence on how this occurs is being placed in the spotlight. Researchers from across the globe are hurriedly trying to understand how climate change and global warming affect flora and fauna on the planet and what we can do to mediate their survival and ensure an ecosystem collapse will not occur.
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