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  • Climate change could collapse songbird population

    Birdwatchers in the Midwest know the Acadian flycatcher’s song goes “peet-sah, peet-sah.” But will birders a century from now know the call?

    New research from the University of Missouri suggests the common songbird is at risk of severe population decline within the century due to global warming.

    “The possibility that an abundant species could approach near-extinction from the region within 90 years clearly demonstrates the significant impact of a warming climate on songbird populations,” said Thomas Bonnot, an assistant research professor at the university’s School of Natural Resources.

    For years, the Audubon Society and other groups have warned of the impact of climate change on bird populations, especially species considered threatened.

    Bonnot’s research looks at a common species.

    He worked with a former adviser, Frank Thompson of the U.S. Forest Service, who has spent more than two decades researching the Acadian flycatcher, an olive and yellowish bird with a long and broad bill.

    They made projections from data on the effects of higher temperatures on breeding, running through the year 2100.

    The researchers found that a warming climate would have a severe impact on breeding, threatening the flycatcher population.

    If climate change continues at its current pace, the flycatcher’s breeding productivity would fall below 1 fledgling per female per year by 2100, according to the study published in the Nature Climate Change Journal.

    However, the research model shows that if greenhouse gas emissions are lowered and the course of climate change stabilizes, the future for the Acadian flycatcher improves.

    Bonnot said other common birds could face similar threats.

    Note: This story was originally published in the Wisconsin Gazette.

  • Study: Trump’s border wall threatens 93 species

    President Donald Trump’s planned border wall threatens 93 species, including jaguars, ocelots, Mexican gray wolves and cactus ferruginous pygmy owls, according to a new study by the Center for Biological Diversity.

    The study also found 25 threatened or endangered species have been designated “critical habitat” on the border, including more than 2 million acres within 50 miles of the border.

    “Trump’s border wall is a disaster for people and wildlife alike,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the center. “It could drive magnificent species like the jaguar and ocelot to extinction in the United States.”

    The study identified threatened, endangered and “candidate” species — those being considered for protection — that have ranges near or crossing the border.

    These include:

    • 57 endangered species.

    • 24 threatened species.

    • 10 species under consideration for protection.

    • 2 species of concern — golden and bald eagles.

    Construction of the 1,200-mile wall — along with related infrastructure and enforcement — would have far-reaching consequences for wildlife, including cutting off migration corridors, reducing genetic diversity, destroying habitat, and adding vehicles, noise and lights to vast stretches of the wild borderlands.

    “The border wall won’t be effective at stopping people seeking a better life from getting to this country, but it will destroy habitat and divide wildlife populations,” Greenwald said in a news release. “Building a wall across the entirety of the border would cause massive damage to one of the most biologically diverse regions in North America and would be a boondoggle of the highest order.”

    The sections of border wall already built have had a range of negative effects on wildlife, including direct destruction of thousands of acres of habitat, indirect impacts from noise and light pollution, and division of cross-border wildlife populations like bighorn sheep and jaguars.

    The border wall would cut through the Cabeza Prieta, Buenos Aires and several other national wildlife refuges, along with Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Big Bend National Park and many other natural areas.

    Last month, the center and U.S. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., sued the Trump administration over the proposed border wall and other border security measures.

    The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, is the first targeting the administration’s plan to vastly expand and militarize the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Note: This story originally published in the Wisconsin Gazette.