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Wadden Sea: climate change threatens habitats of migratory birds

2022-06-13T12:11:41.252Z


Heavy rain, storms and rising sea levels are causing problems for migratory birds. A large-scale long-term study shows that some species are already experiencing drastic declines.


Enlarge image

Cranes on their way south

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

It is now becoming uncomfortable for migratory birds on many coasts: the consequences of climate change as well as environmental pollution and shipping disrupt the resting and breeding on the flight routes.

This was the result of an investigation by the Joint Wadden Sea Secretariat in Wilhelmshaven.

In half of the 83 observed migratory bird populations, the populations would increase, but the researchers recorded a decrease in 30 percent - for example in waders that breed in the Siberian Arctic.

The data come from a large-scale census of the birds.

The project has been counting migratory bird populations along the East Atlantic bird migration every three years since 2014.

The last census in 2020, the results of which are now available, involved more than 13,000 people in 36 countries.

Rising sea level and pollution

According to the survey report, rising sea levels are one of the main pressures on birds in north-western Europe.

The Wadden Sea off the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands is considered the hub of East Atlantic bird migration.

Millions of birds eat up food reserves for their onward flight between Africa and the Arctic in the UNESCO-listed wetland.

In the Wadden Sea, for example, in addition to sea level rise, extreme weather events such as heavy rain and storms are increasingly affecting the birds resting and breeding, according to Kristine Meise, Program Manager for Migration and Biodiversity at the Wadden Sea Secretariat.

"The migratory birds have adapted to certain times over thousands of years." Due to climate change, spring and thus the snowmelt and the hatching of insects in the Arctic are beginning earlier, says Meise.

This would result in poorer conditions for the breeding and rearing of young birds.

This could explain a decline in breeding success.

The consequences of climate change, for example through erosion on the coasts for migratory birds, are already being felt in the main wintering area off West Africa, said Meise.

According to the study, other factors such as overfishing, shipping traffic and logging have an even greater influence there.

Without protective measures, the entire Wadden Sea is in danger

In order to counteract threats and conserve migratory birds, the authors of the report name the protection of preferred bird habitats and the sustainable management of habitats as key measures.

In addition to migratory birds, seals and porpoises also live in the Wadden Sea - and tens of thousands of other species, from algae to worms to mussels.

The complex ecosystem stretches over 11,500 square kilometers between Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Rising sea levels, warming and extreme weather are a threat to the Unesco World Heritage Site.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned last year that climate change was a major threat to the Wadden Sea.

Survival depends on the implementation of conservation and protection measures.

sug/dpa

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-06-13

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