Australia’s superb fairywren could be extinct within decades due to climate crisis, researchers say | Australia news

A common and beloved bush and garden bird could become extinct within 30-40 years due to the weather effects of climate change, researchers say.

Data from nearly 30 years of weekly observations followed the lives of magnificent fairy wrens in Canberra’s botanical gardens, recording the effects of changing weather conditions on them.

The wren has twice been named Australia’s favorite bird in the 2013 and 2021 Guardian/BirdLife Australia bird of the year polls.

But researchers warn this could be a “canary in the coal mine” for many lesser-known species that face similar climate change threats.

James Cook University ecologist Martijn van de Pol was senior author of: Study conducted with Australian National University and Hainan University in China.

Van de Pol said researcher Helen Osmond’s long-term observations showed that the effects of different weather conditions had a cumulative effect on the birds’ survival prospects.

“What’s really dangerous for these birds is that we have all these climate impacts year-round and they start to come together and affect them.

“We suspect this will be the case for other common species, but we do not have detailed data for them.”

The magnificent wren was a common species, but now researchers predict it will become extinct very quickly.

The paper concludes: “Population extinction is likely to occur very rapidly; moderate to very high levels over the next 30-40 years.” [carbon] emissions scenario”.

“Using a variety of climate models, we found that human-caused climate change could cause a high risk of population extinction within the next 50 years, even with optimistic emissions scenarios,” Van de Pol said.

“Wren breeding success was low during dry spring months, and adult survival decreased following unusually warm winters and hot summers.”

He said people think it’s rare birds that need to be worried.

“But common species are also declining greatly, and we may need to start worrying about those too.”

The findings reflect widespread declines in insect-eating birds in Europe and North America; As insect numbers decline here, species that depend on this food source suffer the greatest losses.