Author(s)

Yanzhang Li, Wenxin Liu

Corresponding Author

Yanzhang Li

Abstract

Migration is very important for Migratory birds, which helps them to reproduce and expend extra energy in the body. However, there is an obvious trend that the bird population displays early migratory behaviour as the temperature keep increasing. In other words, birds are arriving at their breeding area at least 1 week earlier than 30 years ago, which was verified by different regions as well. This study discusses the impacts of global warming on the timing of the migration and the number of migratory bird globally. According to the results, the effect is not only on the early migration behaviour but also on the nesting time of the migratory population in Europe. In North America, the rising temperature affects the migratory timing of both long- and short-term migratory bird population. Moreover, most of the bird population shows advance in migration timing in Africa. Furthermore, the increase in global temperature has also impact on the number of migrations. The increase in energy need and the unpredictability of the food supply are the main controlling factors of the survival in the breeding area and reproduction of birds, and then affect the number of migrations. These results is important for people because a change in the migratory pattern of bird might finally leads to change in the whole ecosystem. So the early people getting know about it, the consequences might become less serious.

Keywords

bird migration, global warming, migration pattern