Climate change has profound effects on ecosystems and on the compositions of species communities globally. However, until now biodiversity has not always responded to climate change in an expected manner, leaving many questions unanswered. In a recently published scientific study covering nearly all European bird species, researchers studied the effects of large-scale obstacles, such as mountain ranges and coastlines, on the climate change-driven shifts of bird communities during the past 30 years.
“Two-thirds of the bird communities moved to cooler areas during the past 30 years, shifting an average 100 kilometres, especially towards the north and east”, explains PhD Emma-Liina Marjakangas, one of the study co-leaders from the University of Helsinki, Finland.
The shifts were clearly governed by large-scale obstacles. In particular, bird communities shifted greater distances when they were located further away from coastlines, indicating that coastlines operate as barriers stopping the communities from keeping up with climate change.
Read more at: Universitat of Helsinki
Alpine choughs only live in mountainous areas. For them, wide lowlands can act as barriers for shifting from one mountain region to another. (Photo Credit: Aleksi Lehikoinen)