Climate change may wipe out UK garden birds by 2100

BRITAIN’S garden birds could be wiped out in 80 years if climate change continues to accelerate, research from the University y of Oxford has warned.

Warmer mer weather earlier in the year could disrupt the ecosystem balance which keeps small birds which visit our ur gardens alive. Great tits and nd similar species rely on n large amounts of larvae being born at around nd the same time in order to feed their young. oung.

They y have evolved to breed ed at the same time so o they can keep their chicks hicks alive. But if weather er patterns shift, their food sources ources will come out earlier, and nd not be as abundant when the birds feed eed their young. The larvae feed on leaves, ves, and when the temperature rises, the leaves come out earlier, causing the larvae to be produced earlier. While the great tit, below, can evolve to keep up with prey when change is slow, a faster change in temperature could see the birds left behind.

The “breaking poin point” is estimated to be when larvae and lea leaves are produced 24 days earlier than currently. If that happens, gre great tits could be extinct her here by 2100, said lead aut author Prof Emily Simmo Simmonds, from the Norwe Norwegian University of Scie Science and Technology wh which produced the report w with Oxford University. “If the changes happen too fast, species can bec become extinct,” she said. “G “Great tits won’t always b be able to keep up with chan changes in the larvae supply. The good news new is that they can survive s cenarios with l ower or medium warming tren trends.”