Rising Temperatures Endanger Songbird.

• Position: CLIMATE CHANGE - Brief article

Previous research has shown that higher temperatures fueled by climate change could have major impacts on birds in the U.S. that already are considered threatened. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia, have found that the Acadian flycatcher is at risk of severe population decline--across the 96,000,000-acre Central Hardwoods Region--within the century if the climate continues to warm.

"This is a bird that is common in the Midwest," says Thomas Bonnot, assistant research professor in the School of Natural Resources. "The possibility that an abundant species could approach near-extinction from the region within 90 years clearly demonstrates the significant impact of a warming climate on songbird populations."

Bonnot partnered with Frank Thompson of the U.S. Forest Service's North-em Research Station, who has spent more than 20 years researching the Acadian flycatcher.

This data, which identified the negative effects of higher temperatures on breeding productivity at an individual level, was incorporated into models that projected both individual bird reproduction...