Birds altering hunting and feeding patterns to survive climate change: Study

According to a recent study published by McGill University researchers, climate change is actually forcing birds to evolve in strange ways to survive. The researchers looked at data from more than 8,600 bird species that have altered their hunting and feeding styles over time. They found that birds that were able to incorporate new foods into their diet or develop new techniques to obtain food were better able to withstand the environmental changes affecting their habitat, which represent their main threat of extinction.

As per the study, the researchers gathered information about the feeding innovations which they then compared to the number of observed innovations of each species against the level of their risk of extinction as per the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The modelling showed that extinction risk was reduced in species that displayed innovative behaviours, and as the number of these behaviours increased, extinction risk was reduced further.

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Study's first author, Simon Ducatez, a post-doctoral researcher at McGill University and CREAF in Barcelona, said, “We long suspected that this relationship between innovation and survival must exist, but now we have been able to verify it quantitatively. We have also been able to verify that the greater the number of innovations described for a species, the greater the probability that its populations are stable or increasing. The result is clear: the greater the innovative capacity, the lower the risk of extinction of the species”. 

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No guarantee of survival

Furthermore, the study revealed that the ability to invent new behaviour represented a clear evolutionary advantage for birds coping with the destruction of their habitats. However, it also revealed that it is not always guaranteed survival.

According to the study, the type of problem-solving skills that allow birds to face drastic changes in habitat does not seem to work against other types of threats such as over-hunting. 

Daniel Sol, another researcher, explained, “It must be taken into account that the species with the greatest capacity for innovation have longer generation times, which makes them more vulnerable to hunting. This implies that, unlike what is usually assumed, the ability to innovate protects animals from some but not all of the rapid changes in the environment”. 

(Image source: Unsplash) 

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