Climate change is one of the most publicised conservation issues of our time.  It is occurring on a global scale.  In some areas the climate will become wetter, while others will be plunged into drought, and bouts of severe weather are likely to occur more often.  The effects will be profound in almost every region, though different species will be affected in different ways.  In northern Queensland, for example, the Fernwren, which lives in the moist montane forests, will be adversely affected as the moisture-laden clouds which characterise these forests rises to ever higher altitudes, eventually occurring above the level of the mountains. When the mists no longer shroud the forests, the habitat will die, and so will its inhabitants.  In the lowlands, the destructive forces of increased tropical cyclonic activity will destroy ever greater tracts of lowland rainforest necessary for the survival of the Southern Cassowary.

Further south, as alpine areas retreat, what will happen to the species which rely on this habitat?  At least some species that inhabit temperate areas in the grip of severe drought seem certain to be lost, just as drought doomed the Paradise Parrot to extinction early in the 20th century. Birds which nest on beaches, such as the Little Tern and Hooded Plover, will be adversely affected by rising sea levels, as will other species which live in low-lying coastal areas, such as the Capricorn subspecies of the Yellow Chat.  Rising sea levels may also cause increased erosion of mudflats currently used as foraging grounds by vast flocks of waders.  Melting of the pack-ice can only be detrimental to the birds which live in Antarctica.

There are many other aspects of climate change that we simply don't understand, and we can only hope to grasp their implications through increased levels of monitoring.  Climate change may cause the timing of breeding by some species to change, and the expansion of the ranges of some species and the contraction of others. Behaviour may even be affected, such as changed timing or destinations of migrations. The implications are potentially endless, and Birds Australia is at the forefront of monitoring populations of birds throughout Australia to try to gauge the effects of the change in climate.  This topic is the subject of the 2007 edition of The State of Australia's Birds Report.

Southern Cassowary © BA

Hooded Plover near nest © Glenn Ehmke

Noisy Miner © Dean Ingwersen