Thursday, January 16, 2020

YALE FOREST BIRD POPULATIONS INCREASE AND SHIFT SPECIES



Everyone's been sharing this link with me: https://www.courant.com/…/hc-hm-birds-connecticut-in-declin…
It is a fine article, but as I pointed out to the author, like most everything in nature the situation is much, much more complicated than simply declines of bird species. From our work at Yale Forest, we know that Connecticut bird communities are extremely dynamic, with more that 50% turnover in 35 years and population increases actually outpacing decreases- climate change, habitat change, species moving into new habitats, competition, etc. etc. all appear to play roles. The graph shows Yale Forest population increases vs. decreases for species whose continental populations are (1) increasing, (2) decreasing and (3) stable. We will have an article out soon...