British wildlife head north as planet warms

[Barrett808]

British wildlife head north as planet warms
by Elodie Mazein
Fri Oct 20, 5:33 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Biologists have discerned a mass migration of fauna over the past 25 years as animals try to outrun global warming by heading for cooler climes in the north.

Studies by the University of York have shown that 80 percent of some 300 monitored species are on the move, abandoning areas they have inhabited for millennia and heading 70 to 100 kilometres (40 to 60 miles) north.

"Our sample is large enough to be sure about the pattern of change," said Chris Thomas, professor of conservation biology at the university.

"Eighty percent is a surprisingly large percentage ... It's amazing how strong and already visible is the signature of climate change."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061020/wl_uk_afp/britainanimalsclimatewarming_061020093301

[nam78_two]

1. k&r/nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Unfortunately, fauna and flora move at different rates.

A lot of pollinators are hatching out too late to catch earlier blooming plants, and the plants don't move as quickly as the pollinators, dooming both to extinction.

I read something a couple weeks ago about the same phenomenon in Canada, with many critters moving into previously inhospitible northern territories, changing the competition for the food stuffs there.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Can we expect flamingoes in Maryland?

Animals are far smarter than people give them credit for.

[outofbounds]

12. Its odd you mention Flamingos,

I recently saw some in southern Ga. I think. It was a small number and I thought they may have cross bred with some other breed, they were pink with very light white patches scattered about. Possibly moulting? Ive never seen pink birds standing in a salt water pond here before. The birds were big, pink, and a couple hundred miles north of where they belong.

[LiberalEsto]

14. I think their pink coloring

comes from eating shrimp. Or maybe the coloring is more uneven when they move north.

This is just amazing. It would be kind of cool if the implications weren't so serious.

I find things in my garden blooming a couple of weeks earlier than they used to. My roses are pretty much through by the time June begins -- now their peak blooming time is in mid-May.

[progressoid]

4. Stunning.

[hatrack]

5. Anyone tell James Inhofe yet?

:evilgrin:

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Nah.

He'd just say they're moving north because the real estate is cheaper.

[rodeodance]

6. and insects and grass is growing on former tundras (mountain areas)

[MonteSano]

7. k&r

[nealmhughes]

8. I have been seriously wondering if Iceland will be forested soon, or semi

Antartic South Atlantic islands like the Falklands, South Georgia, etc.??

[NickB79]

9. There are already trees growing in Iceland

http://www.icelandiscool.com/treepicture/

Many of them have been planted by people, and they take decades to reach maturity due to the extreme cold and short summers, but they're growing.

There is also this: http://www.icetourist.is/displayer.asp?cat_id=202

"Why aren´t there any trees in Iceland?

Ancient Icelandic writings from the 12th tell how the settlers three centuries earlier found a country that was covered with trees from mountain to shore. The fact that they mention this point suggests that trees were already becoming scarcer then. Over the centuries they were chopped down for timber and firewood, while grazing sheep, harsh winters and ash from volcanic eruptions caused erosion that prevented trees from taking root. Reforestation work began early this century and although there is still only one proper forest in the country (Hallormstadaskógur in the east), Iceland today plants more trees per head of population than any other nation in the world around four million a year, or 16 for every man, woman and child."

[98geoduck]

13. What do you do when you get lost in an Icelandic forest?

answer; "Stand Up"

common joke in Iceland, couldn't resist. :)

(trees are usually about head high)

[Lisa]

10. meanwhile, there are all those cities and roads in the way

It's going to be difficult for wildlife to find secure habitat (and enough of it to maintain population numbers with a good long-term chance of survival). We already know that it's hard enough for many animal populations to remain healthy in fragmented areas (e.g. when humans move in and break up the landscape with development). Add in forced migration due to climate change, and it becomes rather dicey. The conservation biologists I work with are concerned about "squeeze out" and "pop off" situations, where the cooler environments (at high elevation or at the bottom of deep lakes) are inevitably smaller, so viable populations can't be sustained even if the creatures manage to disperse there in time.