Invasive Species Can Hurt Native Birds

[Cara J]

Invasive Eurasian birds might be wreaking havoc on bird species native to North America as a result of a warming climate, according to a recent study. Invasive brood parasites — birds that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and discard the host bird’s eggs — are making their way from Eurasia to North America via the Bering Strait, a natural barrier separating North American and Eurasian birds, according Vladimir Dinets, an assistant research professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “A few years ago, I realized that brood parasites from Asia are going to invade North America, and that’s really scary because the consequences for native fauna can be catastrophic,” he said. Dinets co-authored a study recently published in the Journal of Field Ornithology that examined North American native birds’ predicted responses to invasive brood parasites such as the cuckoo. In the past 20 years, the vegetation in the Bering Strait has changed dramatically, according to Dinets. While open tundra once extended across hundreds of miles on both sides of the Strait, it’s now being replaced with forest and dense shrublands. As a result, crossing the Strait is much easier for the birds that inhabit these forests since [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/invasive-species-can-hurt-native-birds/