Birds are Shrinking due to Climate Change: Study

Recently, scientists found that the size of the birds are getting smaller and their wings are growing, owing to the effects of global warming and climate changes. The specimen of the study is large enough to conclude, researchers added. Researchers took more than 70,000 birds to conduct the research. It took around 40 years to collect such a huge sample — most of the birds killed after collisions with buildings in the Chicago region. 

The author of the research revealed that the study is diverse, and might be the largest in the specific category. The study unveiled the effects of climate change on bird species and their adaptation to such changes. 

Brian Weeks, the lead author of the research paper, claimed that all the species are becoming smaller in size. Though these species are quite different than each other, climate change similarly affects them. The similarity was quite surprising even for the group of researchers, Brian Weeks revealed. 

Most of the animal-based climate change study focuses on the aspects like migration and their birth rate, but the recent study focused on the morphology of the animal. The result of the study will encourage to conduct more research on this aspect. The lead author of the study said about the importance of these three aspects. 

The conclusion from the study

The study concluded that the average length of lower leg bone decreased by 2.4% from 1978 to 2016. While during the same period, the length of the wings increased by 1.3%. Scientists blame the adverse effects of climate change on such changes in the body type. 

The change in the body type is the start of extinction, claimed one scientist related to the study. The smaller body indicates less amount of energy in the body. As a result, birds find it difficult to migrate from one place to another. As migration from one corner of the world to another is a tough process, it will be even tougher for a bird having a small body structure.