{"id":2928,"date":"2020-06-23T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/impact-stories\/tree-swallows-expose-state-our-climate\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T12:49:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T16:49:30","slug":"tree-swallows-expose-state-our-climate","status":"publish","type":"impact-stories","link":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/impact-stories\/tree-swallows-expose-state-our-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Swallows Expose State of our Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ce contenu n’est disponible qu’en anglais.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Queen\u0092s University research examines local bird population to reveal how weather patterns are changing.<\/h3>\n

For many of us, birds are an interesting distraction or a sign of spring. For Fran Bonier and her former master\u0092s student Amelia Cox, bird populations provide vital data about the health of the world. Their new research adds to growing evidence that the climate is changing \u0096 and not for the better.<\/p>\n

Established in 1975 by Raleigh Robertson at the Queen\u0092s University Biological Station (QUBS) north of Kingston, a box-nesting population of tree swallows has provided long-term data sets that a number of Queen\u0092s researchers have used. In her most recent study, Dr. Bonier and Cox have determined rainy springs are linked to poor nestling growth in this species.<\/p>\n

The data shows that from 1977 to 2017, the nestlings\u0092 body mass has declined substantially and adult body mass, particularly in males, has also been declining.<\/p>\n

\u0093We examined 42 years of data and have determined the decline started in the late 1980s,\u0094 says Cox, who took the lead on the study. \u0093Tree swallows are avian aerial insectivores, which means they eat flying insects. These insects are inactive during cold, wet, or windy conditions which effectively reduces food availability to zero.\u0094<\/p>\n

Looking at the long-range weather data, the researchers also determined that rainfall amounts have increased over the decades and springs are getting cooler. Dr. Bonier says these weather changes, which she attributes to climate change, are affecting more than just tree swallows.<\/p>\n

\u0093This isn\u0092t going to affect just one bird species; it\u0092s happening with all aerial insectivores, like bats,\u0094 she says. \u0093These populations are important to the entire food chain and their decline could lead to an insect population explosion, which could be critical in many areas.\u0094<\/p>\n

Cox adds there are a few simple things we can do to start addressing the threats facing aerial insectivores, including providing good habitat, putting up nest boxes, leaving barn doors open for barn swallows (which are declining even faster) and leaving wetlands alone. But to get to the root of the problem, we must tackle climate change.<\/p>\n

\u0093I really enjoy working with huge datasets like this one and I\u0092m hoping, with my experience, I can move on to studying other bird species,\u0094 Cox says. \u0093I\u0092m optimistic this research can contribute to the larger conversation on climate change.\u0094<\/p>\n

Along with examining the population dynamics of tree swallows, the Bonier Lab has a number of other research foci including the influence of urbanization on birds, the effects of warming temperatures on carrion beetles, and the ways malarial parasites affect a local population of red-winged blackbirds.<\/p>\n

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Ce contenu n’est disponible qu’en anglais. Queen\u0092s University research examines local bird population to reveal how weather patterns are changing. For many of us, birds are an interesting distraction or a sign of spring. For Fran Bonier and her former master\u0092s student Amelia Cox, bird populations provide vital data about the health of the world. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2122,"template":"","geography":[],"industry":[],"topic":[],"audience":[],"institution":[],"impact-story-tags":[1273,1316],"class_list":["post-2928","impact-stories","type-impact-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","impact-story-tags-changement-climatique","impact-story-tags-recherche"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-stories\/2928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/impact-stories"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"geography","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/geography?post=2928"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=2928"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2928"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=2928"},{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=2928"},{"taxonomy":"impact-story-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u15.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/impact-story-tags?post=2928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}