Land-Use Change: 2003 Publications

Valiela, I. and Bowen, J.L.  Shifts in winter distribution in birds: Effects of global warming and local habitat change.  Ambio 32(7): 476-480, 2003.
© Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Notes: As global warming intensified toward the end of the 20(th) century, there was a northward shift in winter ranges of bird species in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. These poleward shifts were correlated to local increases in minimum winter temperatures and global temperature anomalies. This evidence, plus other recent results, suggests that during the last two decades global warming has led to massive and widespread biogeographic shifts with potentially major ecological and human consequences. Local habitat changes associated with urban sprawl affected mainly forest birds with more northern winter distributions. In Cape Cod, the effects of warming on bird distributions are more substantial at the start of the 21(st) century, than those of habitat alteration, but as urban sprawl continues its importance may rival that of global warming.