A new study reveals that while birds are more adaptable than many species when it comes to relocating due to climate change, the environment is changing at an accelerated rate that outpaces their ability to adapt.

As global temperatures continue to climb and alter ecosystems,animal species typically face two options: adjust to the changing local conditions or seek refuge in cooler environments.

Ecologists have traditionally believed that bird species are uniquely positioned to handle the pressures of climate change as of their ability to fly to higher altitudes or towards the poles.

However,the recent study indicates that only a fraction of bird species can effectively escape the consequences of a warming planet.

The research findings were published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

According to Jeremy Cohen, the lead author of the study and an associate research scientist in Yale University’s ecology and evolutionary biology department, “They can’t move fast enough or far enough to keep up with how quickly climate change is occurring.”

Cohen collaborated with Walter Jetz, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, director of the Yale Center for biodiversity and Global Change, and a chair of the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation.

For their research, Cohen and Jetz examined data on the movements of 406 North American bird species, gathered over two decades by citizen observers, alongside corresponding local temperature changes. Their analysis confirmed some of their initial assumptions about how bird species are responding to climate change.

Such as, during the summer, bird species relocated an average of 40 to 50 miles northward, and sometimes to higher elevations.This northbound movement helped birds avoid approximately 1.28 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) of temperature increase, which is about half of what they would have experienced had they remained in place.

Despite these movements, birds still experienced an average temperature increase of 1.35 degrees Celsius (2.43 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer months compared to their original home range temperatures. During winter months, birds showed minimal success in limiting their exposure to warming, experiencing only 11% less warming than if they had not moved. in winter, birds experienced an average 3.7-degree Celsius (6.66 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperatures over the 20 years, reducing their potential exposure only by half a degree via their movement north.

The ability of birds to escape higher temperatures also varied among species. while over 75% of birds managed to find slightly cooler environments, some species, such as the cactus wren, which is native to North American deserts, did not move at all. This makes them more vulnerable to climate-driven changes to their environmental niches.

These “niche shifters” might potentially be limited by their flight capabilities or face challenges in leaving their current habitats due to specific habitat needs and ecological dependencies.

The researchers discovered that bird species capable of long-distance flights were the most accomplished in limiting their exposure to warmer climates and maintaining their historic climatic niches. The blue-winged warbler, for instance, traveled over 100 miles northward and experienced two fewer degrees of warming than if it had stayed put. However, even these birds are facing temperatures that exceed those of their original home range from 20 years ago.

Species less mobile than birds, such as reptiles and mammals, face even greater limitations in escaping rapid warming.

According to the study’s authors, climate change is widening the gap between the climatic niche species have evolved into over thousands of years and the conditions they currently experience.

“In a uniquely well-studied continental system, we find that even a highly mobile group, such as birds, is unable to relocate quickly enough to keep up with this velocity,” Jetz says.

“This raises deep concerns about the ability of all the other, less mobile species and lesser known species to persist in a warmer world. A much better understanding and management of most likely climate change victims-those most ecologically and geographically tied down-is needed to fend off an impending extinction crisis.”

Funding for the study was partly provided by the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation in support of the Half-Earth Project.