Birds and wind farms/climate change

[Michael Szabo]

Painting one wind turbine blade black has shown promise for preventing bird collisions. Now US researchers are field testing this surprisingly simple modification: https://www.audubon.org/magazine/surpri ... t-test-yet

[Michael Szabo]

"New Australian research using satellite imagery to monitor the location of Emperor Penguin colonies in East Antarctica, shows the birds are struggling to adapt to rapid changes in their environment.

Australian Antarctic Division seabird researcher, Dr Barbara Wienecke, said that for nearly one million years emperor penguins have responded to changes in their favoured breeding habitat, the Antarctic fast-ice* zone, moving to new locations if their chosen area becomes unsuitable.

But recent untimely loss of their fast-ice habitat and record low sea-ice extent in 2022 and 2023, has led to breeding failure in some colonies."

Link: https://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2024 ... o-survive/

[Michael Szabo]

Trait-based climate change vulnerability assessments of terrestrial taxa in Aotearoa New Zealand

This new report published today by the Department of Conservation assesses the vulnerability of New Zealand native species to climate change (including birds). DOC will use the findings to prioritise its work for species that are in the most critical need:

Science for Conservation 343, January 2025.

Summary: Climate change vulnerability assessments (CCVAs) were undertaken for 1,145 terrestrial taxa of bats, birds, herpetofauna, vascular plants and invertebrates in Aotearoa New Zealand to identify which taxa are potentially the most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

We used an established trait-based CCVA framework adapted to the Aotearoa New Zealand context to assess 16 traits under three dimensions of climate change vulnerability – sensitivity, low adaptive capacity and exposure – using expert elicitation. To be classified as Highly Vulnerable to climate change, a taxon needed to trigger ‘higher vulnerability’ for at least one trait under each vulnerability dimension.

Exposure assessments that used the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) high-emission RCP8.5 scenario indicated that 351 (31%) of the taxa assessed will be Highly Vulnerable by the mid-21st century, increasing to 746 taxa (65%) by late century. By contrast, exposure assessments using the moderate-emission RCP4.5 scenario identified 153 (13%) Highly Vulnerable taxa by mid-century and 215 (19%) by late century. We also identified many Latent Risk taxa across all groups (taxa that are sensitive and have a lower adaptive capacity but are not yet exposed to climate change), emphasising the need for ongoing monitoring to detect if environmental changes are occurring sooner than predicted by modelling.

Our study revealed critical data gaps, especially for invertebrates and vascular plants, and many groups of taxa were excluded due to a lack of available expertise to undertake the assessment. Nevertheless, the results of these assessments will assist the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai in prioritising climate change adaptation, management and research actions for the taxa that are in the most critical need.
Authors

Anni Brumby, Jane Marshall, Tara Murray, Colin O’Donnell and Rosalie Richards

Link to summary: https://www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/scienc ... M-9SRVLIgQ

Link to full report: https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/do ... sfc343.pdf

[Michael Szabo]

Many native species face being squeezed out of their habitats with nowhere to go as the climate heats, the lead author of a new risk assessment says.

Many native species face being squeezed out of their habitats with nowhere to go as the climate heats, the lead author of a new risk assessment says.

The most vulnerable species include New Zealand's rarest bird - the fairy tern - along with all five species of native bat, alpine wētā and 50 percent of the country's species of seabird.

A risk assessment by the Department of Conservation looked at 1145 species of birds, bats, lizards, and frogs, insects and plants and found almost a third would be highly vulnerable to climate change by 2050.

By 2100, 65 percent of species would be highly vulnerable, it found.

Project leader, senior science adviser Anni Brumby said some species could not adapt.

"It really depends on the species, but often there simply isn't anywhere else they can go and this is especially true of coastal and alpine species," she said.

One example was the Kapitia skink, a species with only around 300 remaining in one small strip of vegetation on the South Island's west coast. The skink was wedged between the ocean and farmland, Brumby said.

"With sea level rise, the species can't move inland because that's high-intensity farmland and not the type of vegetation that it needs," she said.

Alpine species were often adapted to colder temperatures, she said.

Paparoa giant wētā was another example.

"They might be adapted to cool conditions so warming of the alpine zone is a real threat."

"And also warmer temperatures can allow invasive species like rats to higher altitudes, pushing those alpine species higher and higher up the mountain until they run out of space."

The assessment found the fairy tern was particularly vulnerable to higher spring tides and increased storm surges on its Northland beach breeding grounds. Pāteke or brown teal, Kōtuku or white heron and Kakī or black stilt were among the other birds on the "highly vulnerable" list.

Although not a first choice of solutions, Brumby said in some cases establishing insurance populations in captivity could help secure the futures of some species - but keeping species in their natural environments was always preferred, she said.

The report had been in the works since 2021 and could now be use to inform conservation efforts, said Brumby.


Link to RNZ News report: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/540 ... W2tKPAfRnQ

[SomesBirder]

Were the two extant endemic bat species split into five species recently?

[Raptor]

Yes there are now only 5 species of bats recognised in NZ:

a. Long-tailed bat
b. Northern lesser short-tailed bat
c. Central lesser short-tailed bat
d. Southern lesser short-tailed bat
e. Greater short-tailed bat (last seen in 1997)

There used to be six but the North Island long-tailed and Southern Island long-tailed were found to be the same species after DNA testing..

[Oscar Thomas]

The lesser short-tailed bats are considered one species comprised of three subspecies.

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Yes there are now only 5 species of bats recognised in NZ:

a. Long-tailed bat
b. Northern lesser short-tailed bat
c. Central lesser short-tailed bat
d. Southern lesser short-tailed bat
e. Greater short-tailed bat (last seen in 1997)

There used to be six but the North Island long-tailed and Southern Island long-tailed were found to be the same species after DNA testing..

Greater short-tailed bat (Mystacina robusta) was last seen in 1967.

[David Riddell]

There's an unpublished report by Colin O'Donnell which says unidentified bats were seen on Putauhinu Is (near Big South Cape Is) in 1998 and 1999. In 1999 two "mystacina-like" calls were recorded there at 25kHz, distinctly lower in pitch than the usual short-tailed bat frequency of 28kHz. A muttonbirder with experience of bats reported seeing a bat poke its head out of a tree crevice after the rat eradication on Big South Cape in 2006, and another one was seen on the island in flight over Murderers Cove (date of the actual sightings unclear). A DoC search in 2009 recorded two bat passes but no animals were caught in the traps that were set. It was concluded that the bats, if present, must be in very low numbers but that since rats had already been eradicated confirmation of greater short-tailed bats would not change the islands' management, so it seems there have been no subsequent searches.
Some more detail in an MSc thesis available here:
https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/b ... sequence=3

[Hypno]

If true, this does not bode well for future stability.


https://iefworld.org/SMOCreversal2025