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There are 2.9 billion (yes, that's billion with a B) fewer birds on the North American continent today than there were 50 years ago.
In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers report that hundreds of North American bird populations - from songbirds like meadowlarks to backyard favorites like sparrows - are thinning. Overall, the analysis suggests, we've seen a 29% decline.
"We expected to see continuing declines of threatened species. But for the first time, the results also showed pervasive losses among common birds across all habitats, including backyard birds," Kenneth Rosenberg, the lead author of the study, said in a press release.
Rosenberg, a scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy, told Business Insider that entire bird species aren't going extinct yet, but the animals' total population numbers are taking a hard hit.
"We make the analogy to the passenger pigeon - once one of the most numerous birds on the planet," he said of his team's paper. "No one thought that bird could go extinct, but it did. It provides a poignant reminder that even abundant species can go extinct rapidly."
The bird losses described in the study are part of a larger trend: The Earth appears to be in the middle of a mass extinction - the sixth time in history that animal and plant species are disappearing in enormous numbers. A recent report from the United Nations found that between 500,000 and 1 million plant and animals species face imminent extinction.
Rosenberg said the new findings are "absolutely part of the sixth mass extinction trend."
Read more at...
https://amp-businessinsider-com.cdn...isappeared-across-us-canada-since-1970-2019-9
In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers report that hundreds of North American bird populations - from songbirds like meadowlarks to backyard favorites like sparrows - are thinning. Overall, the analysis suggests, we've seen a 29% decline.
"We expected to see continuing declines of threatened species. But for the first time, the results also showed pervasive losses among common birds across all habitats, including backyard birds," Kenneth Rosenberg, the lead author of the study, said in a press release.
Rosenberg, a scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and American Bird Conservancy, told Business Insider that entire bird species aren't going extinct yet, but the animals' total population numbers are taking a hard hit.
"We make the analogy to the passenger pigeon - once one of the most numerous birds on the planet," he said of his team's paper. "No one thought that bird could go extinct, but it did. It provides a poignant reminder that even abundant species can go extinct rapidly."
The bird losses described in the study are part of a larger trend: The Earth appears to be in the middle of a mass extinction - the sixth time in history that animal and plant species are disappearing in enormous numbers. A recent report from the United Nations found that between 500,000 and 1 million plant and animals species face imminent extinction.
Rosenberg said the new findings are "absolutely part of the sixth mass extinction trend."
Read more at...
https://amp-businessinsider-com.cdn...isappeared-across-us-canada-since-1970-2019-9