Chasing after spring - Pied flycatchers have become climate refugees

Press/Media: ResearchPopular

Description

With spring starting earlier each year, migratory birds like the pied flycatcher miss the window where they can eat caterpillars in the Netherlands. Koosje Lamers tried to find out if moving them to a country where spring started later in the year would help them.

Period14-Sept-2023 → 18-Sept-2023

Media coverage

5

Media coverage

Media contributions

1

Media contributions

  • TitleMigratory birds adapt by moving north
    Degree of recognitionRegional
    Media name/outletScience LinX
    Media typeWeb
    Country/TerritoryNetherlands
    Date14/09/2023
    Description Spring is starting increasingly early due to climate change. Migratory birds that spend the winter in Africa are struggling to adapt to this: because of the early spring, they arrive too late to make use of the brief period in which there is plenty of food for their young. A potential solution is to continue flying north, where spring starts later and where they will be able to raise their young at the right time. Biologists from the University of Groningen investigated whether this could be an advantageous strategy. In an article that was published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution on 14 September, they show that this could indeed be a way for European pied flycatchers to adapt to climate change.
    Producer/AuthorChristian Both/FSE Science newsroom
    URLhttps://www.rug.nl/sciencelinx/nieuws/2023/09/trekvogels-passen-zich-aan-door-te-verhuizen
    PersonsKoosje Lamers, Christiaan Both