Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Shifting Ecosystems
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Shifting Ecosystems
The Great Plains ecosystem has been shifting northward over the past fifty years, driven by climate change, wildfire suppression, energy development, land use changes, and urbanization. The ecosystem is an area historically rich with grasslands and shrub steppe and is prime habitat for grassland birds.
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate
Change, the northernmost ecosystem boundary of the Great Plains has moved
more than 365 miles north since 1970, amounting to about 8 miles a year. The region’s southernmost ecosystem boundary
has shifted 160 miles north, or about 4 miles a year.
The study used bird distribution data as an indicator of shifting
ecosystem boundaries. The researchers
analyzed 46 years of data for 400 bird species across a 250-mile-wide strip
stretching from Texas to North Dakota.
They tracked how the birds’ distributions changed as a measure of how
these ecosystems were shifting.
While climate change has been a major driver of these ecosystem shifts
since the 1970s, several other factors such as wildfire trends, land use
changes, and invasion of tree species into grassland habitat have also played a
role. Like most things in ecological
systems, the changes are likely to have multiple causes. One cannot really separate causes like tree
invasions, warming climate, and wildfires, as they are all interrelated.
Using bird distribution patterns for tracking ecosystem shifts could
be a useful tool for scientists and land managers in the coming decades to give
them an early warning of how habitats are changing in response to rising global
temperatures and therefore allow them to take action to protect vulnerable species.
**********
Web Links
Great Plains’ Ecosystems Have Shifted 365 Miles Northward Since 1970
Photo, posted March 24, 2017, courtesy of Rick Bohn / USFWS via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
View all episodes
By Randy Simon
4.7
1515 ratings
The Great Plains ecosystem has been shifting northward over the past fifty years, driven by climate change, wildfire suppression, energy development, land use changes, and urbanization. The ecosystem is an area historically rich with grasslands and shrub steppe and is prime habitat for grassland birds.
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate
Change, the northernmost ecosystem boundary of the Great Plains has moved
more than 365 miles north since 1970, amounting to about 8 miles a year. The region’s southernmost ecosystem boundary
has shifted 160 miles north, or about 4 miles a year.
The study used bird distribution data as an indicator of shifting
ecosystem boundaries. The researchers
analyzed 46 years of data for 400 bird species across a 250-mile-wide strip
stretching from Texas to North Dakota.
They tracked how the birds’ distributions changed as a measure of how
these ecosystems were shifting.
While climate change has been a major driver of these ecosystem shifts
since the 1970s, several other factors such as wildfire trends, land use
changes, and invasion of tree species into grassland habitat have also played a
role. Like most things in ecological
systems, the changes are likely to have multiple causes. One cannot really separate causes like tree
invasions, warming climate, and wildfires, as they are all interrelated.
Using bird distribution patterns for tracking ecosystem shifts could
be a useful tool for scientists and land managers in the coming decades to give
them an early warning of how habitats are changing in response to rising global
temperatures and therefore allow them to take action to protect vulnerable species.
**********
Web Links
Great Plains’ Ecosystems Have Shifted 365 Miles Northward Since 1970
Photo, posted March 24, 2017, courtesy of Rick Bohn / USFWS via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
More shows like Earth Wise
View all
Stuff You Should Know
78,688 Listeners
Freakonomics Radio
32,246 Listeners
Planet Money
30,609 Listeners
Hidden Brain
43,687 Listeners
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
38,950 Listeners
Living on Earth
467 Listeners
Science Quickly
1,381 Listeners
Nature Podcast
756 Listeners
BirdNote Daily
1,259 Listeners
The Academic Minute
28 Listeners
Science Magazine Podcast
818 Listeners
Science Friday
6,467 Listeners
The Book Show
34 Listeners
Everything Explained
20 Listeners
The Daily
113,121 Listeners
The Media Project
39 Listeners
The Roundtable
160 Listeners
51 Percent
14 Listeners
A New York Minute in History
49 Listeners
The Capitol Connection
22 Listeners
The Legislative Gazette
11 Listeners
Short Wave
6,592 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
16,525 Listeners
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
1,739 Listeners