GIS, Citizen Science Reveal Global Warming Threat to Bird Populations
In a press release today from the National Audubon Society, the impact of global warming on North American bird populations was analyzed thanks in part to the spatial analysis capabilities of GIS.
“Detailed GIS maps produced using the California research project where the birds are likely to be in 50 to 100 years. Findings will help policymakers and land managers augment efforts to mitigate the severity of global warming impacts with better habitat conservation investments to address changes that can’t be avoided.”
The study also a good example of how Citizen Scientists can assist in important projects.
“Analyses of citizen-gathered data from the past 40 years of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) reveal that 58 percent of the 305 widespread species that winter on the continent shifted significantly north since 1968, some by hundreds of miles. ‘Citizen Science is allowing us to better recognize the impacts that global warming is having here and now. Only citizen action can help us reduce them,’ said Butcher.”
