Canary in the Arctic coal mine: warming harms migrating red knot

What happens in the Arctic, doesn’t stay in the Arctic: change flows south of the Arctic Circle as an altered jet stream brings extreme weather to middle latitudes, some scientists say. It also rises, as thawing permafrost leaks CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, heightening global temperatures. And, more and more, it flies out of the North, into temperate and tropical ecosystems, as migratory birds are impacted adversely by a hotter Arctic climate.

In recent years, climate change-affected migratory species have become a major focus of the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna subgroup, and the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species. Both are trying to determine not only how climate change is altering Arctic ecosystems, but how those shifts are impacting ecosystems to the south, with migratory animals — especially birds — acting as a kind-of vector of transmission.

One major problem they’re looking at: the rapidly warming Arctic has resulted in dramatic changes in plants and the makeup and timing of insect hatches, meaning that birds reliant on a particular Arctic food supply are often now departing the North on long migratory journeys with less stored energy than in years prior.

https://news.mongabay.com/2017/08/canary-in-the-arctic-coal-mine-warming-harms-migrating-red-knot/

Ann Marie Morrison

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