Mass migration exodus?
June 2, 2009
According to a recent review in Endangered Species Research, many of the world’s large, migratory ungulates are traveling shorter distances or no longer migrating at all. A second review to be published in next month’s in Endangered Species Research discusses how certain features characteristic of migratory species may make them particularly vulnerable to the changes associated with the changing climate. For example, migrants often travel to high latitude habitats, which are extremely sensitive to climate change. In addition, a presentation I attended last year at Indiana University’s National Teach-In on global warming mentioned the dwindling wetland areas that many shorebird species use as stopover points during their annual migrations. Thus, it seems both terrestrial and aerial migratory animals may be more affected by the global climate change than sedentary species. This begs the question, are additional conservation efforts needed for these species? Do we need to think about protecting migration routes, as opposed to simply having wildlife preserves at either end?
