SOURCE: BBC News
DATE: November 9, 2018
SNIP: The Arctic is no longer the safe haven it once was for nesting birds, a new scientific report warns.
Having nests raided by predators is a bigger threat for birds flocking to breed than in the past, it shows.
This raises the risk of extinction for birds on Arctic shores, say researchers.
They point to a link with climate change, which may be changing the behaviour and habitat of animals, such as foxes, which steal eggs.
“We’re seeing the sad implication of climate change,” Prof SzĂ©kely told BBC News, “because our data show that the impact of climate change is involved, driving increased nest predation among these shorebirds – sandpipers, plovers and the likes.”
Shore birds breed on the ground; their eggs and offspring are exposed, where they can fall prey to predators such as snakes, lizards and foxes.
Rates of daily nest predation in the Arctic have increased three-fold in the last 70 years. A two-fold increase was found in Europe, most of Asia and North America, while a smaller change was observed in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere.