Climate change blamed for collapse of Hawaiian forest birds Researchers documented the rapid collapse of native avifauna, including Hawaiian honeycreepers, on the island of Kaua‘i. They predict multiple extinctions in the next decade, if the current rates of decline continue. September 7, 2016 http://phys.org/news/2016-09-climate-blamed-collapse-hawaiian-forest.html [with comments]
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Collapsing avian community on a Hawaiian island Science Advances 07 Sep 2016: Vol. 2, no. 9, e1600029 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600029 Abstract The viability of many species has been jeopardized by numerous negative factors over the centuries, but climate change is predicted to accelerate and increase the pressure of many of these threats, leading to extinctions. The Hawaiian honeycreepers, famous for their spectacular adaptive radiation, are predicted to experience negative responses to climate change, given their susceptibility to introduced disease, the strong linkage of disease distribution to climatic conditions, and their current distribution. We document the rapid collapse of the native avifauna on the island of Kaua‘i that corresponds to changes in climate and disease prevalence. Although multiple factors may be pressuring the community, we suggest that a tipping point has been crossed in which temperatures in forest habitats at high elevations have reached a threshold that facilitates the development of avian malaria and its vector throughout these species’ ranges. Continued incursion of invasive weeds and non-native avian competitors may be facilitated by climate change and could also contribute to declines. If current rates of decline continue, we predict multiple extinctions in the coming decades. Kaua‘i represents an early warning for the forest bird communities on the Maui and Hawai‘i islands, as well as other species around the world that are trapped within a climatic space that is rapidly disappearing. http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/9/e1600029
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Flood waters are expected to rise in NSW tomorrow, with rain expected along the coast and in plenty of already effected inland regions.
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30mm [1.1811in.] of rain is expected to fall in Sydney on Wednesday. Picture: Marc McCormack
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=650 It’s going to be a wet week in Sydney, and across most of the east coast.
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Sydney is expected to receive half its average September rainfall in the next 24 hours, with a chance of 34mm [1.33858in.] of rain falling before Wednesday night.
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