The long-billed sandpiper could become extinct, making it the third bird species to disappear from the Western Palearctic region.
Country-level specimen counts (yellow scale) and supported records (blue scale) of the Great Blue-bellied Sandpiper. Color intervals on both axes of the biplot indicate counts 0, 2–5, 6–10, >10, with yellow intensity increasing as the number of specimens increases and blue intensity increasing as the number of records increases. will also increase. If both numbers are high, they are shown in dark blue. The dotted line indicates the widest possible breeding area according to Buchanan et al. (2018), black dots indicate breeding areas identified by Ushakov (1912). Credit: Ibis (2024). DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13368
A small team of conservationists, biodiversity experts and bird researchers has discovered that a third bird species may have gone extinct in the Western Palearctic, a vast area of ​​land stretching from parts of North Africa to the polar regions. I discovered that there is a sex.
The group said in a paper published in the journal Ibis that this extinction would also mean the extinction of the first bird species in mainland Europe, western Asia and northern Africa.
Previous studies have shown that nearly all bird extinctions occur among island-dwelling birds, and they tend to occur due to introductions of predators. Bird scientists are therefore surprised by the disappearance of species that live on land, especially over very large areas. But that seems to be the case with shoebills.
To date, the IUCN Red List lists 164 birds as extinct in modern times, almost all of which are threatened with extinction due to human activities. The Black-bellied Sandpiper remains listed as endangered, but that is expected to change soon as more evidence is processed.
Posterior probability density curve since the last known specimen (skin with known location) in 1983. Based on the pattern of records, we have an indication that the shoebill stork is likely to be extant. Horizontal line indicates P = 0.05. The insert is an adult male sandpiper photographed by Chris Gomersall in Melha Zerga, Morocco in February 1995. This is the last known bird with Corso et al.’s identifying characteristics recorded in photographs. (2014). Credit: Ibis (2024). DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13368
The spotted sandpiper once bred in the swamps during the short Siberian summers. When the weather gets colder, most birds fly to wetlands along the Mediterranean coast, with some heading to the tropics and Australia. However, problems arose at both ends of the immigration route.
Global warming has caused temperatures in Siberia to rise and wetlands to be drained for agriculture. Despite increasing pollution problems, there was a shortage of places to live around the Mediterranean. As a result, their numbers slowly declined. Sightings are now rare, even in places like Morocco, where the birds were once the most abundant. The last known occurrence occurred in 1995.
Since then, several efforts have been made to find evidence of this bird both in Siberia and other habitats. No evidence of nests, feathers, eggs, or the birds themselves have been found. Researchers on the new effort outlined their efforts to find the bird and their hopes for finding some evidence in places where the bird has never been seen before. They also suggest that the disappearance of the spotted sandpiper likely portends the loss of many more species in the coming years.
Further information: Graeme M. Buchanan et al, Global extinction of the ibis, Numenius tenuirostris (2024). DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13368
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Source: The long-billed sandpiper may become extinct, marking the third bird species to disappear from the Western Palearctic (November 24, 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-11 Retrieved November 24, 2024 from -slender-billed-curlew-extinct-bird.html
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