{"id":183822,"date":"2022-05-11T20:17:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T14:47:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=183822"},"modified":"2022-05-11T20:17:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T14:47:52","slug":"the-grim-forewarnings-of-a-global-study-on-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-grim-forewarnings-of-a-global-study-on-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"The grim forewarnings of a global study on birds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: This post is based on the article \u201cThe grim forewarnings of a global study on birds<\/strong>\u201d published in The Hindu<\/strong> on 11th May 22<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus<\/strong>: GS3 – Environment and Ecology<\/p>\n

Relevance<\/strong>: State of the World\u2019s Birds report<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>: The State of the World\u2019s Birds, an annual review of environmental resources, has revealed that the population of 48% of the 10,994 surviving species of birds is declining.<\/p>\n

The report led by the Manchester Metropolitan University gives an overview of the changes in the knowledge of avian biodiversity and the extent to which it is imperilled.<\/p>\n

What are the key findings of the study?<\/h5>\n

5,245 or about 48% of the existing bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines. While 4,295 or 39% of the species have stable trends, about 7% or 778 species have increasing population trends. The trend of 37 species was unknown.<\/p>\n

1,481 or 13.5% species are currently threatened with global extinction. These include 798 species classified as vulnerable, 460 as endangered and 223 as critically endangered while 52 species were considered to be data deficient.<\/p>\n

For more findings<\/strong>: Click here<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the importance of birds to ecosystems and culture?<\/h5>\n

Birds contribute toward many ecosystem services<\/strong> that either directly or indirectly benefit humanity. These include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services.<\/p>\n

The functional role of birds within ecosystems<\/strong> as pollinators, seed-dispersers, ecosystem engineers, scavengers and predators\u00a0 facilitates accrual and maintenance of biodiversity. It also supports human endeavours such as sustainable agriculture via pest control, <\/strong>besides aiding other animals to multiply. For instance, coral reef fish productivity has been shown to increase as seabird colonies recovered following rat eradication in the Chagos archipelago.<\/p>\n

Wild birds and products derived from them are also economically important<\/strong> as food (meat, eggs). Approximately 45% of all extant bird species are used in some way by people, primarily as pets (37%) and for food (14%).<\/p>\n

The cultural role of birds<\/strong> is perhaps more important than any other taxonomic group, the study says. Beyond its symbolic and artistic values, birdwatching is a global pastime<\/strong> practised by millions of people.<\/p>\n