Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2020

40 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestofMP.com feature V ulnerable birds in Charleston County may lose more than half of their current range as they are forced to search for more suitable habitat and climate conditions elsewhere, according to a nationwide climate report released by Audubon in October 2019. The climate impact study, entitled “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink,” provides a detailed look at the impact of climate change on birds and the overall health of our environment. To develop the report, Audubon scientists compiled more than 140 million observations recorded by birders and scientists to describe where 604 North American bird species live today, also known as their “range.” They then incorporated the latest climate models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to project how each species’ range may shift under different projected warming scenarios, based on what these birds need to survive, explained Matt Johnson, director of the Audubon Center and Sanctuary at Beidler Forest in Harleyville. Big picture, it found that nearly two-thirds of North American bird species (389 out of 604) studied are considered vulnerable and could face extinction by 2100 unless immediate action is taken to curb climate change. This vulnerability is determined by their entire range. Johnson emphasized though that it is not all doom and gloom. This projection examines a worst-case 3 degrees Celsius warming scenario in which no changes are made to mitigate climate change effects. “If we keep global temperature change to 1.5 degrees Celsius, things look better for all of our birds,” said Johnson. “The main takeaway is our birds are threatened by climate change and we need to act now.” The report shows that nearly 20% of South Carolina’s 236 bird species included in the study were identified as vulnerable to climate change and are likely to experience range shifts. Breeding birds could be disproportionately affected — nearly a quarter (35 out of 146) of species that nest in South Carolina during summer are climate vulnerable. If conditions change, there may not be enough resources to breed here. “South Carolina is an important nesting ground for so BY COLIN MCCANDLESS Climate Impacts on Local Birds AUDUBON STUDY ON BIRDS IN CHARLESTON COUNTY