Climate change increases the likelihood of catastrophic avian mortality events during extreme heat waves
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Date
Authors
McKechnie, Andrew E.
Wolf, Blair O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Royal Society
Abstract
Severe heat waves have occasionally led to catastrophic avian mortality in hot desert
environments. Climate change models predict increases in the intensity, frequency and
duration of heat waves. A model of avian evaporative water requirements and survival
times during the hottest part of day reveals that the predicted increases in maximum air
temperatures will result in large fractional increases in water requirements (in small birds,
equivalent to 150 – 200% of current values), which will severely reduce survival times
during extremely hot weather. By the 2080s, desert birds will experience reduced survival
times much more frequently during mid-summer, increasing the frequency of
catastrophic mortality events.
Description
Keywords
Dehydration, Desert, Evaporative water loss, Thermoregulation
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
McKechnie, AE & Wolf, BO 2010, 'Climate change increases the likelihood of catastrophic avian mortality events during extreme heat waves', Biological Letters, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 253-256.