Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States
Abstract Extensive, severe wildfires, and wildfire‐induced smoke occurred across the western and central United States since August 2020. Wildfires resulting in the loss of habitats and emission of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds pose serious threatens to wildlife and human populat...
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021-04-01
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000395 |
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doaj-72e4269f108349cea2ddcde451d938ce2021-05-14T12:20:25ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)GeoHealth2471-14032021-04-0154n/an/a10.1029/2021GH000395Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United StatesDi Yang0Anni Yang1Jue Yang2Rongting Xu3Han Qiu4Wyoming Geographic Information Center University of Wyoming Laramie WY USADepartment of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USADepartment of Geography University of Georgia Athens GA USAForest Ecosystems and Society Oregon State University Corvallis OR USADepartment of Forest and Wildlife Ecology University of Wisconsin‐Madison Madison WI USAAbstract Extensive, severe wildfires, and wildfire‐induced smoke occurred across the western and central United States since August 2020. Wildfires resulting in the loss of habitats and emission of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds pose serious threatens to wildlife and human populations, especially for avian species, the respiratory system of which are sensitive to air pollutions. At the same time, the extreme weather (e.g., snowstorms) in late summer may also impact bird migration by cutting off their food supply and promoting their migration before they were physiologically ready. In this study, we investigated the environmental drivers of massive bird die‐offs by combining socioecological earth observations data sets with citizen science observations. We employed the geographically weighted regression models to quantitatively evaluate the effects of different environmental and climatic drivers, including wildfire, air quality, extreme weather, drought, and land cover types, on the spatial pattern of migratory bird mortality across the western and central US during August‐September 2020. We found that these drivers affected the death of migratory birds in different ways, among which air quality and distance to wildfire were two major drivers. Additionally, there were more bird mortality events found in urban areas and close to wildfire in early August. However, fewer bird deaths were detected closer to wildfires in California in late August and September. Our findings highlight the important impact of extreme weather and natural disasters on bird biology, survival, and migration, which can provide significant insights into bird biodiversity, conservation, and ecosystem sustainability.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000395bird mortalitycitizen scienceextreme weathergeographically weighted regressionwildfire |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Di Yang Anni Yang Jue Yang Rongting Xu Han Qiu |
spellingShingle |
Di Yang Anni Yang Jue Yang Rongting Xu Han Qiu Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States GeoHealth bird mortality citizen science extreme weather geographically weighted regression wildfire |
author_facet |
Di Yang Anni Yang Jue Yang Rongting Xu Han Qiu |
author_sort |
Di Yang |
title |
Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States |
title_short |
Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States |
title_full |
Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States |
title_fullStr |
Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States |
title_full_unstemmed |
Unprecedented Migratory Bird Die‐Off: A Citizen‐Based Analysis on the Spatiotemporal Patterns of Mass Mortality Events in the Western United States |
title_sort |
unprecedented migratory bird die‐off: a citizen‐based analysis on the spatiotemporal patterns of mass mortality events in the western united states |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
series |
GeoHealth |
issn |
2471-1403 |
publishDate |
2021-04-01 |
description |
Abstract Extensive, severe wildfires, and wildfire‐induced smoke occurred across the western and central United States since August 2020. Wildfires resulting in the loss of habitats and emission of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds pose serious threatens to wildlife and human populations, especially for avian species, the respiratory system of which are sensitive to air pollutions. At the same time, the extreme weather (e.g., snowstorms) in late summer may also impact bird migration by cutting off their food supply and promoting their migration before they were physiologically ready. In this study, we investigated the environmental drivers of massive bird die‐offs by combining socioecological earth observations data sets with citizen science observations. We employed the geographically weighted regression models to quantitatively evaluate the effects of different environmental and climatic drivers, including wildfire, air quality, extreme weather, drought, and land cover types, on the spatial pattern of migratory bird mortality across the western and central US during August‐September 2020. We found that these drivers affected the death of migratory birds in different ways, among which air quality and distance to wildfire were two major drivers. Additionally, there were more bird mortality events found in urban areas and close to wildfire in early August. However, fewer bird deaths were detected closer to wildfires in California in late August and September. Our findings highlight the important impact of extreme weather and natural disasters on bird biology, survival, and migration, which can provide significant insights into bird biodiversity, conservation, and ecosystem sustainability. |
topic |
bird mortality citizen science extreme weather geographically weighted regression wildfire |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000395 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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