Climate change is not only threatening millions of animals across the world but also it is adversely impacting the birds, particularly a few species that have unique morphological traits and behaviour.

In a new study published in the journal Current Biology on July 21, researchers found that climate change will lead to homogeneity in avian species as species with distinctive traits go extinct faster.

Another study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, on July 19, estimated that as birds move away from warmer regions to colder ones, avian diversity will be further reduced.

Also Read: In a first, microplastics found in fresh Antarctic snow

While diversity loss is an issue that other groups of animals are going to face as well, birds seem to be most sensitive to such issues due to climate change, especially as many morphologically unique birds live in ecologically sensitive areas like the Himalayan foothills or South East Asian jungles.

Many of these birds have unique ecological roles that cannot be taken over by other species or organisms.

As a result, bird species like the toucan, flamingoes, vultures and condors may be lost to time because of climate change.

Scientists behind the first study tallied the dimensions, colour and shape of 8,500 bird specimens and then used the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species to determine which birds would go extinct first.

Also Read: New NASA images show dramatic drop in America’s largest reservoir Lake Mead over 22 years

“As species go extinct you expect the traits that they represent to also be lost,” said Emma Hughes, a bird researcher at the University of Sheffield and lead author of the first study.

“But what we found was that with morphological diversity, the traits were lost at a much, much, much greater rate than just species loss could predict. This is really important because that can lead to a major loss of ecological strategies and functions,” Hughes said.

Her findings were published in the paper titled ‘The homogenisation of avian morphological and phylogenetic diversity under the global extinction crisis’.

Also Read: Unilever, Coke-backed fund to invest more in Indian startup fixing plastic menace

(Edited by : Anand Singha)