Huge Numbers Of Birds Have Disappeared Across Europe Over Past 40 Years

Birds and humans have had a long and symbiotic relationship dating back tens of thousands of years. According to a recent study, one out of every six birds has quietly gone across Europe during the 1980s. Within the last 40 years, this equates to a stunning loss of up to 620 million individual birds.

During the 1980s, the quantity of charming little sparrows has reduced, and there are now roughly 75 million fewer curious and clever starlings copying the sounds of the world surrounding us, witha 60 percent decrease innumbers. The majority of the decreases have happened in species involved in agricultural and grassland habitats, but it is also occurring in urban areas. Habitat loss, major insect extinctions, pollution, and illness are all likely contributors to the broader mass extinction event.

Anna Staneva, BirdLife Europe's Interim Head of Conservation explained the concern that common birds are growing increasingly rare, owing to the extinction of the habitats on which they rely. Our countryside, sea, and city have all been devoid of nature. Governments throughout Europe should set legally obligatory targets for natural restoration, alternatively, the repercussions, especially for our own species, would be grave.

Since the decline of birds comes mostly from numerous species, with a 25% extinction rate for common species and a 4% extinction rate for unusual species, there haven't been many extinctions yet. The researchers, led by RSPB conservation biologist Fiona Burns, alerted that common species are probable to initiate inordinately more than rare species. Thougheven comparatively minor losses can hugely disrupt theecosystem's structure and function due to the loss of the essential services thatthese birds obtain.

Meanwhile, the long history of birdwatching, bird population is thestudyamong the most advanced of any animal group. Amateur ornithologists led by specialists have a wealth of historical data, thatthe current study makes effective use of. Burns and colleagues looked at 378 of the 445 native bird species that breed in Europe, using data from two databases. Earlier smaller studies had already discovered these alarming decreases across Europe; however, the new study found that this pattern held true across a broader range of species and over a longer time period. A comparable study conducted in North America in 2019 discovered that the same thing is happening there as well.