Research conducted by ornithologists from Michigan Technological University and the Federal University of Amazonas has revealed alarming trends in bird populations in the tropical forests of Central and South America. According to data published in the journal Science, over the past four decades, bird populations in untouched areas of the jungles of Panama, Ecuador, and Brazil have decreased by 40-70%. It is important to note that this concerns not migratory, but resident species that have remained in their places, protected from deforestation and fires.
Insectivorous birds have been hit the hardest. In the Manaus region of Brazil, the population of half of the studied species has decreased by more than 50%, with the average body mass of individuals also declining. Scientists attribute this to a deterioration in the food base: temperatures during the dry season have increased by 1°C, and precipitation has decreased by 7%, leading to a shortage of tropical insects.
To test their hypotheses, researchers conducted an experiment by setting up a three-kilometer network of pipelines to artificially restore the forest's humidity levels to those of the 1980s. Preliminary results showed that in irrigated areas, birds have higher fat reserves in their blood and breed more frequently.
Ecologists concluded that birds in lowland tropics may be evolutionarily unprepared for such changes and lack the ability to migrate to cooler regions. As researcher Cory Tarwater emphasizes, the disappearance of birds could threaten the forests themselves, as they play a key role in pollination and seed dispersal, which is critically important for ecosystem restoration.
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