Warm summers are dramatically reducing populations of daddy long legs, which is in turn is having a severe impact on birds that rely on them for food, scientists have shown. This key finding comes from a new study by RSPB Scotland scientists whose researc
Warm summers are dramatically reducing populations of daddy long legs, which is in turn is having a severe impact on birds that rely on them for food, scientists have shown.
This key finding comes from a new study by RSPB Scotland scientists whose research shows how increasing late summer temperatures dry out peatland soils, killing cranefly larvae, resulting in a drop of up to 95 per cent in numbers of adult craneflies emerging the following spring. The resulting scarcity of craneflies for a wide range of upland birds like golden plover, means starvation and death for many chicks.
Lead Author Dr James Pearce Higgins of RSPB Scotland said: "Many studies predict dire effects of climate change upon wildlife but this study provides a rare example of where such predictions are based on a detailed understanding of a species' requirements, linking the effects of climate on food resources to changes in breeding success and population size."
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