Avian survivors (eBook)

The impacts of global warming are of concern to all of us. The potential responses of birds to climate change have come increasingly to the fore, and are of particular interest to the ornithological community. Are birds sensitive to climate change and how will they react to a world of global warming? These are the key issues to be explored in this book, with particular reference to Western Palearcticbirds.
Climate changes that have affected the region in the last two million years will be explored, drawing on published data on fossil birds. A major part of the book will be devoted to the distribution of Western Palearctic birds in relation to bioclimate. The final section of the book looks at migration and the relationship of the Western Palearcticto Africa.

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Using a fresh approach that classifies birds according to their bioclimatic characteristics, Clive Finlayson views the history and distribution of Palearctic birds from a radical new angle. History and chance events play a central role in a story that has its origins before the asteroid impact that finished off the dinosaurs. In this book, Finlayson shows that the avifauna of the Palearctic long predates the glaciations of the last two million years, and had established itself gradually during the turbulent times of the Miocene and Pliocene, the lifting of Tibet and the drying of the continents having a major influence on these birds. Those that made it to the start of the glaciations were equipped to deal with whatever the climate could throw at them. They were the avian survivors, and they are still here with us today. Packed with figures and with a rich colour section, Avian Survivors tells the definitive story of the birds of the Palearctic, across space and time.