Hotspots of accelerated bird decline linked to agricultural activity

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https://news.osu.edu/hotspots-of-accelerated-bird-decline-linked-to-agricultural-activity/

Study: Midwest, California, Mid-Atlantic show quickening pace of loss

Emily Caldwell
Ohio State News
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Though previous research has shown that bird populations are declining across North America, a new study is the first to show that the pace of loss has picked up speed since the mid-1980s in three regions: the Midwest, California and Mid-Atlantic states.

After these hotspots of accelerated bird decline were revealed, researchers looked for factors that could explain the difference in the rates of decline, examining climate measures and human activity-related data.

A top predictor of where the accelerated abundance loss occurred became clear, overlapping with locations of agriculture intensity as indicated by the extent of cropland and the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

“Agriculture intensity is the main driver associated with accelerated loss of abundance, but we cannot disentangle which of these three metrics is most important because this is a correlative analysis,” said lead author François Leroy, a postdoctoral scholar in evolution, ecology and organismal biology at The Ohio State University.

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François Leroy et al. ,Acceleration hotspots of North American birds’ decline are associated with agriculture.Science391,917-921(2026).DOI:10.1126/science.ads0871