Climate-influenced changes in flowering, fruiting also affect bird abundance, activities

A new study has documented shifts in Hawaiian bird abundance, breeding and molting based on climate-related changes to native vegetation. Researchers with the US Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station recently reviewed extensive climate, vegetation and bird data collected between 1976 and 1982 at a 40-acre monitoring site about 5 miles outside Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on Hawai’i Island. The study is featured in this month’s issue of Ecology.