Citizen scientists help identify shorebird extinction threat

An international team of citizen scientists and researchers has identified a major contributor to the dramatic decline of migratory shorebird populations in Australia. University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences researcher Associate Professor Richard Fuller said Australian shorebirds were under threat due to the degradation and destruction of mudflats thousands of kilometres away in north-east Asia. Associate Professor Fuller was part of a team of researchers who worked on a shorebird study led by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Assistant Professor Dr Colin Studds. Dr Studds said a critical factor in the decline of migratory shorebirds was their dependence on mudflats in the Yellow Sea, between China and South Korea. "The more a species relies on the disappearing Yellow Sea mudflats, the faster they are declining," Dr Studds said. He said birds including species of godwit, curlew and sandpiper were under threat. Many birds follow the East Asian Australasian Flyway migratory path from their non-breeding grounds in Australia to breeding sites in the Arctic, resting and refueling in the Yellow Sea.