Hungry birds as climate change drives food mismatch

Warmer springs create a mismatch where hungry chicks hatch too late to feast on abundant caterpillars, new research shows. With continued spring warming expected due to climate change, scientists, including experts at Durham University, say hatching of forest birds will be "increasingly mismatched" with peaks in caterpillar numbers. Researchers used data collected across the UK - largely by citizen scientists - to study spring emergence of oak tree leaves and caterpillars, and timing of nesting by three bird species: blue tits, great tits and pied flycatchers. They also tested a theory that some bird species in southern Britain may suffer most due to a greater mismatch effect - but they found no evidence of this. Woodland birds The findings, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution , suggest that as springs warm in the future, less food is likely to be available for the chicks of insectivorous woodland birds unless evolution changes their timing of breeding. The research team was led by the RSPB and the universities of Exeter and Edinburgh. Along with Durham, the research also included the universities of Glasgow, Oxford, Stirling and Cardiff.