Climate resources for field ornithologists: what is climate, what do we know, and why should you care?
This article is part of a larger document. View the larger document here.Abstract
As the ornithological community has become more aware of natural climate variability (as opposed to weather) impacts on the life histories of birds, especially seabirds, the meteorological community has been advancing our knowledge and predictive capabilities. The latest climate information, however, is slow to transfer to the ornithological community. Climate databases that show the seasonality of El Niño, and its opposite, La Niña, back to 1951 are often not used when correlating an ENSO event (El Niño, La Niña or neutral) with breeding season, migration or over wintering. For example, 1972 is referenced as a strong El Niño year, yet the first quarter was neutral, strengthening in the second quarter, becoming stronger in the third quarter and only reaching full strength at the end of the year. In addition to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the climate community is unraveling the influences of other oscillations, such as the Arctic Oscillation (AO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on our climate. To date, only a few ornithologists are looking at how these oscillations interact with avian life history traits. Yet knowing how birds respond to natural climate variability is vital for conservation planning. Key words: AO, bird conservation, climate variability, El Niño, ENSO, La Niña, NAO, PDO.