Aussie rainforest birds move uphill to beat the heat, but for those at the top there's nowhere to go

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-12-23 06:00

Australia; QLD

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An assessment of bird populations in the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area found lowland species are moving uphill as temperatures increase, displacing the birds that once lived in those areas. The Australian researchers behind the study looked at records of 42 bird species' abundance and distribution between 2000 and 2016, and found most birds that live at high altitudes have been pushed out of the lower levels of their ranges, with numbers dropping by more than 40 per cent, while numbers of lowland birds in these areas increased by 190 per cent. Overall, upland-specialised species' populations have declined by almost half, as have rare species that are unique to the area, the scientists say. This suggests the Australian Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, one of the most irreplaceable biodiversity hotspots on Earth, is rapidly degrading, they warn.