Lithium mining impacts mean 'green' tech not so green for flamingos

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-03-09 11:01

International

Buhaan_ via pixabay

Threatened flamingo populations in the Chilean Andes have fluctuated dramatically year-to-year due to changes in water levels caused by lithium mining and climate change, according to data collected over the last 30 years, say researchers. The international team used data from surveys of flamingo populations taken between 1985 and 2019, across breeding and non-breeding seasons, and compared them with remote sensing data on long-term changes in water surface levels. They found that the changes in water surface levels due to lithium mining were strongly associated with fluctuations in the abundance of the flamingo species. Lithium is mined for 'green' technology which is used to help mitigate climate change, such as electric cars, energy storage, and cell phones.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Climate change and lithium mining influence flamingo abundance in the Lithium Triangle

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

‘Green’ technologies can potentially have negative impacts on biodiversity. We investigated how climate change and the mining of lithium for green technologies influence surface water, primary productivity, and the abundance of three threatened flamingo species in the Chilean Andes. Using a large dataset on flamingo abundance and structural equation modeling, we show that, regionally, flamingo abundance fluctuated from year-to-year in response to variation in surface water levels and primary productivity but did not exhibit any temporal trends. Locally, in the Salar de Atacama, we show that mining has had a negative effect on the abundance of the two endemic species.

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Extremadura, Spain

Funder: We received no funding for this study.

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