In Victoria, Australia, "Unprecedented" Survey Finds 2/3rds Of Woodland Birds In Serious Decline

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AN UNPRECEDENTED investigation of Victoria's bird life has found it is collapsing, with two out of three woodland species in significant decline. The 12-year research into native species found that generations of land clearing and more than a decade of drought linked to climate change has reduced numbers for more than 80 species.

Those affected include the laughing kookaburra and species of honeyeaters, thornbills and lorikeets.

Deakin University ecologist Andrew Bennett said he was cautious about blaming climate change, but the decline in the state's centre and north might be ''what we have to get used to''. ''Clearly it shows when we have sustained change in rainfall and sustained change in climate it is having a marked effect,'' he said. ''In this case it is on birds. What is concerning is that we don't know what's happening to other groups - to reptiles, to mammals, to invertebrates.''

Professor Bennett said that the report underlined the need for systematic monitoring of wildlife. ''When we have a financial crisis we put vast resources into it. But we have a biodiversity crisis and nothing happens,'' he said. ''There is some good restoration and revegetation by landcare groups and others but the scale of what we're doing doesn't match the scale of the problem.''

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http://www.theage.com.au/environment/birds-in-serious-decline-after-prolonged-drought-20091021-h915.html