Despite what some might say, bigger isn’t always better, and a new study has found this to be true among birds and their population sizes.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that bigger birds are having a harder time raising chicks as the world’s temperatures continue to rise, altering their reproduction seasons.
In the study, researchers found that as climate change continues to progress, smaller birds have become more successful when it comes to reproducing, thanks to their ability to adapt quickly.
About 100 species of birds from around the globe were surveyed in the study, as it looked to find changes in how many offspring a typical bird pair got out of the nest over the past 50 years.
Birds like hawks and storks were found to be raising fewer surviving fledglings compared to smaller species of birds like warblers, the study found.
The study says that the changing climate has affected the “timing of reproduction” in many species, which has resulted in population declines throughout the last half-century.
The results from the study showed that “smaller-bodied” sedentary birds tended to produce more offspring, while “larger-bodied” migrating birds laid smaller “clutches” of eggs, as temperatures have continued to increase during the “chick-rearing period” throughout recent years.
Overall, the study found that nearly 57% of the populations it examined were in declining trends of “offspring production,” while 43% were in an increase.
“The results show that climatic changes affect offspring production through compounded effects on ecological and life history traits of species,” the study said.
Researchers noted that climate has affected more than their reproduction habitats.
“Global temperatures have been rising significantly during the 20th and 21st centuries,” the study says. “Higher temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns have resulted in shifts of climatic zones, altering the conditions that animals experience on their breeding grounds, their wintering grounds, and during migration. Such climate changes have multiple effects on populations of diverse organisms, including birds.”
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