Siberian Cranes and Climate Change: A North Island College Report

This report examines the impact of climate change on migratory birds, specifically focusing on the Siberian crane. It discusses how climate change affects the cranes' distribution, abundance, behavior, and genetic composition, as well as the timing of their migration and breeding patterns. The research highlights the challenges faced by Siberian cranes, including habitat loss due to climate change, hunting along migration routes, and changes in food availability. It also addresses the increasing threat of extinction and the spread of contagious diseases due to the altered environment. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for conservation efforts and strategies to protect the Siberian crane population amidst the ongoing climate crisis. It also looks at the impact of climate change on egg laying, migration times and ecological communities.

RUNNING HEAD: Geography
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Geography

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Contents
Thesis statement.........................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Final analytical research paper...................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Thesis statement
The thesis statement of this paper is the influence of climate change on the migratory birds
which includes a case study on the Siberian cranes.
Introduction
The focus of this paper is on the climate change on the migratory birds which contains case
study on the Siberian cranes. Every kind of migratory bird is affected by the change in
climate. They are snowy white colour birds. The cranes migrate to get better living conditions
as they cannot survive in cold. So, they travel from Siberia to India by flying nonstop.
However for the past few years, Siberian cranes are not migrating to India. This research
includes the problems faced by Siberian cranes due to climate change. The climate change
has the main role behind the population dynamics of Siberian cranes. There is a substantial
signal for the changes in phenology of cranes, specially the timing of migration and nesting.
The climate change increases the extinction risk for many species. It can alter distribution,
abundance, behaviour and genetic competition. The change in climate also affects the timing
of migration and breeding. It can affect Siberian cranes directly through changes in
temperature and rainfall. The four articles are undertaken in this report on Siberian cranes and
climate change which covers the problems faced by the Siberian cranes, change in food
availability, and threat to Siberian cranes from hunter and threat of cranes in some areas of
the world.
Final analytical research paper
The impact of climate change on birds
The climate has an important role behind the dynamics of Siberian cranes. The number of
breeding birds is declining and is in need of conversation action. The impact of climate
change on Siberian cranes has become more severe due to greenhouse emissions. The climate
change affects cranes in various ways. It alters distribution, plenty, conduct and genetic
composition. The climate change also affects the timing of migration or breeding. The
climate change influences the route of Siberian cranes. The Siberian cranes are migratory
birds and have changed their route due to changes in temperature. Some small species do not
live in the winters in Spain but moves to England or a place where they can breed. The

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Siberian cranes migrate to Portugal and Spain and stay in Germany. They are also
accompanied by the Starlings. They are not used to low temperatures and cannot survive in
the winters (Lehikoinen & Virkkala, 2016).
The weather problems faced by Siberian Cranes in the Western population include hunting
along with the migration routes. The hunting of Siberian cranes is illegal in most of the range
states (Charamtier & Gienspp, 2014). The Eastern population is also susceptible to the
unsanctionable use of water and water diversions. The threats to Siberian Cranes in the
Eastern Asian population include breeding grounds, migration routes and wintering grounds
(Ribeiro, Werneck, & Machado, 2016). The change in climate also affects the timing of
migration and breeding. It can affect birds directly through changes in temperature and
rainfall. The breeding grounds of the eastern population are comparatively undistributed. The
long-term observing and examination of satellite imagery for Kytalyk Republic Resource
Reserve (RRR) have discovered an increase in the large lakes, drowning surrounding land
used as breeding habitant by the Siberian Crane. It is attributable to the climate change. The
lakes have started disappearing because of the location of breeding habitants near the lakes.
The loss of wetlands due to famine and the effects of water regulation and diversion is the
main threat faced by Siberian Crane flyway in China (WMBD, 2007). The Armizon district
of Tyumen Region and northern Kazakhstan has resulted in the increasing water-crop damage
conflicts. The changes in the Caspian Sea have a reflective impact on the birdlife. Hunting is
the most immediate threat to the Siberian Cranes (CMS, 2018). The major threats arise from
the legal hunting in Afghanistan and illegal hunting in the countries like Russia, Pakistan,
Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
The change in climate causes the change in food availability and water level management for
Siberian cranes. The wetlands are halt for many birds. The reestablishment of the wetlands
contains both hydrological restoration and water resource management. The wetlands have
dried up due to the changes in usage of land and climate which is affecting Siberian cranes
seriously and are threatened. The climate change increases the extinction risk for many
species. It can alter the distribution, abundance, behaviour and genetic competition. The basic
diet for the Siberian cranes at halt locations is the root of scirpus plniculmis. It is a water
plant with high reproduction ability. The locations such as Nenjiang, Tao’er and Huolin
rivers within the floodplains are the main source for Siberian cranes throughout migration.

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These floodplains form frequent lakes and bogs which is the best halt site for the Siberian
cranes (Nature Canada, 2018).
The migration of the Siberian crane has become serious because of the loss of wetland
stopover sites. Many wetlands are dried which detrimentally affects the Siberian crane.
Various water diversion projects are launched in order to protect stopover sites. The
protection of underpinning species based on the hydrological conditions at stopover sites is
inspected. It includes the estimation of variations in daily water level and determination of
the proper water level changes and water supplementation for the Siberian cranes (Plos one,
2015). An effective strategy is also developed as a part of a plan to protect swamps and
Siberian cranes through a manifold use water supply system.
The change in climate represents the threat to Siberian cranes of hunting and chances of
getting extinct. Only a few sets of the West Siberian inhabitants of the Siberian crane remain
in the lower ranges of Ob River. The cranes were killed on their way to the winter lands in
Iran and Pakistan. The Siberian cranes are not safe and it is challenging to form a contact for
the security of birds in Iran and Pakistan. There were 280 cranes which wintered in the
Keoladeo nature reserve near Agra in India. This number was reduced to 18 birds by 2012
(The Sinerian Times, 2015). The president Putin also take part in exercising captivity bred
cranes to migrate from western Siberia to main Asia than Iran and Pakistan. The inhabitants
are stable in the refinement zones of Yakutia and in the wintering grounds in China. The
Siberian birdwatchers unite with the Chinese over the conversation of Siberian cranes. The
200 pairs of Siberian cranes live in the Yakutia. 2000 cranes are found in the wintering
grounds of China. The experts are working in the Ryazan region to restore the declining
Siberian population of cranes. The cautions have been issued in Pakistan over the threat of
bird’s life. A senior official expressed fear of growing concern of prohibited shooting of
migratory Siberian cranes in the winter. The cranes were being hunted extensively (Regos,
D'Amen, Herrando, Guisan, & Brotons, 2015).
The change in climate causes the threat to Siberian cranes in some parts of the world. It
represents how the Siberian cranes have spread contagious diseases and how they have
caused problems like accidents. The cranes migrate to get better living conditions as they
cannot survive in cold. So, they travel from Siberia to India by flying nonstop. However, for
the past few years, Siberian cranes are not migrating to India. The increasing number of
cranes has become a problem as they influence on human territory due to reduction and

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worsening of own habitants. The growing number of cranes is raising the risk of contagious
diseases (Stephen, et al., 2016). They are eating and destroying crops, electrocuting on high
voltage wires. They are also being involved in the increasing number of traffic accidents.
They boldly cross highways and train tracks. It is causing harm to them as well as humans. It
was seen that in the years 1964, 1965, 1972 and 1973 around 10% of cranes died from the
traffic accidents (Nippon.com, 2017). Some of them were attracted to the cowsheds by the
feed and died falling into the tanks of cow dung and wastages. The virus also spread among
the cranes due to eating white-tailed eagles that come into eating fish given as a feed to them
(Pacifici, Visconti, Butchart, Watson, Cassola, & Rondinini, 2017). The feed is reduced to
encourage cranes to disappear but the marshlands which are offered them with a safe habitant
are not available throughout Japan.
The major effect of climate change is a loss of territories. The Siberian cranes disappear due
to the increasing temperature, flooding and desertification. The crane's birds rely on the
coastal wetland areas for nesting and foraging. The mild winters assist resident birds to
endure and use food resources and breeding places of long-distance migrants. So, the
Siberian crane's discovery their breeding lands are occupied by the large number of resident
birds (Dulle, et al., 2016). The warm spring temperature is also one of the reasons which
causes the early advent of many birds. For instance, British birds reach at the propagation
areas 2 or 3 weeks former than they used to 30 years ago. So, they start to breed earlier. It has
become for the some of the bird species to adopt the changes. The climate change affects
birds directly through variation in temperature or rainfall. It also leads to the increased
pressure from competitors, hunters, pests, sicknesses and calamities like fire or storms. The
climate change also calls to the major extortions like home loss and alien offensive species
(Mantyka-Pringle, Visconti, Di Marco, Martin, Rondinini, & Rhodes, 2015). The change in
the climate effects in the following ways:
The occurrence of egg laying earlier
According to a study, the Siberian cranes are laying eggs at an average of 6.6 days earlier per
ten years.
The communal murre in America has radical breeding rate twenty-four days per 10 years.
The North American trees are nesting up to 9 days which is earlier than thirty years ago. It
corresponds to upsurge in average spring temperatures.

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Migration time is shifting
The cranes are migrating in the early spring. It has been observed that out of 96 species, 27
have transformed their arrival dates considerably.
The autumn departure is also seemed to be delayed by the Siberian cranes.
Some cranes are even deteriorating to migrate together.
No match of Siberian crane actions and their environment
The life cycle and conduct of Siberian cranes are closely linked to the indications of the
environment such as altering seasons. It leads to the mismatch when the birds cannot shift
their behaviour like propagation times; correspond with the changes in the environment such
as when pray is accessible (kullberg, et al., 2015).
The long-distance migrants are at risk of discrepancy as it is tougher to know the migration
route.
Changing distributions
The inhabitants of Siberian cranes are anticipated to shift pole ward or higher advancements
to stay with the climate temperatures as the climate changes.
A study found that the series of incidence of 7 of the species such as Blue-winged warbler,
Pine warbler, Golden-winged warbler and more has considerably shifted to North America in
the last 24 years by an average of sixty-five miles. None of the cranes shifted to the south.
According to the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas data, southern bird types such as Tufted
Titmouse, Northern Mocking bird, Blue-gray gnatcatcher and Red- bellied woodpecker have
grown in number. They have also expanded the range in Ontario compared to the last 20
years.
The climate convinced shifts are not the solution to the climate change. The birds could be
obstructed in their exertions to find new series by human development, destruction and
geological features (Frishkoff, et al., 2016).
Disruption of ecological communities

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The global warming has an impact on changing ecological communities. There will be no
food and nesting material on which Siberian cranes depend. The cranes may face new quarry,
fleas, competitors and hunters to which they are not habitual.
The northern area of Hudson Bay mosquitos now reached at the peak in the earlier spring.
The mosquitos are causing upper egg loss and adult mortality. The thick-billed murres
breeding have not accustomed due to their conduct (Nippon.com, 2017).
The northern parts of Minnesota and Ontario end up with 14 fewer warbler species than
currently found. It could lead to bigger occurrences of forests pests like spruce budworms.
The exceptional failure of gatherings of seabirds was seen on the Pacific coast of North
America. It is because of the late northerly winds which delayed coastal upwelling. It also
caused deterioration in the fish species on which the seabirds rely.
Elimination risks on the rise
The Siberian cranes are at risk due to the climate change. It has constrained series and poor
capability to move their range. They are facing conversation challenges.
The cranes depend on the several habitats and sites which makes them susceptible to the
effects of climate change (Gauzere, Jiguet, & Devictor, 2016).
The arctic birds are more susceptible and the warming is befalling rapidly. World’s 85 world
species breed is found in global arctic areas. The massive area of the population comprising
tundra and sea ice will be lost.
Conclusion
The report has defined the information regarding the climate issues faced by the Siberian
cranes. The problems are described which are faced by the Siberian cranes which include the
threats like hunting, change in climate and the migrating routes. The changes in the food
availability to Siberian cranes have been explained along with the water level management
for them with the help of model development formula. The threats to the Siberian cranes from
hunters and chances of getting extinct are explained. At last, the information concerning
threats of Siberian cranes in various parts of the world has been defined. It further explains
how the birds spread infectious diseases and their inhabitants have caused problems like
accidents.

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References
Charamtier , A., & Gienspp, P. (2014). Climate change and timing of avian breeding and
migration: evolutionary versus plastic changes. Evolutionary Applications, 15-28.
CMS. (2018). Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for the
Siberian Crane. Retrieved July 8, 2018, from CMS: https://www.cms.int/siberian-
crane/fr/page/threats-5
Dulle, H. I., Ferger, S. W., Cordeiro, N. J., Howell, K. M., Schleuning, M., Bohning-Gaese,
K., et al. (2016). Changes in the abundance of forest understorey birds on Africa's
highest mountain suggest subtle effets of climate change. Diversity nd Distribution,
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Mantyka-Pringle, C. S., Visconti, P., Di Marco, M., Martin, T. G., Rondinini, C., & Rhodes,
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birds/

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Nippon.com. (2017). Crane on the Rubbish Heap: The Challenges of Continuing
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