Daddy longlegs and an ecosystem under threat from climate change
PhD research student Matthew Carroll, jointly of the Department of Biology, University of York and IBERS, Aberystwyth University, is a key contributor to an article published in Nature Communications today. Several rare upland bird species are being put at risk together with other ecosystem functions by the effects of climate change on the UK’s blanket bogs, ecologists at the University of York, Aberystwyth University and RSPB have discovered with the ecological research component on craneflies undertaken by Matthew and jointly supervised by Peter Dennis of Aberystwyth University. Most of our drinking water comes from these upland peats and several iconic bird species such as the dunlin, golden plover and red grouse depend on these wetland habitats for nesting and feeding. The scientists warn that climate change threatens these habitats, not only from rising temperatures increasing peat decomposition, but also via altered rainfall patterns – with summer droughts drastically affecting...