Stormy skies and feathered lives: synthesizing the effects of adverse meteorological events on avian physiology, behavior, and ecology

抄録

Adverse meteorological events are, to some extent, frequent and recurrent phenomena in the lives of avian species. Nevertheless, climate change in recent decades has led to a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of changes in temperature, excessive or absent rainfall, strong wind currents, and storms. The consequences of these events have also been extended, including floods, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, and cold waves. Such events can directly and indirectly impact the daily lives of individual birds and negatively affect the demography and survival of entire populations. In this review, I summarize and synthesize the effects of abrupt meteorological events and adverse weather on birds, addressing their physiological effects as well as their negative impacts on the behaviour and breeding of bird species. Furthermore, I address the significant implications of these events on distribution and vagrancy, habitat destruction, and resource depletion. To mitigate the impact of these events on avian species, actions must be taken before, during, and after catastrophic meteorological occurrences, including the creation of action plans, the monitoring of selected species, populations, and habitats more prone to suffering from these events, and management actions to protect individuals and nests at risk. In addition, efforts should focus on rapid habitat recovery post-event. Despite weather events being of natural occurrence, it is undeniable that human actions have intensified meteorological disasters. Therefore, it is essential to implement conservation and management actions not only to predict, but also to mitigate the effects of these events on the future of bird populations.