Latest news with #migration
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Science
- Yahoo
New study makes startling discoveries after studying birds' feathers: 'It's a slower and more meandering process'
A recent University of Utah study found that birds are molting at earlier dates. The underlying reason? Our planet's warming. Researchers used 13 years' worth of data on 134 bird species to come to their conclusion. They studied molting patterns from 2011 to 2024 and found that fall migratory birds consistently molted a day earlier than in the previous year. Molting is a crucial precursor to migration and, consequently, breeding. Old feathers could negatively impact both their flight and mating capabilities, Kyle Kittelberger, research team lead, told Spring migratory birds, however, were a different story. "We didn't see any shift at the community level for spring body molt," Kittelberger said. "Some of the reasons for that might be birds tend to migrate much faster in the spring … whereas in the fall, it's a slower and more meandering process." The specific reason isn't entirely clear yet. Kittelberger suggests that earlier breeding or later migration times — both of which result from the warming planet — are viable options. If molting overlaps with either breeding or migration, it could sap birds' energy, damaging species' survival in the long run. If that is the case here, it could spell bad news for migratory birds — and humans. Different bird species provide different benefits to humanity. Take hummingbirds, for example. Most hummingbird species migrate and are excellent pollinators. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about 35% of the entire world's food supply depends on pollinators to reproduce. The extinction of hummingbird species will globally jeopardize human food supplies. And that's just one example out of many. On the whole, every bird plays a part in their local ecosystem, spreading seeds, scavenging carcasses, and keeping pests at bay. Without them, the world will be thrown out of balance. Kittelberger already has the next steps in mind. He told that he plans to research birds in their breeding and/or post-breeding grounds. "That is the next element of this kind of research," he said, "to not only look at what's going on in the summer when they're beginning to molt but to see if that overlaps with anything like breeding." If you'd like to help on an individual level, there are a couple of things you can do. Converting just a portion of your yard to a native lawn can give pollinators, like hummingbirds, crucial food sources. You can also consider donating to climate causes that research birds and conserve their habitats, like the National Audubon Society. Do you think America could ever go zero-waste? Never Not anytime soon Maybe in some states Definitely Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Iran-Israel war could have ‘harmful' migration impact on Europe, Erdogan warns
The Iran-Israel air war could spark a surge in migration that could harm Europe and the region, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Friday. Israel, saying Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, launched a massive wave of strikes a week ago, triggering an immediate retaliation. 'The spiral of violence triggered by Israel's attacks could harm the region and Europe in terms of migration and the possibility of nuclear leakage,' his office quoted him as saying in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Erdogan said the solution to the nuclear disagreements with Iran was 'through negotiations.' He said the violence had 'raised the threat to regional security to the highest level' and Turkey was 'making efforts to end the conflict.' Despite the escalating confrontation, a Turkish defense ministry source said Thursday there had been 'no increase' in numbers crossing from Iran. The Turkish authorities have not released any figures. AFP correspondents at the main Kapikoy border crossing near the eastern Turkish city of Van reported seeing several hundred people crossing in both directions, with a customs official saying the numbers were 'nothing unusual.' During a visit to the frontier on Wednesday, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said 'security measures at our borders have been increased.'
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Over 400 asylum seekers on Greece's Gavdos island: Coastguard
Over 400 asylum seekers have landed at the small island of Gavdos near Crete, a new entry point increasingly used by migrant smugglers in past months, the Greek coastguard said Friday. The asylum seekers arrived in separate groups over the last 24 hours, with the largest including over 350 people off Gavdos, the coastguard told AFP. The migrants' fishing boat was detected by an EU border agency Frontex vessel on Thursday. A Greek coastguard vessel and four nearby cargo ships participated in the rescue operation. The asylum seekers are to be transferred to a temporary reception center in Paleochora in Crete for registration and identification. On Thursday morning, another group of about 40 migrants was spotted on a coast of Gavdos by the coastguard. They were also transferred to the camp in Crete, according to an official statement. No details have been released so far regarding the migrants' nationalities. Located at the external borders of the EU in the southeastern Mediterranean, Greece is one of the main gateways to Europe for people fleeing war and poverty in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. According to UN figures, over 14,000 people have arrived by sea this year, compared to over 54,000 in 2024.
Washington Post
9 hours ago
- Washington Post
10 years after Europe's migration crisis, the fallout reverberates in Greece and beyond
LESBOS, Greece — Fleeing Iran with her husband and toddler, Amena Namjoyan reached a rocky beach of this eastern Greek island along with hundreds of thousands of others. For months, their arrival overwhelmed Lesbos. Boats fell apart, fishermen dove to save people from drowning, and local grandmothers bottle-fed newly arrived babies.
Japan Times
10 hours ago
- Science
- Japan Times
Humans adapted to diverse habitats before trekking out of Africa
Small bands of Homo sapiens made a few failed forays leaving our home continent before the species finally managed to launch a major dispersal out of Africa roughly 50,000 years ago, going first into Europe and Asia and eventually the rest of the world. So why was this migration successful after the prior ones were not? New research is offering insight. It documents how human hunter-gatherers in Africa began about 70,000 years ago to embrace a greater diversity of habitats such as thick forests and arid deserts, acquiring an adaptability useful for tackling the wide range of conditions awaiting beyond the continent. "Why the dispersal 50,000 years ago was successful is a big question in human origins research. Our results suggest that one part of the reason is that humans had developed the ecological flexibility to survive in challenging habitats," said Loyola University Chicago archeologist Emily Hallett, co-leader of the study published in the journal Nature. Looking at an array of archeological sites in Africa, the study detailed how human populations expanded their range into the forests of Central and West Africa and the deserts of North Africa in the roughly 20,000 years preceding this dispersal. Some examples of archeological sites dating to this time that illustrate the expansion of human niches to harsh deserts include locales in Libya and Namibia, and examples of expansion to forested habitats include locales in Malawi and South Africa. Homo sapiens arose roughly 300,000 years ago, inhabiting grasslands, savannahs and various other African ecosystems. Impalas graze at the Singita Grumeti Game Reserve in Tanzania. | REUTERS "Starting from about 70,000 years ago, we see that they suddenly start to intensify this exploitation of diverse habitats and also expand into new types of habitat in a way we don't see before. They exploit more types of woodland, more types of closed canopy forests, more types of deserts, highlands and grasslands," said archeologist and study co-leader Eleanor Scerri of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany. "An Ice Age was coming, which means drier conditions in parts of Africa. It seems possible that humans responded to this squeeze by learning how to adapt to new niches," Scerri added. The increased ecological flexibility of the species appears to have reflected cultural and social advances such as passing knowledge from one generation to the next and engaging in cooperative behavior, the researchers said. "This must have entailed profound changes in their interaction with the natural environment, as it allowed them to occupy not only new environments in Africa, but entirely new conditions in Eurasia as well," said evolutionary biologist and study co-leader Michela Leonardi of the Natural History Museum in London. "Another way to phrase this is that the ability to live in a variety of environments in Africa is not directly the adaptation that allowed a successful out of Africa, but rather a sign that humans by that point were the ultimate generalist, able to tackle environments that went from deep forest to dry deserts," said University of Cambridge evolutionary ecologist and study co-leader Andrea Manica. "This flexibility is the key trait that allowed them, later on, to conquer novel challenges, all the way to the coldest tundras in Siberia." Trekking out of Africa, Homo sapiens encountered not only new environments and unfamiliar animals and plants, but also other human species, including the Neanderthals and Denisovans. The ecological flexibility learned in Africa may have provided an edge when Homo sapiens encountered these other humans, both of whom disappeared relatively soon thereafter, the researchers said. Genetic evidence indicates that today's people outside of Africa can trace their ancestry to the population of humans, numbering perhaps only in the thousands, who engaged in that pioneering migration out of Africa approximately 50,000 years ago. "I think that adaptability and innovation are hallmarks of our species, and that they allowed us to succeed in every environment we encountered," Hallett said. "At the same time, we are almost too good at adapting to different places, to the detriment of most other species on Earth."
