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The effects of climate change on the phenology of winter birds in Yokohama, Japan

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Observations made largely from summer breeding sites in Europe and North America have been used to document the effects of climate change on many bird species. We extend these studies by examining 23 years of observations between 1986 and 2008 of six winter bird species made by citizens at a city park in Yokohama, Japan. Bird species arrive in autumn and spend the winter in the area, before departing in the late winter or spring. On average, birds species are arriving 9 days later than in the past and are departing on average 21 days earlier, meaning that the average duration of their stay in Yokohama is about 1 month shorter now than in the past. Patterns of changes over time varied among species, but departure dates changed for more species than did arrival dates. Dates of departure and arrival were sometimes correlated with monthly average temperatures—later arrivals and earlier departures were associated with warmer temperatures. In addition, interannual variation in arrival and departure dates were strongly correlated across species, suggesting that species were responding to the same or similar environmental cues. This study provides a clear demonstration of the value of using citizens to make observations that contribute to research in climate change biology.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to all those whose observations contributed to the data reported at the Nature Observatory Forest in Yokohama. We extend our sincere thanks to Abraham Miller-Rushing, and Libby Ellwood for their constructive comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. The analyses reported in this paper were made possible by a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to Hiromi Kobori.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental and Information Studies, Tokyo City University, 3-3-1 Ushikubo-nishi, Tsuzuki-ku, Yokohama, 224-0015, Japan

    Hiromi Kobori, Takuya Kamamoto, Hayashi Nomura & Kohei Oka

  2. Biology Department, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA, 00215, USA

    Richard Primack

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  1. Hiromi Kobori
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  2. Takuya Kamamoto
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  3. Hayashi Nomura
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  4. Kohei Oka
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  5. Richard Primack
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Correspondence to Hiromi Kobori.

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Kobori, H., Kamamoto, T., Nomura, H. et al. The effects of climate change on the phenology of winter birds in Yokohama, Japan. Ecol Res 27, 173–180 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-011-0891-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-011-0891-7

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