Study of the impacts of climate changes in distribution of waterbird

Species are responding to climate change by changing their distributions, for example    the Smew Mergellus albellus a duck rare and protected that nests in northern Europe, is moving its winter distribution to the Northeast, as a result of milder winters of the past 25 years.  A new study produced by  the joint work of scientists from 16 countries - including ISPRA experts - has just been published in the international scientific journal "Diversity and Distributions (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12300/abstract) and shows that the special protection areas established under the Birds Directive, are able to facilitate the changes taking place within the entire distribution range of this species.

"The results of the International project Waterbird Census – says Mr. Diego Pavón Jordán, of  the Finnish Museum of Natural History - show that twenty years ago, only 6% of the population spent the winter in north-eastern Europe; today this number has increased to one-third. The Special Protection Areas have been characterized by a growth two times faster of the population wintering than population in not protected areas”. It’s important to maintain protected areas suitable for the species even in traditional areas of wintering in southern Europe, where occasional strong winters can still push individual subject.

The  Smew Mergellus albellus was common and abundant in northern Italy until the first half of the twentieth century; today the updated results of the winter census of waterbirdl, contained in ISPRA report "Results of the census of migratory waterbirds in Italy. Distribution, estimation and trend of the population in 2001-2010" (www.isprambiente.gov.it/en/publications/reports/results-of-the-census-of-migratory-waterbirds-in-italy?set_language=en ) show a progressive decrease of the species, occasionally interrupted by the presence of peaks in the cold winters, such as for example in January 2002.