The key result of the study is that with longer dry seasons and more intense seasonal drought, there is an overall negative effect on bird populations.
With climate change, there may be longer dry seasons.
"You can’t study the effect of changing environmental conditions and its relationship to bird populations without a long-term study and long-term data," Brawn says.
Brawn’s team looked at the relationship between population growth rates and the length of the dry season during those 33 years, then simulated another 50 years with an average of a 10 percent change in the rainfall pattern in Panama’s dry season.
The simulation suggests that, in time, the bird community will be very different under dryer conditions.
Seasonality in Panama is rain/no rain, says Brawn.
"We worked in a good forest — that is, relatively intact.
The study shows that even in a protected park, the large, global effect of climate change could make a lot of habitat unsuitable for a lot of species.
Brawn had a post-doctorate position with Karr at STRI.
Decades later, tropical forest ecologists began reporting that some tree species are sensitive to more intense seasonal drought.

What satellites can tell us about how animals will fare in a changing climate.
The presenters discussed how changes in Arctic sea ice cover have helped scientists predict a 30 percent drop in the global population of polar bears over the next 35 years.
"When we look forward several decades, climate models predict such profound loss of Arctic sea ice that there’s little doubt this will negatively affect polar bears throughout much of their range, because of their critical dependence on sea ice," said Kristin Laidre, a researcher at the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center in Seattle and co-author of a study on projections of the global polar bear population.
He found that there is a very strong relationship between plant productivity and deer and mountain lion density.
For mountain lions, it’s even worse," Stoner said.
Using maps of vegetation productivity during a severe drought that occurred in the southwestern United States in 2002, Stoner modeled what would be the deer and mountain lion distribution and abundance, should extreme drought become the norm.
"Using measurements of vegetation stressed by drought, our model predicted a 22 percent decrease in deer density.
For mountain lions, the decline was 43 percent.
Petrov examined historical data going back to 1969 and determined that there are ongoing changes in the distribution and migration patterns of the wild reindeer due to climate change and human pressure.
"Taimyr reindeer now have to travel longer distances between their winter and summer grounds, and this is causing a higher calf mortality," Petrov said.

The High Level Panel on Water and Connect4Climate announced today that the winner of the Instagram Photo Competition — #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize — for the best photo on water is Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, with a photo taken in his country showing how water stress is affecting individuals in his community.
What is the value of water to you?
Rani, 9, collects rainwater for drinking.
Rainwater is the main source of drinking water in the village of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Bangladesh.
It’s a great honor to win this competition and I hope it will create more awareness on this issue,” said Probal Rashid during the announcement of the winner, on June 8th, World Oceans Day.
“Rainwater is the main source of drinking water due to sea level rise.
First, they want to change the way the world views and manages water.
This prize is very important, because it will help the world change the way we view and manage water,” said Juwang Zhu, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development at the UN.
After the announcement, Director Zhu added: “By interesting coincidence, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is on the [High Level] Panel, and we are going to meet towards the end of July.
Climate change is making the harsh environment harder and water resources more limited.

This Color-Changing Shirt Reveals The Effects Of Climate Change.
It can be difficult to convey the effects of climate change to people, as many of them are imperceptible or occurring elsewhere.
However, design firm The Unseen found a way to highlight some of these human-driven environmental changes using fashion.
To coincide with World Environment Day, they created a special ‘Cabbage Project’ shirt that changes color with different pH levels in water.
Whenever the water used to wash the shirt has a different pH level, the color of the shirt changes.
The shirt arrives in the color purple, indicating a perfectly balanced pH level of 7.
Lauren Bowker, founder of The Unseen, explained to Wired UK that the group was “trying to use material science and platforms like fashion to talk about important subjects.
It’s an easy platform to express complex issues without sounding like a psycho.” “Will people understand and relate to how it impacts them today and not just in the future?” Bowker added.
“Maybe not – not everyone understands politics, me especially.
But if I see a T-shirt in front of me change colour when a car goes past or when the water is too acidic to drink or for wildlife to live in then that I’ll understand.” The Unseen previously created a color-changing hair dye for London Fashion Week, which altered appearance based on humidity and temperature.

Minnesota models: collaborating locally — across sectors and interests — for a better environment.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged about the state of our environment.
At Environmental Initiative, we believe by working together – across sectors and interests – we can achieve more effective and longer lasting solutions.
Working in this way isn’t easy.
In 2015, Minnesota generated 35 megawatts for community solar subscriptions total.
Emerging Leader – Eliza Clark: Clark is the director of sustainability and environmental at Andersen Corporation, a founding member of the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition, and the Vice Chair of Super Bowl LII’s Sustainability Committee.
Energy and Climate – City of Hutchinson Landfill Solar PV: The City of Hutchinson is home to the largest landfill solar project in Minnesota, made possible by public-private partnership.
Sustainable Business – Promoting Deconstruction and Reuse: According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, more than 80 percent of the 1.6 million tons of construction and demolition waste was landfilled in 2013.
In 2016, Better Futures Minnesota and their partners helped recycle or reuse more than 1,571 tons of building materials that would have otherwise been landfilled.
Mike Harley is the executive director of Environmental Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to building partnerships to solve environmental problems collaboratively.

From Mississippi to South Carolina to Georgia, drought and water scarcity have damaged and devastated many communities in the South, as a result of climate change. But climate change won’t stop there. “We’re now living in a world of extremes on the Mississippi River,” Mayor Brant Walker of Alton, Illinois told E&E News last month. “We just don’t get normal spring rains anymore. We get huge downpours.” The community of Alton isn’t alone. Flooding has devastated communities from South Carolina to California in recent years, while drought and water scarcity have squeezed Georgia, Arizona, and other states. From floods to droughts, unprecedented climate changes are affecting all of our communities.Click To Tweet These are the kinds of impacts we’re seeing with climate change – and we may see more, now that President Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement. There’s no doubt that…

To slow climate change, India joins the renewable energy revolution.
An energy pricing revolution Prime Minister Modi’s renewable energy agenda aims to increase India’s grid-tied renewable energy capacity from roughly 57 gigawatts in May 2017 to 175GW in 2022, with most of the increase coming through a major expansion in solar.
It is expected to jump by more than 100GW over the next six years, and increase further to 175GW before 2030.
Coal currently provides nearly 60 percent of India’s of total installed electricity generating capacity of 330GW, but the government projects it will decline substantially as solar power ramps up.
For the moment, large-scale solar and wind are roughly similar in price and lower than nuclear and fossil fuels.
Indeed, where emerging economies are installing new power generation capacity, the economic argument in favor of renewables is strong and getting stronger.
It saves them foreign exchange by substituting solar energy for imports of oil, gas and coal.
Three key conditions Three conditions are critical for this structural shift to continue in India and globally: growth in energy demand, innovation to make electricity grids more reliable and adequate land for installing solar modules.
Broader adoption of renewable power production in emerging economies is not the only solution to climate change challenges.
Countries such as India, China, France and ISA members are demonstrating that a failure of U.S. leadership need not stand in the way of a renewables revolution.

The High-Level Panel on Water and Connect4Climate are proud to announce that the winner of the #All4TheGreen Special Blue Prize is Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, with a photo taken in his country portraying how water stress is affecting individuals in his community.
"Rani, 9, collects rainwater for drinking.
Rainwater is the main source of drinking water in the village of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Bangladesh.
“Rainwater is the main source of drinking water due to sea level rise,” informed the winner.
The #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize aimed to award the best photo of anything related to water in the participant’s life.
Probal Rashid talked live from Bangladesh through Skype, and thanked the jury for being awarded #All4TheGreen Contest Special Blue Prize.
First, they want to change the way the world views and manages water.
This prize is very important, because it will the world change the way we view and manage water” said Juang Zhu, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development/DESA, UN.
It will help publicize the importance of water for Bangladesh, and for the region as a whole".
Climate change is making the harsh environment harder and water resources more limited."

“Mother nature is telling us every night on the TV news now is like a nature hike through the book of Revelation,” Gore said on Fox News Sunday on June 4.
Seventy percent of Florida is in drought today…” Gore correctly cited a drought figure for Florida from the United States Drought Monitor, a weekly map published on Thursdays showing drought conditions.
The last time the drought monitor showed Florida’s area of drought as high as 71 percent was February 2013.
During two weeks in April 2012, 99.96 percent of Florida was in a drought.
Florida’s dry season normally runs from about November through May but a period of drought can run into summer, said Victor Murphy, climate service program manager for NOAA’s National Weather Service-Southern Region.
“Our current drought is no worse or more prolonged than any other drought we go through periodically.” This year the Florida Peninsula only received half of its normal rainfall during the dry season, leading to the most active wildfire season since 2011.
“There is an increasing temperature trend, and warmer temperatures lead to greater evapotranspiration rates, which can exacerbate these periods of drought,” Zierden said.
While Gore’s numerical statement about the drought is correct, David Nolan, who chairs the University of Miami’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences, cautioned against pointing to any particular weather event as proof of climate change.
“What matters most is global average temperature, because that drives sea level rise, which eventually will be the biggest problem.” Our ruling Gore correctly cited the United States Drought Monitor which showed that 71.66 percent of Florida was experiencing a drought for the week ending May 30 (and 76.4 percent this week).
“70 percent of Florida is in drought today.” — Al Gore on Sunday, June 4th, 2017 in an interview on Fox News Sunday

Recent polls reveal that six in 10 Americans oppose Trump’s move.
As a philosopher, interested in the nature of knowledge and persuasion, I have long wondered why climate change is such a hard sell in the U.S. Is there something about it that makes it liable to doubt, skepticism or inaction?
Why are so many unwilling to make sacrifices for the climate – even on the chance that human geography and life on Earth will be profoundly changed?
Last year it received a grade of “C” from scientists – which was the lowest it had received in over 20 years.
It implied, as it said, “less urgency to make the bay healthy.” I would draw the same conclusion on climate change: Everything looks and feels fine, for the most part; few people connect extreme weather events with the larger global changes.
And the more dramatic or obvious effects of climate change, well, they are not felt here – yet.
I suspect that because of all these hurdles, climate change is not liable to be solved by democracies.
And China has the ability to take dramatic measures on climate change and act quickly – just what scientists are calling for – dragging the people with them.
In our democracy, I believe, if there is one thing that can be pressed upon the public to sway them with respect to climate change, it is how the U.S. has tackled immense environmental and geopolitical threats in the past, not entirely unlike climate change.
We successfully faced up to that threat, and diminished the world’s nuclear arsenal, effectively ruling out the threat of global nuclear war.