Sensitivities of resident birds to climatic warming in Ethiopia

The effects of spatially varying temperature on resident birds of Ethiopia was evaluated. The resident bird data was treated at the guild level and the response variable was guild species richness. The guilds considered were granivores, frugivores, insectivores and raptors. The species richness of all the guilds considered declined significantly in response to spatially increased temperature. Because of their significant positive relationship with forest cover the resident bird guilds have significant positive contribution to agriculture and their loss if there is and will be an increase in temperature is a disaster that the country has to deal with. Important mitigation measure is the perpetuation and expansion of carbon sinks which are forests. Since forests have a natural cooling effect on the climate this is a very important measure in any scenario whether it is emissions of green house gases or deforestation which is the cause of climatic warming.