The barn owl is smaller and has changed color due to climate change

This was demonstrated by a study by the State University of Milan in collaboration with the University of Lausanne

Climate change also affects very common species and birds.The barn owl has changed its appearance, becoming smaller and changing the color of its belly plumage.This is demonstrated by a study of over 5,000 specimens preserved in scientific museums around the world since 1900.The report was published in the Journal of Biogeography by researchers from the University of Milan in collaboration with the University of Lausanne.The animal, present on all continents except Antarctica, was chosen as a model to study the impact of global warming on thermoregulation in endothermic species, i.e. those that maintain a constant body temperature regardless of the environmental temperature.

What has changed in barn owls

Analyzing specimens from 1900 to 2018, changes were detected in the length of the wings (size indicator) and the beak, the point at which heat dispersion occurs.The plumage in the ventral region (which can vary from white to dark reddish-brown) has also changed.It has lightened in regions where the climate has become hotter and drier, for greater protection from the sun's rays, while it is darker where temperatures and precipitation have increased, to favor camouflage with vegetation.Body size has reduced in the areas most affected by climate warming, while it has not changed in those areas where the climate has remained the same.The shrinkage, explains the study, determines an increase in the ratio between surface area and volume of the body, facilitating the dispersion of heat.According to what was declared by the first author of the study, Andrea Romano, associate professor at the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policies of the University of Milan, barn owls could change again:“They will tend to increase in the coming decades in response to further predicted global warming and that similar situations are occurring in many other species around the world.”