View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Acceleration hotspots of North American birds' decline are associated with agriculture.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Acceleration hotspots of North American birds' decline are associated with agriculture.
Authors: Leroy, François (AUTHOR), Jarzyna, Marta A. (AUTHOR), Keil, Petr (AUTHOR)
Source: Science. 2/26/2026, Vol. 391 Issue 6788, p917-921. 5p.
Subjects: Bird declines, Agriculture, Continents, Bird ecology, Animal population density, Environmental degradation, Habitat modification
Geographic Terms: Midwest (U.S.), North America
Abstract: Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance change and its acceleration for 261 bird species, 54 avian families, and 10 habitats from 1987 to 2021. We show an average continent-wide decline of abundance of all birds per local route, with hotspots of decline in southern and warm parts of North America and hotspots of accelerating decline in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and California, matching patterns of agricultural intensity. Overall, 122 species (47%) exhibit significant declines, of which 63 also show acceleration of this decline, and 67 show declining per-capita growth rate, raising concerns for a large part of North American bird populations. These findings suggest that bird abundance decline is mostly accelerating, with spatial patterns of this acceleration indicating that agricultural intensity may be a driver of this trend. Editor's summary: Human activities, including dramatic changes to land cover and land use, are known to negatively influence populations of many species. As human populations and technologies have expanded, so has the rate of our influence on ecosystems. Leroy et al. investigated whether this "Great Acceleration" has led to increasing abundance changes in birds, one of the most highly studied taxonomic groups. Using data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, the authors found that about half of the 261 species analyzed showed significant declines from 1987 to 2021, and a quarter showed accelerating declines. Hotspots of accelerating abundance decline were located in regions with high-intensity agriculture (high cropland area, fertilizer use, or pesticide use). —Bianca Lopez [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Science is the property of American Association for the Advancement of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
Text:
  Availability: 1
Header DbId: pbh
DbLabel: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
An: 191951161
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Acceleration hotspots of North American birds' decline are associated with agriculture.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Leroy%2C+François%22">Leroy, François</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jarzyna%2C+Marta+A%2E%22">Jarzyna, Marta A.</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Keil%2C+Petr%22">Keil, Petr</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Science%22">Science</searchLink>. 2/26/2026, Vol. 391 Issue 6788, p917-921. 5p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Bird+declines%22">Bird declines</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Agriculture%22">Agriculture</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Continents%22">Continents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Bird+ecology%22">Bird ecology</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Animal+population+density%22">Animal population density</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Environmental+degradation%22">Environmental degradation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Habitat+modification%22">Habitat modification</searchLink>
– Name: SubjectGeographic
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Midwest+%28U%2ES%2E%29%22">Midwest (U.S.)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22North+America%22">North America</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Human activities might have accelerated declines of population abundance, but this acceleration remains underexplored. Using 1033 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes, we analyze abundance change and its acceleration for 261 bird species, 54 avian families, and 10 habitats from 1987 to 2021. We show an average continent-wide decline of abundance of all birds per local route, with hotspots of decline in southern and warm parts of North America and hotspots of accelerating decline in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and California, matching patterns of agricultural intensity. Overall, 122 species (47%) exhibit significant declines, of which 63 also show acceleration of this decline, and 67 show declining per-capita growth rate, raising concerns for a large part of North American bird populations. These findings suggest that bird abundance decline is mostly accelerating, with spatial patterns of this acceleration indicating that agricultural intensity may be a driver of this trend. Editor's summary: Human activities, including dramatic changes to land cover and land use, are known to negatively influence populations of many species. As human populations and technologies have expanded, so has the rate of our influence on ecosystems. Leroy et al. investigated whether this "Great Acceleration" has led to increasing abundance changes in birds, one of the most highly studied taxonomic groups. Using data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey, the authors found that about half of the 261 species analyzed showed significant declines from 1987 to 2021, and a quarter showed accelerating declines. Hotspots of accelerating abundance decline were located in regions with high-intensity agriculture (high cropland area, fertilizer use, or pesticide use). —Bianca Lopez [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Science is the property of American Association for the Advancement of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=191951161
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1126/science.ads0871
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 5
        StartPage: 917
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Bird declines
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Agriculture
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Continents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Bird ecology
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Animal population density
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Environmental degradation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Habitat modification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Midwest (U.S.)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: North America
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Acceleration hotspots of North American birds' decline are associated with agriculture.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Leroy, François
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Jarzyna, Marta A.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Keil, Petr
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 26
              M: 02
              Text: 2/26/2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 00368075
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 391
            – Type: issue
              Value: 6788
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Science
              Type: main
ResultId 1