The Decline in Bird Populations in Europe: Intensive Farming and Beyond

Bird populations in Europe fell by around a quarter between 1980 and 2016. According to a study, the main reason for this is intensive agriculture. Urbanization and rising temperatures are further reasons for the decline in bird populations. According to a study published in the journal PNAS, some bird species also benefited from the changing conditions.

As a basis for their study, the French researchers used observation data on 170 common bird species at more than 20,000 locations in 28 European countries, as well as official statistics. Birds that prefer farmland for habitat were particularly affected, with a reduction of nearly 57 percent. For birds in cooler habitats, the stocks fell by 40 percent. Populations, which are mainly found in forests, shrank by a good 17 percent.