White Storks' Migration Patterns Affected By Landfills In Europe Filled With 'Junk Food'
A new scientific study that was released recently reveals that white storks in Europe are no longer taking their annual winter trip to warmer continents, such as Africa because of the abundance of food found in Europe's massive landfills. According to a report in The Guardian, the study that was done by a group of scientists from the University of East Anglia was able to track the movements of 48 white storks as they were flying back and forth from their breeding grounds to the landfills, where they apparently get their "junk food fix."
The report said that the group outfitted 48 white storks with GPS locators in order to study their movement. The study found out that the storks were travelling from their nesting grounds to the landfills and back, indicating that they were using their nesting grounds more frequently than before.
White storks normally take a migratory trip to warmer continents during winter time, flying from Europe to Africa. The report however cited that since the 1980s, many storks have skipped their migration altogether – in Spain and Portugal, for example, over 14,000 storks stay for the winter.
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The study further noted that because of the availability of food nearby, particularly in open landfills, storks who stay throughout the winter get to choose their nests and breed earlier, and the likelihood of their offspring surviving is very high. This also means that stork populations in these areas will likely increase. According to lead researcher Dr. Aldina Franco, this new behavior of white storks is something that should be considered if Europe decides to shift to covered sites from open landfills.
Another report in Nature World News on the other hand points to the possible danger of picking food from garbage landfills to the storks' health. One researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology said that the birds can die from eating plastic or from eating materials that can be toxic or poisonous.
The report also warned that the absence of the storks in the places they migrate to may have some long-term effect on the local ecosystem. For example, white storks are known to feed on locusts and other insects, so without them, infestation may happen and wreak havoc on local crops.
