Malaria claiming more British birds

Malaria is killing growing numbers of British birds including nightingales, sparrows and chaffinches, say scientists who claim climate change is fuelling the disease. 

Twenty years ago few British species showed regular signs of infection but now some 30 types are infected, monitoring projects have found.

The problem is linked to a rapid growth in mosquito populations, which is attributed to a rise of about 1C in global average temperature.

The proportion of house sparrows infected has risen from less than 10 per cent to 30 per cent, according to Laszlo Garamszegi, of the Doñana biological station near Seville in Spain.

He carried out malaria infection analysis into over 3,000 species around the world, comparing recent information to that dating back to 1944. The study is published in the journal Global Change Biology.

He said: "It does show trends we ought to be worried about."

The avian version of malaria cannot be passed to humans.

Ben Sheldon, professor of ornithology at Oxford University, said: "There is very convincing evidence that a wide range of biological processes are altering in response to climate change."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8700698/Malaria-claiming-more-British-birds.html