Blog: How changes at the Salton Sea might be fueling the smallest migrants
… The role of inland saline lakes like the Salton Sea in providing biofilm to migrating birds is a new and intriguing line of inquiry and emphasizes the already dire need to conserve the limited number of stopover habitats suitable for shorebirds. Saline lakes across the interior western U.S. are at risk of ecological collapse as fresh water is diverted away and salinity rises to unhealthy levels. This puts millions of birds already devastated by habitat loss at further risk and exposes human residents to toxic sediments as shorelines recede and form large dust clouds. Maintaining the ecological function of these lakes is essential to both public health and the recovery of migratory bird populations in the western United States.