Climate change and farming gave rise to ‘genetically distinct’ Beijing swan goose: study

Climate change and agricultural development have brought a new goose population to China with unique migratory patterns, a study has found.In an article on the Chinese Academy of Sciences website, researchers from the CAS Institute of Zoology said they had discovered a “genetically distinct” population of swan geese that emerged in Beijing over the past century.They said the timing of their arrival coincided with environmental shifts in the region during the early 20th century – namely climate warming, the expansion of rice fields and the development of irrigated agriculture.