Hawaii’s native forest birds will need a substantial helping hand if they are to survive the growing impacts of climate change, a new study has concluded.

The study, published last week in the journal PLOS ONE, found that birds living in the higher-elevation forests could lose a majority of their habitat due to the global warming projected by the end of the century.

The study examined 20 native forest bird species and concluded that all of them will lose more than 50 percent of their habitat in the coming decades.

Nine of the species could lose 75 percent or more of their range by 2100, including three that could lose more than 90 percent of their range: the Hawaii akepa, akohekohe and kiwikiu, or Maui parrotbill. Three others from Kauai — akekee, akikiki and puaiohi — will suffer a complete loss of range.

The study was led by the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative and included researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This group of species has a high level of vulnerability to climate change,” said lead author Lucas Fortini, research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Service in Honolulu. “What we show is what will happen if (conservation and resource managers) continue with business as usual.”

Fortini and his team used a forest bird sightings database, regional climate projections and a number of distribution models to project the impacts expected over this century.

While the impacts of avian disease in forest birds have been widely studied in the past, this study offers a more comprehensive look at the problem by examining the dynamics of a range of species, including multiple highly endangered native forest birds that were previously excluded from other analyses, Fortini said.

Hawaii’s colorful forest birds have always played a significant role in Native Hawaiian culture. Mentioned prominently in song and chant, the birds have feathers that were used to adorn the cloaks, helmets and lei of Hawaiian nobility.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, more than half of Hawaii’s unique bird species went extinct before European contact. Altogether since humans arrived, 71 of 113 bird species found nowhere else have become extinct in Hawaii, according to the American Bird Conservancy.

The remaining species have declined over the past hundred years and have been relegated to higher elevations due to habitat loss, invasive species, disease and predators.

Climate change is the latest threat, as higher temperatures will allow mosquitoes carrying avian malaria, which is fatal to birds, to move ever higher into mountain forests.

The study recommends immediate planning for new strategies that will buy time for the birds and delay the impacts of climate change for as long as possible.

These actions, according to the study, might include planting more forests at higher elevations to serve as additional habitat, establishing new captive populations for breeding and reproduction, and moving some species to more favorable habitats, including relocating them to a different island.

Fortini said ongoing habitat conservation and restoration actions in Hawaii are important and essential but that more is needed to counter the spread of malaria and mosquitoes.

“What we’re doing now is great, but it’s not enough,” he said. “We’ve got to start thinking out of the box to find some additional approaches.”

The Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative says its Hawaiian Islands Terrestrial Adaption Initiative is looking at a number of strategies that go beyond the norm and is working to bring the latest data and climate information to those working in the conservation and resource field.

“The fate of these birds has not yet been determined,” Jeff Burgett, the cooperative’s science coordinator, said in a statement. “With this research we can visualize the worst-case scenario and begin mapping out solutions for a future where native birdsong continues to ring out in Hawaii’s forests.”

Funding eventually will be needed to tackle the issue, Fortini said, but how much remains uncertain. For now more research is needed to figure out what the best course of action is, he said.

The study, “Large-scale range collapse of Hawaiian forest birds under climate change and the need for 21st century conservation options,” was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In addition to Fortini, the study authors are Adam Vorsino and Fred Amidon with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Eben Paxton and James Jacobi of the U.S. Geological Survey.