Mar 26, 2015 11:09 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Tasmanian swift parrot could become extinct within 16 years, according to a recent study.  

Researchers at Australian National University are calling on the Federal Government to list the birds as critically endangered after discovering that the avian is facing a population collapse.

"Swift parrots are in far worse trouble than anybody previously thought," Professor Robert Heinsohn, who led the study, said in a statement. "Everyone, including foresters, environmentalists and members of the public will be severely affected if they go extinct."

Swift parrots are major pollinators of blue and black gum trees which are crucial to the forestry industry, which controversially continues to log swift parrot habitat.

The five-year study discovered that swift parrots move between different areas of Tasmania each year to breed, depending on where food is available.

For the study, researchers combined new data with a previous study that showed that swift parrots are preyed on heavily by sugar gliders, especially in deforested areas.

The research predicted that the population of the birds will halve every four years, with a possible decline of 94.7 percent over 16 years.

A moratorium on logging in swift parrot habitat is needed until new plans for their protection can be drawn up, said co-researcher, Dr. Dejan Stojanovic said.

"Current approaches to swift parrot management look rather inadequate," Stojanovic explained. "Our models are a wake-up call. Actions to preserve their forest habitat cannot wait."

The findings are detailed in the latest edition of Biological Conservation. 

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