Barcelona, Spain  - Thirty-five per cent of the world's birds are likely to be particularly susceptible to climate change, which could accelerate the extinction of threatened species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned Wednesday.

Around 8,000 experts are attending a congress of the world's largest environmental network in the Spanish city of Barcelona through October 14.

Nearly 3,500 of the world's nearly 10,000 bird species have at least one out of 11 traits that could make them susceptible to climate change, according to the first results of an IUCN study, which was described as the first such systematic assessment.

Species likely to be affected include the albatross, penguin, petrel and shearwater.

Fifty-two per cent of about 6,200 amphibians in the world and 71 per cent of around 800 warm-water reef-building coral species could also be susceptible to global warming, the IUCN reported.

The most susceptible species include staghorn corals and three salamander families.

According to the red list of endangered species made public by IUCN on Monday, 32 per cent of amphibians and 12 per cent of birds are threatened by extinction.

"There is a large overlap between threatened species and those susceptible to climate change," said Jean-Christophe Vie of the IUCN species programme.

"Climate change may cause a sharp rise in the risk and rate of extinction," he explained. dpa