The high seas occupy approximately half of the planet. Yet, we know much less about this vast part of the ocean than any other area of the globe. The high seas are also poorly protected because there is no global regulatory framework for conservation or even sustainable use of natural resources in his area.
BirdLife has been a key stakeholder in the Convention on Biological Diversity-led process to describe Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs). We have compiled seabird tracking data and provided information on relevant marine IBAs, to guide the description of EBSAs at the Regional Workshops.
All migratory seabirds have one thing in common: on their incredible journeys, they connect different areas of the ocean that may be thousands of kilometers apart.
Anthropogenic climate change is altering the geographical distribution and regular movements of species. Highly-mobile pelagic seabirds, such as albatrosses, are particularly threatened by human activities, such as fisheries bycatch. Predicting the impact of climate change on how these animals roam the ocean is an important step towards making informed conservation decisions. In this study, we used a mechanistic model of migratory movements to predict how the migration of albatross species that breed in the southern Indian Ocean may change between now and the end of the century.
Marine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi-use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against commercial activities. Addressing this issue is a prerequisite if we are to appropriately assess sites against conservation targets. We evaluated whether the management regime of a large MPA conserved sites (Key Biodiversity Areas, KBAs) supporting the global persistence of top marine predators.
Here we develop a methodological framework for estimating population level density distributions of seabirds, integrating tracking data across the main life-history stages (adult breeders and non-breeders, juveniles and immatures). We incorporate demographic information (adult and juvenile/immature survival, breeding frequency and success, age at first breeding) and phenological data (average timing of breeding and migration) to weight distribution maps according to the proportion of the population represented by each life-history stage.
Seabird Species The largest seabird species are wide-ranging and migratory. Albatrosses (family Diomedeidae) are a group of 22 species which breed in the North Pacific and around the Southern Ocean. These birds are
In newly published research, A framework for mapping the distribution of seabirds by integrating tracking, demography and phenology, Ana P. B. Carneiro et al. present a new framework aiming to tackle challenges of
Too many youngsters were going missing after fledging. With no knowledge of where they fly to, it was much harder to halt their decline. Now, nine satellite-tagged juveniles have successfully left the nest. We can watch their journey – and so can you.
