Species: All species
The BirdLife Seabird Tracking Database: 20 years of collaboration for marine conservation
A new open access study published today highlights the remarkable achievements of the BirdLife Seabird Tracking Database (STDB) in marine conservation. Since its launch in 2004, the STDB has become one of the
The Seabird Group Conference 2024
Last month, four of us from the BirdLife International Marine Programme attended the 16th International Seabird Group Conference in Coimbra, Portugal: Ana Carneiro (Marine Science Manager), Antonio Vulcano (Marine Officer), Yann Rouxel (Bycatch
Identifying Key Biodiversity Areas for multiple seabird species in the Southern Ocean using publicly available tracking data
The highly productive waters around Antarctica (also known as the Southern Ocean) are particularly rich in seabird diversity, but this region and the seabirds that inhabit it are also highly threatened by a
Unsustainable Wind Energy in Mannar Threatening a Key Migratory Bottleneck of CAF
Mannar Island is a vital migratory bottleneck and a key entry point that channels several million birds of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) to Sri Lanka, one of the flyway’s southernmost destinations. The
New study finds at least 44,000 seabirds are killed each year due to bycatch in trawl fisheries worldwide
Fishing for balance Fishing is a vital industry: providing over 3.3 billion people with at least 20% of their animal protein, and employing around 38 million people, globally. Different gear types, such as
From the silk road to seabird flyways, reflections on marine conservation progress from CMS COP14
Seabirds might not be the first thing you think of when you hear about Uzbekistan – a land locked country in central Asia, famed for its linkages to the Silk Road. But when
Marine Megafauna Conservation Toolkit
The Marine Megafauna Conservation Toolkit is an open-access online toolkit which facilitates scientists, conservationists, and policymakers to identify and advocate for the conservation of important sites for marine megafauna.
Marine Flyways
Marine flyways are the major routes migratory seabirds regularly use to travel between their breeding and non-breeding areas.
Spatial scales of marine conservation management for breeding seabirds
Knowing the spatial scales at which effective management can be implemented is fundamental for conservation planning. This is especially important for mobile species, which can be exposed to threats across large areas, but the space use requirements of different species can vary to an extent that might render some management approaches inefficient. Here the space use patterns of seabirds were examined to provide guidance on whether conservation management approaches should be tailored for taxonomic groups with different movement characteristics. Seabird tracking data were synthesised from 5419 adult breeding individuals of 52 species in ten families that were collected in the Atlantic Ocean basin between 1998 and 2017. Two key aspects of spatial distribution were quantified, namely how far seabirds ranged from their colony, and to what extent individuals from the same colony used the same areas at sea. There was evidence for substantial differences in patterns of space-use among the ten studied seabird families, indicating that several alternative conservation management approaches are needed. Several species exhibited large foraging ranges and little aggregation at sea, indicating that area-based conservation solutions would have to be extremely large to adequately protect such species. The results highlight that short-ranging and aggregating species such as cormorants, auks, some penguins, and gulls would benefit from conservation approaches at relatively small spatial scales during their breeding season. However, improved regulation of fisheries, bycatch, pollution and other threats over large spatial scales will be needed for wide-ranging and dispersed species such as albatrosses, petrels, storm petrels and frigatebirds.
track2KBA: An R package for identifying important sites for biodiversity from tracking data
Identifying important sites for biodiversity is vital for conservation and management. However, there is a lack of accessible, easily applied tools that enable practitioners to delineate important sites for highly mobile species using established criteria.
We introduce the R package ‘track2KBA’, a tool to identify important sites at the population level using tracking data from individual animals based on three key steps: (a) identifying individual core areas, (b) assessing population-level representativeness of the sample and (c) quantifying spatial overlap among individuals and scaling up to the population.
We describe package functionality and exemplify its application using tracking data from three taxa in contrasting environments: a seal, a marine turtle and a migratory land bird.
This tool facilitates the delineation of sites of ecological relevance for diverse taxa and provides output useful for assessing their importance to a population or species, as in the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) Standard. As such, ‘track2KBA’ can contribute directly to conservation planning at global and regional levels.
Tracking data and the conservation of the high seas: Opportunities and challenges
Biologging technology is rapidly advancing—scientists are obtaining data on movement and behaviour for a range of species, more accurately than ever before. With this information, it is possible to understand more about important areas and their connections across the open ocean including the high seas, beyond national jurisdictions. But an absence of a global governance framework has so far hindered a coordinated approach to conservation action on the high seas.
We showcase a candidate high seas MPA in the Northeast Atlantic identified primarily from seabird tracking data and being taken forward under a regional process: the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount (NACES) MPA, under the OSPAR Commission. It provides a unique case study to learn about the intricacies of implementation when applying tracking information for conservation. From this, we identify the facilitating conditions and challenges faced from identification to designation and highlight actionable opportunities for future area-based management of the high seas that will be made possible under a new agreement.
Policy implications. The North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount (NACES) MPA demonstrates the power of translating tracking data into usable geospatial knowledge to inform conservation and policy and provides an exemplar for a data-driven approach to high seas conservation that can become a reality under the forthcoming governance framework (under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (known as the BBNJ Agreement)). This new agreement presents a unique conservation opportunity both for the application of tracking data to conservation outcomes and for the protection of migratory species.
Threats to Seabirds
Seabirds are both terrestrial and marine animals. They depend on both realms to survive – and so they are also affected by threats in both environments.