Introduced species and extreme weather as key drivers of reproductive output in three sympatric albatrosses

Cleeland, Jaimie; Pardo, Déborah; Raymond, Ben; Terauds, Aleks; Alderman, Rachael; McMahon, Clive R.; Phillips, Richard A.; Lea, Mary‐Anne; Hindell, Mark A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-64662-5

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(81 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The reason for the higher breeding success on Prion Island remains unclear. Extreme weather can affect breeding success in other seabirds, including black-browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris (Descamps et al 2015;Cleeland et al 2020). Human disturbance could also be a factor Carey (2009), as regular nest visits are made only at Bird Island and elsewhere are known to result in elevated heart rate of wandering albatrosses and potentially higher energy expenditure for 2 to 3 h after exposure (Weimerskirch et al 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia

Rackete

Poncet²,

Good

et al. 2021

Polar Biol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The wandering albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a globally threatened species breeding at a number of sites within the Southern Ocean. Across the South Georgia archipelago, there are differences in population trends even at closely located colonies. Between 1999 and 2018 the largest colony, at Bird Island, declined at 3.01% per annum, while in the Bay of Isles, the decline was 1.44% per annum. Using mean demographic rates from a 31-year study at Bird Island and an 11-year study of breeding success at Prion Island in the Bay of Isles in a VORTEX model, we show that differences in breeding success do not fully explain observed differences in population trends. Other potential contributing factors are differential use of foraging areas, with possible knock-on effects on adult body condition, provisioning rate and breeding success, or on bycatch rates of adults or immatures.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia

Rackete

Poncet²,

Good

et al. 2021

Polar Biol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Low wind speeds therefore occur in both leeward and windward sites. The fact that birds avoid the latter, even though they tend to occur on suitably steep slopes, suggests that shelter from rain ( Cleeland et al 2020 ), and/or wave action during storms, is at least as important as low wind speed in determining site use (the former is much more frequent in the breeding season, Newell et al 2015 ). Therefore, while the ability to fly, and specifically to land, at the nesting site may affect habitat selection, it is also influenced by the need to shelter young from rain as well as storm surges.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Combining airflow modelling with data on breeding success in a range of conditions (cf. Cleeland et al 2020 ) will also provide new mechanistic insight into the basis for habitat selection and how global change may impact birds at their nesting sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Airflow modelling predicts seabird breeding habitat across islands

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wind is fundamentally related to shelter and flight performance: two factors that are critical for birds at their nest sites. Despite this, airflows have never been fully integrated into models of breeding habitat selection, even for well-studied seabirds. Here, we use computational fluid dynamics to provide the first assessment of whether flow characteristics (including wind speed and turbulence) predict the distribution of seabird colonies, taking common guillemots Uria aalge breeding on Skomer Island as our study system. This demonstrates that occupancy is driven by the need to shelter from both wind and rain/wave action, rather than airflow characteristics alone. Models of airflows and cliff orientation both performed well in predicting high-quality habitat in our study site, identifying 80% of colonies and 93% of avoided sites, as well as 73% of the largest colonies on a neighbouring island. This suggests generality in the mechanisms driving breeding distributions and provides an approach for identifying habitat for seabird reintroductions considering current and projected wind speeds and directions.

show abstract

“…In terrestrial systems, invasive herbivore eradications can reduce erosion rates, and increase plant production that aids in stabilizing soils [131][132][133][134][135]. On subantarctic Macquarie Island (southwestern Pacific Ocean), the impacts of invasive rabbits and climate change interacted to negatively impact the island ecosystem in a variety of ways [136]. Increased temperatures, annual rainfall, and wind speeds were additive to the impacts of invasive rabbits and accounted for the cascading impacts of severe vegetation loss, increased rates of slope erosion, increased frequency of landslides and decreased albatross breeding success.…”

Section: Invasive Mammal Eradications and Ecosystem Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Do Invasive Mammal Eradications from Islands Support Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation?

Kappes

Benkwitt

Spatz

et al. 2021

Climate

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climate change represents a planetary emergency that is exacerbating the loss of native biodiversity. In response, efforts promoting climate change adaptation strategies that improve ecosystem resilience and/or mitigate climate impacts are paramount. Invasive Alien Species are a key threat to islands globally, where strategies such as preventing establishment (biosecurity), and eradication, especially invasive mammals, have proven effective for reducing native biodiversity loss and can also advance ecosystem resilience and create refugia for native species at risk from climate change. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that successful eradications may also contribute to mitigating climate change. Given the cross-sector potential for eradications to reduce climate impacts alongside native biodiversity conservation, we sought to understand when conservation managers and funders explicitly sought to use or fund the eradication of invasive mammals from islands to achieve positive climate outcomes. To provide context, we first summarized available literature of the synergistic relationship between invasive species and climate change, including case studies where invasive mammal eradications served to meet climate adaptation or mitigation solutions. Second, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and eradication-related conference proceedings to identify when these synergistic effects of climate and invasive species were explicitly addressed through eradication practices. Third, we reviewed projects from four large funding entities known to support climate change solutions and/or native biodiversity conservation efforts and identified when eradications were funded in a climate change context. The combined results of our case study summary paired with systematic reviews found that, although eradicating invasive mammals from islands is an effective climate adaptation strategy, island eradications are poorly represented within the climate change adaptation and mitigation funding framework. We believe this is a lost opportunity and encourage eradication practitioners and funders of climate change adaptation to leverage this extremely effective nature-based tool into positive conservation and climate resilience solutions.

show abstract

Introduced species and extreme weather as key drivers of reproductive output in three sympatric albatrosses

Cited by 14 publications

References 56 publications

Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia

Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia

Airflow modelling predicts seabird breeding habitat across islands

Do Invasive Mammal Eradications from Islands Support Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About