Seabirds and Climate Change
A Case Study from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
Processes that underlie the impacts of global warming on marine organisms at upper trophic levels are largely unknown. Long-term studies of seabirds repeatedly show major reproductive failures associated with El Niño years when sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) are above long-term averages.
We studied foraging strategies and provisioning rates in multiple seabird species throughout the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), including the wedge-tailed shearwater, Puffinus pacificus (image below). Our results provide clear evidence that declines in seabird breeding success previously attributed exclusively to large, seasonal-scale El Niño processes, also involve much finer-scale within-season trophic mechanisms.
In general, as sea-surface temperatures continue to rise with global warming, our results predict substantial detrimental impacts on seabird populations of the GBR. This finding has important implications for both seabird and coral reef ecosystem management in the region. We also suggest that seabirds are sensitive indicators of multiple upper trophic level impacts that can be used to model the long-term effects of climate change in this system.
We studied foraging strategies and provisioning rates in multiple seabird species throughout the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), including the wedge-tailed shearwater, Puffinus pacificus (image below). Our results provide clear evidence that declines in seabird breeding success previously attributed exclusively to large, seasonal-scale El Niño processes, also involve much finer-scale within-season trophic mechanisms.
In general, as sea-surface temperatures continue to rise with global warming, our results predict substantial detrimental impacts on seabird populations of the GBR. This finding has important implications for both seabird and coral reef ecosystem management in the region. We also suggest that seabirds are sensitive indicators of multiple upper trophic level impacts that can be used to model the long-term effects of climate change in this system.
Contributed by Brad Congdon, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia and based on a Plenary paper presented to the Australian Coral Reef Society 2006 conference, Mission Beach, North Queensland, Australia, 18-20 August 2006.