Study: Threats Sea Birds Face Due to Climate Change Should be Considered to Achieve a Successful Conservation

Seabirds and other species at risk can be better protected if people are aware of the impacts of climate change.

As a result of a mismatch between conservation efforts and scientific awareness of the threat birds face due to climate change, seabirds like kittiwakes and puffins are placed at greater risk.

(Photo : CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP via Getty Images)

Climate Change Threat Linked to Conservation Efforts

Researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the University of Cambridge, BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and the IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group collaborated on the study, which was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

According to Phys.org, researchers found that the climate change threats raised by conservation organisations in Europe for seabirds were not always well understood.

As a result, more than a third of the suggested conservation measures to protect seabirds from the negative effects of climate change are either inconclusive or lacking in evidence.

A "pressure-state-response framework" has been presented by the team to integrate conservation research and management.

For conservationists, this gives a framework for identifying gaps in knowledge and locations in which connections need to be tightened.

A researcher at the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology, Dr. Silviu Petrovan, said despite the alarming speed at which climate change is occurring, scientists have not yet developed and tested effective strategies for safeguarding biodiversity in the face of it.

According to Petrovan, if scientists want to make real progress, they need to do something about this--and seabirds are an excellent example.

Also Read: Traces of Plastic Found in Seabirds Nests, Endangering Chicks to Plastic Ingestion

Identifying Climate Change Threats

In a statement, Henry Hakkinen, a postdoctoral scholar at the ZSL Institute of Zoology, said there is a huge opportunity here to find missing knowledge and link existing studies on the hazards of climate change with good conservation and animal management.

Climate change threats and conservation activities that are widely recognized have been identified, but there are also a number of issues that are poorly understood and that have little or no evidence to support their efficacy.

If scientists want to learn how to assist seabirds adapt to climate change and live, they need to close these gaps.

In Europe, seabirds are studied extensively and given a lot of attention.

As a result, they make an excellent starting point for studying the effects of global warming. More than 180 seabird conservationists in Western Europe were surveyed as part of the study.

They found huge gaps in scientific understanding of the species' plight and began compiling a list of conservation measures that could address some of the most pressing concerns, as per the British Ecological Society.

More needs to be done to monitor the effectiveness of conservation methods accessible to practitioners to deal with the danger of climate change on seabird populations.

For example, 45% of those polled agreed vaccinations and hand-rearing could be helpful strategies.

Pinpointing Gaps Between Research and Conservation Solution

As a group, scientists need to be realistic and evidence-based, but they also need to be daring and explore novel ways, such as assisting new habitat colonizations or even building new seabird breeding structures.

It has never been more critical to connect climate change studies with conservation efforts.

Most seabird populations are in decline, and about half of all seabird species are at risk.

Climate change poses a serious direct and indirect hazard to these birds, including heat waves, severe wind and rain, and shifts in food supply as a result of shifting climatic conditions, all of which can reduce the amount of fish available to nestlings.

Many worldwide policy frameworks link environmental stress, biodiversity impact, and societal response options to help make the transition from research to action.

This methodology might be used to identify gaps in research and conservation efforts for species and ecosystems that are most at risk, according to the researchers.

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