Impacts of fisheries and climate on albatross demography

渔业和气候对信天翁种群的影响

• 批准号: NE/J021083/1
• 负责人: Richard Phillips
• 金额: $ 55.8万
• 依托单位: British Antarctic Survey
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FJ021083%2F1
• 关键词: Impacts; fisheries; climate; albatross; demography

Climate change and fisheries are major threats to marine biodiversity. Climate influences conditions in the ocean, including levels of primary productivity and acidification, and may eventually affect the routes and strength of ocean currents. This has impacts on the distribution and abundance of organisms at the bottom of food chains, with consequent effects on their predators. Recent research has revealed changes in the extent and duration of winter sea-ice formation in the Antarctic, resulting in a dramatic reduction in Antarctic krill. As this is a key prey for many whales, seals and seabirds, the decline has had adverse effects on their breeding frequency, success and survival.Marine fisheries compete with natural predators and unintentionally catch many non-target (bycatch) species. High bycatch levels have been linked to worldwide declines of seabirds, marine mammals, turtles and sharks. However, fisheries can also bring benefits, as scavengers exploit the fish offal and bycatch discarded by vessels. It is therefore difficult to judge their full impacts without detailed knowledge of the type and extent of interaction. We also need to understand the influence of global climate change, which is predicted to greatly increase the variability and unpredictability of environmental conditions and hence availability of marine resources.Seabirds are major consumers, and as top predators, their populations reflect changes occurring further down food chains, which are in turn influenced by those in the wider environment. Many are threatened, particularly albatrosses which are vulnerable to any unnatural mortality because they fledge one chick only every 1 or 2 years. Given their vast foraging ranges, they overlap with and are killed in multiple fisheries. Recognition of this international problem led to the establishment of a dedicated albatross and petrel conservation agreement (ACAP), ratified by the UK. Seven of the eight albatross populations breeding in the UK Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic are declining (a higher proportion than in any other sector of the Southern Ocean). High bycatch rates are a major contributing factor. Only for black-browed albatross at South Georgia is there evidence of impacts of environmental change; however, there have been no comparable studies of the other species.The wandering, grey-headed and black-browed albatrosses at South Georgia are of global importance, and include two of the five priority populations for conservation identified recently by ACAP. Observed changes in productivity and other population parameters suggest that environmental factors and fisheries affect each species in differing ways, reflecting differences in distribution and life-styles. Studies of seabirds elsewhere have found links between environmental changes and annual variation in breeding success and, in a minority of cases, adult survival, but these depended on the species. Recent modeling carried out on behalf of the Atlantic tuna commission concluded that fisheries are having detrimental impacts on two species from South Georgia, but did not consider grey-headed albatross, nor the implications of changing environmental conditions. There are also two major unresolved issues for these populations, (i) a dramatic drop in survival of chicks from fledging to first return, and (ii) the demographic implications of differing at-sea distributions of males and females, including a sex ratio imbalance if it affects survival.A comprehensive analysis of the contributions of climate and fisheries impacts to differences in survival, breeding frequency and success of these species is not only a high conservation priority, but an outstanding opportunity to improve our understanding of the implications of climatic variation in a region changing at an unprecedented rate. The analysis will provide robust scientific grounds to improve environmental management, particularly at fisheries regulatory bodies

气候变化和渔业是海洋生物多样性的主要威胁。气候影响海洋的状况，包括初级生产力和酸化水平，并可能最终影响洋流的路线和强度。这影响到食物链底层生物的分布和数量，从而影响到它们的捕食者。最近的研究表明，南极冬季海冰形成的范围和持续时间发生了变化，导致南极磷虾急剧减少。由于这是许多鲸鱼、海豹和海鸟的主要猎物，数量的减少对它们的繁殖频率、成功和生存产生了不利影响，海洋渔业与自然捕食者竞争，无意中捕获了许多非目标（兼捕）物种。副渔获物的高水平与世界范围内海鸟、海洋哺乳动物、海龟和鲨鱼的减少有关。然而，渔业也可以带来好处，因为食腐动物利用船只丢弃的鱼内脏和副渔获物。因此，在不详细了解相互作用的类型和程度的情况下，很难判断它们的全部影响。我们还需要了解全球气候变化的影响，据预测，全球气候变化将大大增加环境条件的可变性和不可预测性，从而增加海洋资源的可用性，海鸟是主要的消费者，作为顶级捕食者，它们的数量反映了食物链下游发生的变化，而这些变化反过来又受到更广泛环境的影响。许多受到威胁，特别是信天翁，它们很容易受到任何非自然死亡的影响，因为它们每1或2年才生一只雏鸟。由于它们觅食范围广，它们与多种渔业重叠，并在多种渔业中被杀死。对这一国际问题的认识导致了信天翁和海燕保护协定（ACAP）的建立，并得到了英国的批准。在南大西洋英国海外领土繁殖的八只信天翁中有七只正在下降（比例高于南大洋的任何其他地区）。副渔获率高是一个主要因素。只有在南格鲁吉亚的黑眉信天翁是有证据的环境变化的影响，但是，有没有其他物种的可比性的研究。在南格鲁吉亚的流浪，灰头和黑眉信天翁是全球重要的，包括两个的五个优先保护种群最近确定的ACAP。观察到的生产力和其他种群参数的变化表明，环境因素和渔业以不同的方式影响每个鱼种，反映出分布和生活方式的差异。对其他地方海鸟的研究发现，环境变化与繁殖成功率的年度变化之间存在联系，在少数情况下，成年人的生存也存在联系，但这些都取决于物种。最近代表大西洋金枪鱼委员会进行的建模得出结论，渔业对南格鲁吉亚的两个物种产生了有害影响，但没有考虑灰头信天翁，也没有考虑环境条件变化的影响。这些种群还有两个主要的未解决问题，（i）从雏鸟到第一次返回的雏鸟存活率急剧下降，（ii）雄性和雌性在海上分布不同的人口影响，包括性别比例失衡，如果它影响存活率的话。这些物种的繁殖频率和成功不仅是一个高度优先的保护事项，而且是一个极好的机会，可以提高我们对一个以前所未有的速度变化的地区的气候变化的影响的理解。该分析将为改善环境管理提供强有力的科学依据，特别是在渔业监管机构

项目成果

Proximate drivers of spatial segregation in non-breeding albatrosses.

• DOI: 10.1038/srep29932
• 发表时间: 2016-07-21
• 期刊: Scientific reports
• 影响因子: 4.6
• 作者: Clay TA;Manica A;Ryan PG;Silk JR;Croxall JP;Ireland L;Phillips RA
• 通讯作者: Phillips RA

Proximate drivers of spatial segregation in non-breeding albatrosses

非繁殖信天翁空间隔离的直接驱动因素

• DOI: 10.17863/cam.9372
• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: Clay T

Escaping the oligotrophic gyre? The year-round movements, foraging behaviour and habitat preferences of Murphy's petrels

• DOI: 10.3354/meps12244
• 发表时间: 2017-09-14
• 期刊: MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Clay, Thomas A.;Phillips, Richard A.;Brooke, M. de L.
• 通讯作者: Brooke, M. de L.

A comprehensive large-scale assessment of fisheries bycatch risk to threatened seabird populations

• DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13407
• 发表时间: 2019-08-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
• 影响因子: 5.7
• 作者: Clay, Thomas A.;Small, Cleo;Phillips, Richard A.
• 通讯作者: Phillips, Richard A.

Divergent foraging strategies during incubation of an unusually wide-ranging seabird, the Murphy's petrel

• DOI: 10.1007/s00227-018-3451-7
• 发表时间: 2019-01-01
• 期刊: MARINE BIOLOGY
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: Clay, Thomas A.;Oppel, Steffen;Brooke, M. de L.
• 通讯作者: Brooke, M. de L.