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。气候影响海洋条件，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。这对食物链底部生物的分布和丰度产生影响，从而对其捕食者产生影响。最近的研究揭示了南极冬季海冰形成的范围和持续时间的变化，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，数量的减少对其繁殖频率、成功率和生存产生了不利影响。海洋渔业与天敌竞争，无意中捕获了许多非目标（兼捕）物种。兼捕率高与全球范围内海鸟、海洋哺乳动物、海龟和鲨鱼数量的减少有关。然而，渔业也能带来好处，因为拾荒者会利用船只丢弃的鱼内脏和副渔获物。因此，如果不详细了解相互作用的类型和程度，就很难判断它们的全面影响。我们还需要了解全球气候变化的影响，预计这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，它们的种群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中的变化的影响。许多信天翁都受到威胁，特别是信天翁，它们很容易遭受非自然死亡，因为它们每 1 或 2 年才长出一只雏鸟。由于它们的觅食范围广阔，它们与多个渔场重叠并被杀死。对这一国际问题的认识导致了专门的信天翁和海燕保护协议（ACAP）的建立，并得到了英国的批准。在英国南大西洋海外领土繁殖的八个信天翁种群中，有七个正在减少（比例高于南大洋任何其他区域）。高兼捕率是一个主要因素。只有南乔治亚岛的黑眉信天翁有环境变化影响的证据；然而，还没有对其他物种进行类似的研究。南乔治亚岛的流浪信天翁、灰头信天翁和黑眉信天翁具有全球重要性，其中包括 ACAP 最近确定的五个优先保护种群中的两个。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物种，反映了分布和生活方式的差异。对其他地方的海鸟的研究发现，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，还与成年存活率有关，但这些取决于物种。最近代表大西洋金枪鱼委员会进行的模型得出的结论是，渔业对南乔治亚岛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。这些种群还有两个未解决的主要问题，(i) 从羽翼未丰到首次返回的雏鸟存活率急剧下降，以及 (ii) 雄性和雌性不同的海上分布所产生的人口影响，包括影响生存的性别比例失衡。全面分析气候和渔业对这些物种的生存、繁殖频率和成功率差异的影响，不仅是高度保护的问题 气候变化对一个以前所未有的速度变化的地区的影响是一个重要的优先事项，但却是一个绝佳的机会，可以加深我们对气候变化影响的理解。该分析将为改善环境管理，特别是渔业监管机构的环境管理提供坚实的科学依据

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.