TY - JOUR
T1 - Experts’ opinions on threats to Leach’s Storm-Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous) across their global range
AU - Pollet, Ingrid L.
AU - Lenske, Ariel K.
AU - Ausems, Anne N.M.A.
AU - Barbraud, Christophe
AU - Bedolla-Guzmán, Yuliana
AU - Bicknell, Anthony W.J.
AU - Bolton, Mark
AU - Bond, Alexander L.
AU - Delord, Karine
AU - Diamond, Antony W.
AU - Fifield, David A.
AU - Gjerdrum, Carina
AU - Halpin, Luke R.
AU - Hansen, Erpur S.
AU - Hedd, April
AU - Hoeg, Rielle
AU - Major, Heather L.
AU - Mauck, Robert A.
AU - McClelland, Gregory T.W.
AU - Tranquilla, Laura Mcfarlane
AU - Montevecchi, William A.
AU - Parker, Mike
AU - Pratte, Isabeau
AU - Rail, Jean François
AU - Robertson, Gregory J.
AU - Rock, Jennifer C.
AU - Ronconi, Robert A.
AU - Shutler, Dave
AU - Stenhouse, Iain J.
AU - Takahashi, Akinori
AU - Watanuki, Yukata
AU - Welch, Linda J.
AU - Wilhelm, Sabina I.
AU - Wong, Sarah N.P.
AU - Mallory, Mark L.
N1 - Funding Information:
ILP was funded by a MITACS fellowship. We thank S. Oppel and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable feedback that greatly improved the manuscript. Additional assistants, collaborators, and funding agencies are listed in publications of the coauthors. We thank H. Renner and S. C. Votier for responding to the survey.
Publisher Resilience Alliance. All rights reserved.
Copyright © by the author(s). Published here under license by The Resilience Alliance. This article is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt the work provided the original author and source are credited, you indicate whether any changes were made, and you include a link to the license. https://ace-eco.org/vol18/iss1/art11/ACE-ECO-2022-2370.pdf
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Seabirds are declining globally, though the threats they face differ among and within species and populations. Following substantial population declines at several breeding colonies, Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous) was uplisted from Least Concern to Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016. Reasons for these declines are unclear, and it is important to identify threats the species faces across its global breeding range to guide research directions and inform conservation efforts. We solicited feedback from 37 Leach’s Storm-Petrel scientific experts from eight countries on the importance of different threats facing the species on land and at sea. Perceived threats to extant colonies varied spatially, with a consensus within regions for main threats. Most researchers agreed that the main threats at or near colonies are avian and mammalian predators and onshore light attraction. At-sea threats have been less studied and were harder to identify and rank, but include offshore lights and structures, spatial shifts in prey, and contaminants. Climate change was not listed specifically because of its multifaceted repercussions, but several perceived threats are linked to climate change. Globally, introduction of mammalian predators is an overarching driver of seabird colony decline or extirpation; thus biosecurity must be considered an important measure for the conservation of storm-petrels. In addition, filling knowledge gaps and implementing a series of regionally relevant and targeted strategies that lead to small but cumulative conservation successes may be the best approach for this species.
AB - Seabirds are declining globally, though the threats they face differ among and within species and populations. Following substantial population declines at several breeding colonies, Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous) was uplisted from Least Concern to Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016. Reasons for these declines are unclear, and it is important to identify threats the species faces across its global breeding range to guide research directions and inform conservation efforts. We solicited feedback from 37 Leach’s Storm-Petrel scientific experts from eight countries on the importance of different threats facing the species on land and at sea. Perceived threats to extant colonies varied spatially, with a consensus within regions for main threats. Most researchers agreed that the main threats at or near colonies are avian and mammalian predators and onshore light attraction. At-sea threats have been less studied and were harder to identify and rank, but include offshore lights and structures, spatial shifts in prey, and contaminants. Climate change was not listed specifically because of its multifaceted repercussions, but several perceived threats are linked to climate change. Globally, introduction of mammalian predators is an overarching driver of seabird colony decline or extirpation; thus biosecurity must be considered an important measure for the conservation of storm-petrels. In addition, filling knowledge gaps and implementing a series of regionally relevant and targeted strategies that lead to small but cumulative conservation successes may be the best approach for this species.
KW - expert opinion
KW - Hydrobates leucorhous
KW - Leach’s Storm-Petrel
KW - seabird conservation
KW - threats
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159147831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85159147831&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5751/ACE-02370-180111
DO - 10.5751/ACE-02370-180111
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85159147831
SN - 1712-6568
VL - 18
JO - Avian Conservation and Ecology
JF - Avian Conservation and Ecology
IS - 1
M1 - 11
ER -