The valley peatland study site on Bird Island in the South Atlantic

Chuxian Li (Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden) and many colleagues have published in the open access journal PNAS on a study which indicates that contemporary intensified westerly winds may cause steep declines in Southern Ocean seabird populations.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Southern Ocean is home to vast seabird populations and threatened species.  To understand the wider impact of the catastrophic decline in many seabird populations over recent decades, we need knowledge of their long-term population dynamics under natural climate variability.  We do this by studying mercury flux and stable isotope fingerprints in seabird excrement (guano) that has accumulated in peatland archives around the nest sites.  We find that oscillations in peat mercury accumulation reflect guano inputs and therefore seabird abundance.  The peat records suggest that seabirds thrived when the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds were less intense.  From a past to future perspective, our study indicates that contemporary intensified westerly winds may cause further steep declines in Southern Ocean seabird populations.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Li, C. et al. 2026.  Southern Ocean seabird population shifts over the Holocene revealed by peat sequestration of mercury from guano.  PNAS 123 (16) e253368112.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 April 2026

A Wandering Albatross guards its chick on Marion Island, artwork by Lea Finke of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for World Albatross Day 2020, after a photograph by Michelle Risi

Etienne Rouby (Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA) and colleagues have published in the Journal of Animal Ecology on how demographic factors and environment influence age at first reproduction of Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans

The paper’s abstract follows:

“1.  Age at first reproduction is an important life-history trait that marks the beginning of reproductive allocation in long-lived organisms and drives patterns of life-history strategies. Demographic factors and environmental conditions likely affect age at first reproduction through multiple pathways: food resources availability and energy storage from birth to recruitment, competition for breeding sites and mate availability.

2.  Using a unique 35-year dataset of individual-based mark–recapture data from a wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) population at Crozet (southern Indian Ocean), we investigated how demographic factors and environment influence age at first reproduction. The population experienced major fluctuations, declining by 50% in the 1970s before partially recovering in the 1980s. It was also exposed to important environmental changes, including variations in large-scale climate phenomena and changes in subtropical anticyclone systems like the Mascarene high pressure system.

3.  We used multi-event hidden Markov models to estimate age-specific survival and breeding probabilities for each sex separately. From these models, we estimated the age at first reproduction through absorbing Markov chains while accounting for imperfect detection. We investigated how demographic factors (population density at birth and mate availability at recruitment) and environmental conditions (at birth and recruitment) influenced age at first reproduction through their effects on survival and breeding probabilities.

4.  Age at first reproduction declined across cohorts for both sexes from 1970 to the mid-1980s, then stabilized. Females recruited at 9.0 years in early cohorts versus 7.5 years in later ones; males declined from 10.2 to 9.2 years. Environmental conditions at birth, particularly the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Mascarene high, influenced recruitment timing through delayed effects of natal condition on breeding probability rather than survival. Mate availability strongly facilitated earlier recruitment in both sexes, while natal population density delayed male recruitment specifically.

5.  Recruitment timing in wandering albatrosses is shaped primarily by developmental programming during the natal period rather than by immediate environmental triggers at sexual maturity, with mate availability and population density modulating these early-life effects in sex-specific ways. Given that recruitment is an important life-history event linked to population-level reproductive rates, accurate demographic projections require models accounting for cohort-specific effects under changing environments.”

With thanks to Karine Delord

Reference:

Rouby, E., Van de Walle, J., Plard, F., Delord, K., Aubry, L.M., Barbraud, C., Bonnet, T., Henri Weimerskirch, H. & Jenouvrier, S. 2026.  Drivers of age at first reproduction in the wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans): demographic factors, environmental conditions and sex-specific responses.  Journal of Animal Ecology doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.70249.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 April 2026

Graphical abstract from the publication

Joana Fragão (Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Portugal) and colleagues have published open access in the Journal of Hazardous Materials on microplastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in seven species of sub-Antarctic seabirds that breed on Bird Island in the South Atlantic, including the ACAP-listed Wandering Diomedea exulans, Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris and Grey-headed Albatross T. chrysostoma Albatrosses and the White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Despite the remoteness of their breeding sites, subantarctic seabirds are susceptible to anthropogenic pollutants (e.g. microplastics) and other chemical stressors (e.g. plastic additives) that are released from ships and research stations, arrive in ocean currents, are transported in the atmosphere, or are ingested when the birds feed north of the Antarctic Polar Front.  In this study, we investigated the presence and levels of microplastics and several groups of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in adults or chicks of seven seabird species breeding at the subantarctic islands of South Georgia.  A total of 1275 anthropogenic particles were recovered in the gastrointestinal tracts of 76 seabirds, with a frequency of occurrence of 97.4%, a mean value of 16.78 ± 18.79 particles per individual and of 0.03 ± 0.03 particles/g body weight.  Ten percent (n = 130 particles) of the particles were identified chemically using microFTIR spectroscopy, of which 59% were synthetic, 18% were natural, 19% were anthropogenic unknown and 4% were anthropogenic cellulosic.  Of the EDCs, only polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-PBDEs) congeners occurred at levels above the limit of quantification.  Liver samples consistently exhibited the highest concentrations of both contaminant groups.  The highest concentrations of PBDEs were in adult brown skuas (133.96 ng/g) and of MeO-PBDEs were in wandering albatross chicks (6.50 ng/g).  This research provides evidence of plastics and plastic additives in subantarctic seabirds, underscoring the need to strengthen measures aimed at reducing marine pollution.”

Reference:

Fragão, J., Manno, C., Phillips, R.A., Cunha, S.C., Fernandes, J.O., Batista de Carvalho, L.A.E., Marques, M.P.M., Xavier, J.C. & Bessa, F. 2026.  Co-occurrence of microplastics and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in subantarctic seabirds.  Journal of Hazardous Materials 509 doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2026.14201.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 April 2026

“One of these chicks is not like the other”, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

Since 2015 the environmental NGO, Pacific Rim Conservation, has been working to create a new seabird colony safe from predicted sea level rise on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.  By translocating chicks and hand-rearing them, four species have commenced to breed within the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.  They are the Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses, the Bonin Petrel Pterodroma hypoleuca and Tristram’s Storm Petrel Hydrobates tristrami (click here).

This year, ACAP’s chosen theme for World Albatross Day on 19 June 2026 is “Habitat Restoration”, which includes the establishment of new breeding colonies by attraction techniques and translocations of eggs and chicks.  At a number of translocation sites, adult decoys have been placed to attract passing adult albatrosses to land (click here), including in the James Campbell NWR.  However, new to ACAP Latest News is the use of chick decoys for the same purpose, as Pacific Rim Conservation explains on its Facebook page:

“Our mōlī (Laysan Albatross) chicks are growing up fast and exploring their surroundings. This fuzzy little one found its way over to our chick decoys.  You may already know about our usual social attraction tools (like solar-powered sound systems and adult seabird decoys), but a few years ago we added chick decoys into the mix to help make the colony even more inviting.  Along with tracking nest activity and courtship behavior, our team keeps an eye on how albatross chicks and adults interact with our decoys.

The decoy on the right [of the above photograph] was handcrafted by our Executive Director, Dr. Eric VanderWerf, using a plastic bowling pin and some shaggy carpet.  “We love a good conservation craft, and it looks like this chick does too”.”

Read past articles in ACAP Latest News about translocation efforts in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 16 April 2026