Black-browed Albatross at sea; artwork for ACAP by Peter Ward, Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN)

 Francesco Ventura (Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences on divorce in Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris in relation to environmental fluctuations.  The study concludes “Hence, in light of the dramatic extent of the current climatic changes, the environmentally driven disruptions of the breeding processes of socially monogamous populations might represent an overlooked consequence of global change, with repercussions on demography and population dynamics”.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“In many socially monogamous species, divorce is a strategy used to correct for sub-optimal partnerships and is informed by measures of previous breeding performance. The environment affects the productivity and survival of populations, thus indirectly affecting divorce via changes in demographic rates. However, whether environmental fluctuations directly modulate the prevalence of divorce in a population remains poorly understood. Here, using a longitudinal dataset on the long-lived black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) as a model organism, we test the hypothesis that environmental variability directly affects divorce. We found that divorce rate varied across years (1% to 8%). Individuals were more likely to divorce after breeding failures. However, regardless of previous breeding performance, the probability of divorce was directly affected by the environment, increasing in years with warm sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA). Furthermore, our state-space models show that warm SSTA increased the probability of switching mates in females in successful relationships. For the first time, to our knowledge, we document the disruptive effects of challenging environmental conditions on the breeding processes of a monogamous population, potentially mediated by higher reproductive costs, changes in phenology and physiological stress. Environmentally driven divorce may therefore represent an overlooked consequence of global change.”

Read a popular account of the research here and listen to a radio interview about the publication with Graeme Elliot, Principal Science Adviser, Department of Conservation, New Zealand.

Reference:

Ventura, F., Pedro Granadeiro, J., Lukacs, P.M., Kuepfer, A. & Catry, P. 2021  Environmental variability directly affects the prevalence of divorce in monogamous albatrosses.  Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2112.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 November 2021

“Southern Ocean Wanderer” by Brett Jarrett

Hosted by the South Georgia Association and live streamed on 18 November, a video talk entitled “Saving Ocean Wanderers” is now available via YouTube.  In their talk Stephanie Prince (High Seas Bycatch Programme Manager, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and Yasuko Suzuki (BirdLife International in Japan) discuss their work educating Japanese tuna fishing fleets on the high seas to avoid incidental mortality of albatrosses in the South Atlantic Ocean.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 November 2021

A Wandering Albatross pair interacts near the weather station on Marion Island, photograph by Stefan Schoombie

BirdLife South Africa's weekly webinar series ‘Conservation Conversations’ last week hosted Tegan Carpenter-Kling and Stefan Schoombie who shared their experiences of living and working on South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island in the southern Indian Ocean.  Their illustrated talks describe some of the research towards their PhDs they undertook on the island’s seabirds, including on the ACAP-listed albatrosses and giant petrels that are at risk to introduced House Mice.

Conservation Conversations: Tegan Carpenter-Kling and Stefan Schoombie - Seabirds on Marion Island

The Mouse-Free Marion Project aims to eradicate the island’s seabird-killing mice in 2024, thus allowing the albatrosses and giant petrels described in the talks to breed unhindered by a terrestrial predator once more.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 November 2021

The USA’s Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument encompasses the atolls of the North West Hawaiian Islands chain, including Laysan, Midway and Kure.  Between them they support by far the largest part of the global breeding populations of ACAP-listed and globally Near Threatened Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses, as well as large populations of petrels, shearwaters and other seabirds.  News is now to hand that an enhancement of the monument’s status is being considered by the US Government as described below.

A Black-footed Albatross broods its downy chick on Midway Atoll, photograph by Wieteke Holzhausen

“NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is initiating the process to consider designating marine portions of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument as a national marine sanctuary.  [The] proposed national marine sanctuary designation would only consider marine waters of the monument, and not terrestrial areas.  This designation would add the conservation benefits and permanency of a national marine sanctuary to safeguard resources in the marine portions of the monument.  Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is the largest contiguous fully-protected conservation area under the U.S. flag, encompassing an area of 582,578 square miles [1 508 870 km²] of the Pacific Ocean.”

“There is a long history of considering this area for national marine sanctuary designation, beginning with an Executive Order in 2000 by President William J. Clinton. President George W. Bush designated the monument in 2006 based in part on the sanctuary designation process that was already underway. President Barack H. Obama's proclamation in 2016 that expanded the monument also called for initiating the process to designate a national marine sanctuary. In December 2020, Congress directed NOAA to initiate the sanctuary designation process.”

A Laysan Albatross feeds its chick on Midway Atoll, photograph by Pete Leary

“NOAA is inviting the public to comment on the range of issues to be considered for the designation of a national marine sanctuary, including potential boundaries; impacts on historic properties; resources that would be protected by a sanctuary; and the potential socioeconomic, cultural, and biological impacts of sanctuary designation.  The information the agency receives during the comment period will be used to develop draft designation documents including a draft sanctuary management plan, proposed sanctuary regulations, and terms of designation.”

NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is a trustee of a system of 15 national marine sanctuaries and Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments.  The public can comment on the proposal until 31 January 2022.  Read more on the proposed designation here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 November 2022