Albatrosses at sunset, artwork by Silvia Abramant‎ from a photograph by Dimas Gianuca

William Sydeman (Farallon Institute, Petaluma, California, USA.) and many colleagues have published in the journal Science on a review of more than 50 years of breeding records for 67 seabird species worldwide.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Climate change and other human activities are causing profound effects on marine ecosystem productivity. We show that the breeding success of seabirds is tracking hemispheric differences in ocean warming and human impacts, with the strongest effects on fish-eating, surface-foraging species in the north. Hemispheric asymmetry suggests the need for ocean management at hemispheric scales. For the north, tactical, climate-based recovery plans for forage fish resources are needed to recover seabird breeding productivity. In the south, lower-magnitude change in seabird productivity presents opportunities for strategic management approaches such as large marine protected areas to sustain food webs and maintain predator productivity. Global monitoring of seabird productivity enables the detection of ecosystem change in remote regions and contributes to our understanding of marine climate impacts on ecosystems.”

Read a popular account on the publication..

With thanks to Janine Dunlop, Niven Librarian, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town

Reference:

Sydeman, W.J. et al. 2021.  Hemispheric asymmetry in ocean change and the productivity of ecosystem sentinels. Science 372 (6545), 980-983John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 June 2021

 Distribution of marine floating debris (red circles) encountered by Black-footed Albatrosses at sea in relation to their foraging area (purple lines):  GPS tracks of 23 foraging trips made by 13 birds from Torishima (yellow triangle) are shown by grey lines, with green sections symbolizing when video records were available. Black arrows show surface ocean currents (from the publication)

Bungo Nishizawa (National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Scientific Reports on utilizing Black-footed Slbatrosses Phoebastria nigripes to record marine debris.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Anthropogenic marine debris is a threat to marine organisms. Understanding how this debris spatially distributes at sea and may become associated with marine wildlife are key steps to tackle this current issue. Using bird-borne GPS- and video-loggers on 13 black-footed albatrosses Phoebastria nigripes breeding in Torishima, Japan, we examined the distribution of large floating debris in the Kuroshio Current area, western North Pacific. A total of 16 floating debris, including styrofoam (n = 4), plastic pieces (n = 3), plastic sheet (n = 1), fishery-related items (rope or netting, n = 4), and unidentified debris (n = 4), were recorded across the 9003 km covered by nine birds. The debris was concentrated in the southern area of the Kuroshio Current, where the surface current was weak, and the albatrosses were foraging. The albatrosses displayed changes in flight direction towards the debris when at a mean distance of 4.9 km, similarly to when approaching prey, and one bird was observed pecking at a plastic sheet; indicating that albatrosses actively interacted with the debris. This paper shows the usefulness of studying wide-ranging marine predators through the use of combined biologging tools, and highlights areas with increased risk of debris exposure and behavioral responses to debris items.”

Reference:

Nishizawa,  B., Thiebot, J.-B., Sato,  F., Tomita, N., Yoda, K., Yamashita, R., Takada, H. & Watanuki, Y. 2021. Mapping marine debris encountered by albatrosses tracked over oceanic waters.  Scientific Reports  doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90417-x.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 June 2021

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), an intergovernmental organisation with its Secretariat headquartered in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, invites applications from persons with a PhD or equivalent and a proven track record of research and management in a scientific discipline relevant to CCAMLR's work for the position of Science Manager.  The position is a full-time four-year contract with a renewal term of a second four years.

“We are looking for an experienced Science Manager to lead the Science section at the CCAMLR Secretariat, providing strategic oversight, coordination, and work program management for the provision of scientific services to the Secretariat, the Scientific Committee and CCAMLR Members.”

To apply send your CV containing three referees [names] along with a cover letter and statement addressing how your skills and experience best meet the requirements of the role.

Note to be eligible you must be a national of a country which is specifically listed as a Member of CCAMLR.  For further information read here or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., CCAMLR Human Resources Officer.  Applications are due by 30 June.+

The previous CCAMLR Science Manager, Keith Reid, started his career as a marine ornithologist, studying sub-Antarctic penguins.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 June 2021

Drone view of a Black-browed Albatross colony on Steeple Jason Island in the South Atlantic, photograph from Sarah Crofts

Madeline Hayes (University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Ornithological Applications on counting breeding Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris from drone imagery.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Population monitoring of colonial seabirds is often complicated by the large size of colonies, remote locations, and close inter- and intra-species aggregation. While drones have been successfully used to monitor large inaccessible colonies, the vast amount of imagery collected introduces a data analysis bottleneck. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) are evolving as a prominent means for object detection and can be applied to drone imagery for population monitoring. In this study, we explored the use of these technologies to increase capabilities for seabird monitoring by using CNNs to detect and enumerate Black-browed Albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) and Southern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes c. chrysocome) at one of their largest breeding colonies, the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. Our results showed that these techniques have great potential for seabird monitoring at significant and spatially complex colonies, producing accuracies of correctly detecting and counting birds at 97.66% (Black-browed Albatrosses) and 87.16% (Southern Rockhopper Penguins), with 90% of automated counts being within 5% of manual counts from imagery. The results of this study indicate CNN methods are a viable population assessment tool, providing opportunities to reduce manual labor, cost, and human error.”

Resumen: El monitoreo de las poblaciones de aves marinas coloniales es usualmente complicado por el gran tamaño de las colonias, los lugares remotos y la agregación densa inter- e intra-específica. Mientras que los drones han sido usados exitosamente para monitorear grandes colonias inaccesibles, la gran cantidad de imágenes colectadas introduce un cuello de botella en el análisis de los datos. Las redes neuronales convolucionales (RNC) están evolucionando como un medio prominente para la detección de objetos y pueden ser aplicadas a las imágenes de drones para el monitoreo poblacional. En este estudio, exploramos el uso de estas tecnologías para aumentar la capacidad de monitoreo de las aves silvestres mediante el uso de RNC para detectar y contar a Thalassarche melanophris y Eudyptes c. chrysocome en una de sus colonias de cría más grandes, las Islas Malvinas. Nuestros resultados mostraron que estas técnicas tienen gran potencial para el monitoreo de aves marinas en colonias significativas y espacialmente complejas, produciendo precisiones para detectar y contar correctamente las aves en un 97.66% (T. melanophris) y 87.16% (E. c. chrysocome), con un 90% de los conteos automáticos estando dentro del 5% de los conteos manuales realizados a partir de las imágenes. Los resultados de este estudio indican que los métodos de RNC son una herramienta viable de evaluación poblacional, brindando oportunidades para reducir el trabajo manual, el costo y el error humano.

Reference:

Hayes, M.C., Gray, P.C., Harris, G., Sedgwick, W.C., Crawford, V.D., Chazal, N., Crofts, S. & Johnston, D.W. 2021. Drones and deep learning produce accurate and efficient monitoring of large-scale seabird colonies.  Ornithological Applications  doi.org/10.1093/ornithapp/duab022.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 June 2021