A large patch of anomalously warm water (nicknamed "the Blob") appeared off the coast of Alaska in the winter of 2013–2014 and subsequently stretched south to Baja California. This northeastern ...Pacific warm-water anomaly persisted through the end of 2015. Scientists and the public alike noted widespread changes in the biological structure and composition of both open-ocean and coastal ecosystems. Changes included geographical shifts of species such as tropical copepods, pelagic red crabs, and tuna; closures of commercially important fisheries; and mass strandings of marine mammals and seabirds. The ecological responses to these physical changes have been sparsely quantified and are largely unknown. Here, we provide a bottom-up summary of some of the biological changes observed in and around the areas affected by the Blob.
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albatross and the fish Doughty, Robin W; Carmichael, Virginia
2011, 20111201
eBook, Book
Breeding on remote ocean islands and spending much of its life foraging for food across vast stretches of seemingly empty seas, the albatross remains a legend for most people. And yet, humans are ...threatening the albatross family to such an extent that it is currently the most threatened bird group in the world. In this extensively researched, highly readable book, Robin W. Doughty and Virginia Carmichael tell the story of a potentially catastrophic extinction that has been interrupted by an unlikely alliance of governments, conservation groups, and fishermen. Doughty and Carmichael authoritatively establish that the albatross's fate is linked to the fate of two of the highest-value table fish, Bluefin Tuna and Patagonian Toothfish, which are threatened by unregulated commercial harvesting. The authors tell us that commercial fishing techniques are annually killing tens of thousands of albatrosses. And the authors explain how the breeding biology of albatrosses makes them unable to replenish their numbers at the rate they are being depleted. Doughty and Carmichael set the albatross's fate in the larger context of threats facing the ocean commons, ranging from industrial overfishing to our habit of dumping chemicals, solid waste, and plastic trash into the open seas. They also highlight the efforts of dedicated individuals, environmental groups, fishery management bodies, and governments who are working for seabird and fish conservation and demonstrate that these efforts can lead to sustainable solutions for the iconic seabirds and the entire ocean ecosystem.
Microplastics in marine biota: A review Ugwu, Kevin; Herrera, Alicia; Gómez, May
Marine pollution bulletin,
August 2021, 2021-08-00, 20210801, Volume:
169
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Plastics are the most important component in marine debris. In turn, within plastics, microplastics (<5 mm) are those that most affect marine biota. Thus, this review has as its main objective to ...show the current state of studies of microplastics, as well as to determine the groups of vertebrates most affected by microplastics, and the type and predominant color of microplastics. For this research, we review a total of 132 articles, from 2010 to May of 2020. Our results show that the group more affected are turtles with 88% of the specimens contaminated by microplastics and median of 121.73 particles/individue. The predominant type is fibers (67.3%), polymer is polyethylene (27.3%), size is less than 2 mm (73.6%), and color is blue (32.9%).
•132 articles on ingestion of MPs in marine vertebrates were reviewed.•67% of studies use advanced methodologies and 63% analyze the complete gastrointestinal system.•88% of turtles evaluated are polluted by microplastics, with a average 121 items/individual.•Predominant types are fibers (67.3%), polymer is polyethylene (27.3%), and color is blue (32.9%).•Birds are the only group that differs from the rest, with a prevalence of fragments and light colors.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The genetic identification of evolutionary significant units and information on their connectivity can be used to design effective management and conservation plans for species of concern. Despite ...having high dispersal capacity, several seabird species show population structure due to both abiotic and biotic barriers to gene flow. The Kelp Gull is the most abundant species of gull in the southern hemisphere. In Argentina it reproduces in both marine and freshwater environments, with more than 100,000 breeding pairs following a metapopulation dynamic across 140 colonies in the Atlantic coast of Patagonia. However, little is known about the demography and connectivity of inland populations. We aim to provide information on the connectivity of the largest freshwater colonies (those from Nahuel Huapi Lake) with the closest Pacific and Atlantic populations to evaluate if these freshwater colonies are receiving immigrants from the larger coastal populations. We sampled three geographic regions (Nahuel Huapi Lake and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts) and employed a reduced-representation genomic approach to genotype individuals for single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Using clustering and phylogenetic analyses we found three genetic groups, each corresponding to one of our sampled regions. Individuals from marine environments are more closely related to each other than to those from Nahuel Huapi Lake, indicating that the latter population constitutes the first freshwater Kelp Gull colony to be identified as an evolutionary significant unit in Patagonia.
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We report on the first investigation of feather mites associated with birds living on the Barton Peninsula (King George Island, Antarctica). We found seven feather mite species of the superfamily ...Analgoidea from four host species. Two new species are described from two charadriiform hosts: Alloptes (Sternalloptes) antarcticussp. nov. (Alloptidae) from Stercorarius maccormicki Saunders (Stercorariidae), and Ingrassia chionis sp. nov. (Xolalgidae) from Chionis albus (Gmelin) (Chionidae). Additionally, we provide partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), which was utilized as a DNA barcode, for all seven feather mite species. Keywords: Alloptes , Analgoidea , Antarctica, feather mites, Ingrassia , systematics
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Recent research on ocean health has found large predator abundance to be a key element of ocean condition. Fisheries can impact large predator abundance directly through targeted capture and ...indirectly through incidental capture of nontarget species or bycatch. However, measures of the global nature of bycatch are lacking for air-breathing megafauna. We fill this knowledge gap and present a synoptic global assessment of the distribution and intensity of bycatch of seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles based on empirical data from the three most commonly used types of fishing gears worldwide. We identify taxa-specific hotspots of bycatch intensity and find evidence of cumulative impacts across fishing fleets and gears. This global map of bycatch illustrates where data are particularly scarce—in coastal and small-scale fisheries and ocean regions that support developed industrial fisheries and millions of small-scale fishers—and identifies fishing areas where, given the evidence of cumulative hotspots across gear and taxa, traditional species or gear-specific bycatch management and mitigation efforts may be necessary but not sufficient. Given the global distribution of bycatch and the mitigation success achieved by some fleets, the reduction of air-breathing megafauna bycatch is both an urgent and achievable conservation priority.
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Blood and feathers are the most targeted tissues for isotopic investigations in avian ecology, primarily because they can be easily and non-destructively sampled on live individuals. Comparing blood ...and feather isotopic ratios can provide valuable information on dietary shifts, trophic specialization and migration patterns, but it requires a good knowledge of the isotopic differences between the two tissues. Here, δsup.13C and δsup.15N values of whole blood (in blood cells of a few species) and simultaneously grown body feathers were measured in seabird chicks to quantify the tissue-related isotopic differences. Seabirds include 27 populations of 22 wild species that were sampled in 2000-2008, and a review of the literature added 8 groups (including adult birds) to the analysis. The use of a large data set that overall encompasses wide δsup.13C and δsup.15N ranges allowed us to depict for the first time accurate relationships between blood and feather isotopic ratios across avian taxa. Blood was impoverished in sup.13C and generally in sup.15N compared with feathers. Both mean δsup.13C and δsup.15N values of feathers and blood were highly positively and linearly related feather δsup.13C = 0.972 (±0.020) blood δsup.13C + 0.962 (+ or -0.414), and feather δsup.15N = 1.014 (±0.056) blood + 0.447 (±0.665), respectively; both P < 0.0001. The regressions should be applied to mathematically correct feather or whole blood δsup.13C and δsup.15N values when comparing isotopic ratios within and between ecological studies on birds.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Technological advances in recent years have seen an explosion of tracking and stable isotope studies of seabirds, often involving repeated measures from the same individuals. This wealth of new ...information has allowed the examination of the extensive variation among and within individuals in foraging and migration strategies (movements, habitat use, feeding behaviour, trophic status, etc.) in unprecedented detail. Variation is underpinned by key life-history or state variables such as sex, age, breeding stage and residual differences among individuals (termed 'individual specialization'). This variation has major implications for our understanding of seabird ecology, because it affects the use of resources, level of intra-specific competition and niche partitioning. In addition, it determines the responses of individuals and populations to the environment and the susceptibility to major anthropogenic threats. Here we review the effects of season (breeding vs. nonbreeding periods), breeding stage, breeding status, age, sex and individual specialization on foraging and migration strategies, as well as the consequences for population dynamics and conservation.
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Determining the form of key predator-prey relationships is critical for understanding marine ecosystem dynamics. Using a comprehensive global database, we quantified the effect of fluctuations in ...food abundance on seabird breeding success. We identified a threshold in prey (fish and rill, termed "forage fish") abundance below which seabirds experience consistently reduced and more variable productivity. This response was common to all seven ecosystems and 14 bird species examined within the Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Oceans. The threshold approximated one-third of the maximum prey biomass observed in long-term studies. This provides an indicator of the minimal forage fish biomass needed to sustain seabird productivity over the long term.
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