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Seabirds
Climate change projections indicate that sea surface temperature, circulation, sea level and storm intensity will change in the future. This is likely to impact on seabirds of the Great Barrier Reef particularly on feeding and nesting.
Feeding
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| Most tropical seabirds have been affected by El Niņo events |
Seabirds are dependent on marine resources as they feed mostly on pelagic fish. Many pelagic fish can be found associated with cool, nutrient-rich water so the availability of seabird prey is closely linked to sea surface temperature, circulation and up-welling.
El Niņo Southern Oscillation cycles provide insight into likely climate change impacts on seabirds of the Great Barrier Reef. Mass mortalities of seabirds and failures of nesting (death of all chicks) have been observed at several key seabird rookeries. These deaths occurred during irregularly warm summers associated with El Niņo and were caused by feeding failure, rising sea surface temperature and decreased availability of food fish resulting in parents having to travel too far to find food.
Almost all of the major tropical seabirds that breed in the Great Barrier Reef have already been affected by El Niņo events including pelagic foraging terns (for example noddies), wedge-tailed shearwaters, boobies, frigatebird and red-tailed tropicbirds. The impact can be location specific with one species showing very different responses depending upon its nesting site. This is probably caused by location-specific interactions between oceanography and prey availability. Many of the colonies that have been heavily impacted by El Niņo events in the past have shown very little recovery.
Nesting
Seabirds may also be affected by rising sea level. Many seabirds nest on islands in burrows, in tussock grass or in low shrubs and trees. The ability of seabirds to cope with sea level rise will depend largely on whether they can adjust their nesting patterns.
Destructive storms and cyclones do have an effect on the breeding success of seabirds. However, the long-term impacts of increased storm severity is not known, as seabird populations have shown good recovery from these events in the past.
 | View diagram of projected climate change impacts on seabirds |
Related links
- Protected species in the Great Barrier Reef
- State of the Great Barrier Reef - Birds
- Vulnerability of seabirds on the Great Barrier Reef to climate change
[Adobe Acrobat Format 1004KB]
Further Reading
Johnson JE and Marshall PA (Ed) (2007) Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef: A Vulnerability Assessment. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Australian Greenhouse Office, Australia
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Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef
A Vulnerability Assessment: of the issues that could have far-reaching consequences for the Great Barrier Reef.
