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Apex marine predator declines ninety percent in association with changing oceanic climate
Abstract
Three time series of pelagic bird abundance collected in disparate portions of the California Current reveal a 90% decline in Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) abundance between 1987 and 1994. This decline is negatively correlated with a concurrent rise in sea‐surface temperatures; Sooty Shearwaters have declined while sea temperatures have risen. There is a nine‐month lag in the response by shearwaters to changing temperatures. The geographical scale of our study demonstrates that the decline of Sooty Shearwaters is not a localized phenomenon, nor can it be ascribed to a short‐term distributional shift. The Sooty Shearwater is the numerically dominant species of the California Current System (CCS) in summer (austral winter), with an estimated population in the late 1970s of 5 million individuals. If the observed warming of the waters of the California Current System is an irreversible manifestation of a changing global climate, then the impact upon Sooty Shearwater populations seems likely to be profound.
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“More recently, ocean warming associated with climate change has precipitated bottom-up trophic cascades, analogous to those proposed here for terrestrial systems, which have restructured both benthic and pelagic food webs and driven declines in shearwaters and auklets (112–114).”
From Climate-driven declines in arthropod abundance restructure a rainforest food web (2018) · cites this paper as [112]
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Items 101–173 of 173
What limits the harvest of sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus ) on Poutama Island?
Lyver, P. O. (2000) · New Zealand Journal of Zoology · doi:10.1080/03014223.2000.9518248 · Cited by 18
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“Decreasing populations have occurred concurrently with changing ocean currents and rising sea temperatures that could affect ocean productivity (Veit et al. 1997; Lyver et al. 1999; Shaffer et al. 2006; Mills et al. 2008).”
BackgroundLyday, S. E., Ballance, L. T., Field, D. B., & Hyrenbach, K. D. (2014) · Journal of Marine Systems · doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.08.010 · Cited by 17
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BackgroundLong-term population trends of Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) revealed by hunt success
Clucas, R. (2011) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1890/09-0813.1 · Cited by 17
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“…are prey for many species of cetaceans in the California Current, including the short- and long-beaked common dolphins, bottlenose dolphin, Pacifi c white-sided dolphin, and Dall’s porpoise (e.g., Stroud et al., 1981; Walker and Jones, 1993; Heise, 1997; Amano et al., 1998; Osnes-Erie, 1999).”
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McKechnie, S., Bragg, C., Newman, J., Scott, D., Fletcher, D., & Moller, H. (2009) · Wildlife Research · doi:10.1071/wr06133 · Cited by 13
“The 90% decline in the abundance of sooty shearwater in the Californian current system during migration in the Austral winter between 1987 and 1994 (Veit et al. 1997) includes an unknown effect of changing at-sea distributional patterns, whereas Lyver et al.”
BackgroundInterannual variations in the diet of breeding sooty shearwaters ( Puffinus griseus )
Kitson, J., Cruz, J. B., Lalas, C., Jillett, J. B., Newman, J., & Lyver, P. O. (2000) · New Zealand Journal of Zoology · doi:10.1080/03014223.2000.9518244 · Cited by 13
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Metadata
- Authors
- VEIT, R., MCGOWAN, J., AINLEY, D., WAHL, T., & PYLE, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US)
- H.T. Harvey & Associates (US)
- Point Blue Conservation Science (US)
- Corresponding author
- VEIT, RICHARD
- Venue
- Global Change Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1997-02
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 23-28
- ISSN
- 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2486
- OpenAlex
- W2123890019
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 7.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Change Biology (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Aquatic Science › Marine and fisheries research
- Keywords
- sooty shearwater, Puffinus griseus, population decline (ecology), sea surface temperature, ocean warming, California Current System, pelagic seabirds, climate change, population time series
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