Seabirds in the Marine Environment: Introduction

Abstract

Seabirds have long attracted the attention of humans; in ancient times they formed both a source of food and a rich mythological tradition. The development of the study of seabirds has followed the development of other aspects of marine biology and ornithology. Much early work involved studies at colonies and, indeed, some seabird populations have probably the longest history of detailed monitoring at their colonies of any marine organisms. Systematic studies of the distribution of seabirds at sea began in the 1920s and 1930s, notably by Poul Jespersen and Vero Wynne-Edwards. While these studies were mostly distributional in nature, they did note changes in seabird communities with marine parameters such as distance to land and water depth. Seabirds are also part of the marine ecosystem, usually as predators towards the top of the food chain, but also as scavengers. As such, they can both influence the food chain and be influenced by it. Most studies of seabird diet and feeding have occurred at or near the colonies, but increasingly studies have been carried out at sea. Seabirds are influenced by human activities in the marine environment, from being killed by oil pollution to feeding on the waste discharged from fishing vessels. Human influences on seabirds have been particularly heavily studied in recent years.