Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction?
Summary Ritenbenk/Innaq in Disko Bay is the only remaining Thick-billed Murre colony in central West Greenland. It has declined by 72% since 1980 and now (2012) holds c.1,100 breeding pairs. In 2005–2006 and 2011–2012, a number of studies were carried out in this colony to improve our understanding...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959270915000040 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959270915000040 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0959270915000040 2024-10-06T13:48:12+00:00 Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? MERKEL, FLEMMING BOERTMANN, DAVID FALK, KNUD FREDERIKSEN, MORTEN JOHANSEN, KASPER LABANSEN, AILI LAGE LINNEBJERG, JANNIE FRIES MOSBECH, ANDERS SONNE, CHRISTIAN 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959270915000040 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959270915000040 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Bird Conservation International volume 26, issue 2, page 177-191 ISSN 0959-2709 1474-0001 journal-article 2015 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270915000040 2024-09-11T04:04:22Z Summary Ritenbenk/Innaq in Disko Bay is the only remaining Thick-billed Murre colony in central West Greenland. It has declined by 72% since 1980 and now (2012) holds c.1,100 breeding pairs. In 2005–2006 and 2011–2012, a number of studies were carried out in this colony to improve our understanding of the population decline and its causes. Hunting has previously been identified as a problem for the colony, but local breeding conditions have never been studied and the non-breeding distribution was known only from ringing. Our studies showed that breeding success was moderate to good in the Ritenbenk colony and apparently not limited by food availability. The impact of gull predation was more uncertain, but seemed limited in our study plot. In contrast, estimates of maximum sustainable harvest levels showed that hunting, including illegal activities, was and still is too high and probably can explain much of the population decline. It is puzzling though, that the steepest population decline was observed within the most recent decade when the harvest level was markedly reduced. This may indicate that something else besides hunting mortality affects the colony. The winter distribution of the Ritenbenk birds includes areas in the central North Atlantic, such as the waters around South Greenland, where conditions have been identified as potentially deteriorating due to pronounced oceanographic changes. The potential impact on the Ritenbenk colony, as well as other colonies in the North Atlantic, needs to be studied further. Article in Journal/Newspaper Disko Bay Greenland North Atlantic thick-billed murre uria Cambridge University Press Greenland Ritenbenk ENVELOPE(-51.317,-51.317,69.767,69.767) Bird Conservation International 26 2 177 191 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Summary Ritenbenk/Innaq in Disko Bay is the only remaining Thick-billed Murre colony in central West Greenland. It has declined by 72% since 1980 and now (2012) holds c.1,100 breeding pairs. In 2005–2006 and 2011–2012, a number of studies were carried out in this colony to improve our understanding of the population decline and its causes. Hunting has previously been identified as a problem for the colony, but local breeding conditions have never been studied and the non-breeding distribution was known only from ringing. Our studies showed that breeding success was moderate to good in the Ritenbenk colony and apparently not limited by food availability. The impact of gull predation was more uncertain, but seemed limited in our study plot. In contrast, estimates of maximum sustainable harvest levels showed that hunting, including illegal activities, was and still is too high and probably can explain much of the population decline. It is puzzling though, that the steepest population decline was observed within the most recent decade when the harvest level was markedly reduced. This may indicate that something else besides hunting mortality affects the colony. The winter distribution of the Ritenbenk birds includes areas in the central North Atlantic, such as the waters around South Greenland, where conditions have been identified as potentially deteriorating due to pronounced oceanographic changes. The potential impact on the Ritenbenk colony, as well as other colonies in the North Atlantic, needs to be studied further. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MERKEL, FLEMMING BOERTMANN, DAVID FALK, KNUD FREDERIKSEN, MORTEN JOHANSEN, KASPER LABANSEN, AILI LAGE LINNEBJERG, JANNIE FRIES MOSBECH, ANDERS SONNE, CHRISTIAN |
spellingShingle |
MERKEL, FLEMMING BOERTMANN, DAVID FALK, KNUD FREDERIKSEN, MORTEN JOHANSEN, KASPER LABANSEN, AILI LAGE LINNEBJERG, JANNIE FRIES MOSBECH, ANDERS SONNE, CHRISTIAN Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
author_facet |
MERKEL, FLEMMING BOERTMANN, DAVID FALK, KNUD FREDERIKSEN, MORTEN JOHANSEN, KASPER LABANSEN, AILI LAGE LINNEBJERG, JANNIE FRIES MOSBECH, ANDERS SONNE, CHRISTIAN |
author_sort |
MERKEL, FLEMMING |
title |
Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
title_short |
Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
title_full |
Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
title_fullStr |
Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Why is the last Thick-billed Murre Uria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction? |
title_sort |
why is the last thick-billed murre uria lomviacolony in central west greenland heading for extinction? |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959270915000040 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959270915000040 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-51.317,-51.317,69.767,69.767) |
geographic |
Greenland Ritenbenk |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Ritenbenk |
genre |
Disko Bay Greenland North Atlantic thick-billed murre uria |
genre_facet |
Disko Bay Greenland North Atlantic thick-billed murre uria |
op_source |
Bird Conservation International volume 26, issue 2, page 177-191 ISSN 0959-2709 1474-0001 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270915000040 |
container_title |
Bird Conservation International |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
177 |
op_container_end_page |
191 |
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1812176339102334976 |