World Seabird Conference - Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.worldseabirdconference.com/
This past October I attended the 2nd annual World Seabird Conference. Thanks to a travel grant from the conference organizers, I was able to present my work with almost 600 other delegates from 52 countries. There were so many talks, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations. It was amazing to catch up with people that I had worked with from the East Coast of North America, people that I worked with over the summer in New Zealand, to catch up with colleagues from Hawaii, to meet some folks that I have worked with since I have been in Hawaii but have only had Skype or email contact and to meet so many new and interesting people from all over the world.
I was part of a symposium about ecosystem services of arctic seabirds. Well, I don’t work on arctic seabirds and the work that I presented actually looks more at the ecosystem services of the actions that manager take for seabird restoration, but it turned out to be a pretty good fit with the other talks. It was an interesting symposium and I was glad to meet other folks conducting similar work.
Symposium abstract:
The symposium focuses on the ecosystem services provided by Arctic seabirds, i.e. the ecological, socio-economic and cultural benefits humans obtain from ecosystems involving seabirds. To facilitate management and conservation efforts of ecosystem services and decision-making concerning marine resource use there is an urgent need to further the understanding of ecosystem services in relation to seabirds. This includes identifying the ecosystem services provided by seabirds, establishing methodologies for quantifying the values of these services, and assessing the ecological and socio-economic drivers affecting their management and conservation as well as possible trade-offs between different ecosystem services. In the Arctic, the ecosystem services provided by seabirds may be of high value while potentially strongly affected by climate change and other human impacts. As culture changes, also new ecosystem services arise, including for instance services supporting nature tourism. The symposium consists of six presentations, starting with an introduction to ecosystem services provided by seabirds, then deepening insights into provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. The symposium also highlights the interaction between ecological and ecosystem service research and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in ecosystem service management, conservation and restoration. In addition to regular oral presentations, the symposium includes a short poster presentation. Presentations are followed by a comprehensive discussion, where the audience is invited to take part. In the discussion, we summarize current knowledge on ecosystem services provided by seabirds and its applicability to the Arctic, and discuss the generality of the conclusions of the symposium presentations for systems other than the Arctic. We also identify research needs: poorly known ecosystem services, methods for the quantification of ecosystem services, areas or species of particular importance, and current and upcoming issues relevant to the management and conservation of ecosystem services and seabirds.
My abstract:
Seabird numbers and ranges have decreased dramatically in Hawaii over the last 1,400 years since the arrival of man. In the past Hawaii was host to over 20 seabird species, currently only six of these species breed in the main Hawaiian Islands and two are federally listed. To understand the ecology and the economics of conservation and restoration of seabirds in Hawaii, here we addressed two important questions: 1) what are the costs and benefits of seabird conservation and restoration actions across Hawaii today and 2) with nutrient transport as a major ecosystem service of seabirds, do seabirds in the low population densities in montane Hawaii, still add a significant amount of nutrients to these ecosystems? To analyze conservation and restoration actions in Hawaii, costs and primary and secondary benefits of restoration actions were determined using a rubric specifically designed for this project. Many costs and benefits naturally occur in bundles, these groupings were assessed and presented in a matrix. To address the current impact of seabirds on montane systems in Hawaii we quantified available inorganic soil nutrients (including nitrogen and phosphorous) in seabird and non-seabird plots, and used d15N in soil and the leaves of two common, native plant species to determine the contribution of marine sourced nutrients from seabirds to these systems. Plant community composition was also quantified to determine if seabird nutrient subsidies result in differences in vegetation composition. Nitrogen in the form of NH4 was significantly higher in the soil and d15N was higher in leaves of Metrosideros polymorpha in the seabird plots. While there were significant amounts of nitrogen being deposited, this was not reflected in the plant community composition. A better understanding of the biology, ecology, economics and history of seabirds and seabird restoration will facilitate the most effective conservation of these important species.
http://www.worldseabirdconference.com/
This past October I attended the 2nd annual World Seabird Conference. Thanks to a travel grant from the conference organizers, I was able to present my work with almost 600 other delegates from 52 countries. There were so many talks, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations. It was amazing to catch up with people that I had worked with from the East Coast of North America, people that I worked with over the summer in New Zealand, to catch up with colleagues from Hawaii, to meet some folks that I have worked with since I have been in Hawaii but have only had Skype or email contact and to meet so many new and interesting people from all over the world.
I was part of a symposium about ecosystem services of arctic seabirds. Well, I don’t work on arctic seabirds and the work that I presented actually looks more at the ecosystem services of the actions that manager take for seabird restoration, but it turned out to be a pretty good fit with the other talks. It was an interesting symposium and I was glad to meet other folks conducting similar work.
Symposium abstract:
The symposium focuses on the ecosystem services provided by Arctic seabirds, i.e. the ecological, socio-economic and cultural benefits humans obtain from ecosystems involving seabirds. To facilitate management and conservation efforts of ecosystem services and decision-making concerning marine resource use there is an urgent need to further the understanding of ecosystem services in relation to seabirds. This includes identifying the ecosystem services provided by seabirds, establishing methodologies for quantifying the values of these services, and assessing the ecological and socio-economic drivers affecting their management and conservation as well as possible trade-offs between different ecosystem services. In the Arctic, the ecosystem services provided by seabirds may be of high value while potentially strongly affected by climate change and other human impacts. As culture changes, also new ecosystem services arise, including for instance services supporting nature tourism. The symposium consists of six presentations, starting with an introduction to ecosystem services provided by seabirds, then deepening insights into provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. The symposium also highlights the interaction between ecological and ecosystem service research and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in ecosystem service management, conservation and restoration. In addition to regular oral presentations, the symposium includes a short poster presentation. Presentations are followed by a comprehensive discussion, where the audience is invited to take part. In the discussion, we summarize current knowledge on ecosystem services provided by seabirds and its applicability to the Arctic, and discuss the generality of the conclusions of the symposium presentations for systems other than the Arctic. We also identify research needs: poorly known ecosystem services, methods for the quantification of ecosystem services, areas or species of particular importance, and current and upcoming issues relevant to the management and conservation of ecosystem services and seabirds.
My abstract:
Seabird numbers and ranges have decreased dramatically in Hawaii over the last 1,400 years since the arrival of man. In the past Hawaii was host to over 20 seabird species, currently only six of these species breed in the main Hawaiian Islands and two are federally listed. To understand the ecology and the economics of conservation and restoration of seabirds in Hawaii, here we addressed two important questions: 1) what are the costs and benefits of seabird conservation and restoration actions across Hawaii today and 2) with nutrient transport as a major ecosystem service of seabirds, do seabirds in the low population densities in montane Hawaii, still add a significant amount of nutrients to these ecosystems? To analyze conservation and restoration actions in Hawaii, costs and primary and secondary benefits of restoration actions were determined using a rubric specifically designed for this project. Many costs and benefits naturally occur in bundles, these groupings were assessed and presented in a matrix. To address the current impact of seabirds on montane systems in Hawaii we quantified available inorganic soil nutrients (including nitrogen and phosphorous) in seabird and non-seabird plots, and used d15N in soil and the leaves of two common, native plant species to determine the contribution of marine sourced nutrients from seabirds to these systems. Plant community composition was also quantified to determine if seabird nutrient subsidies result in differences in vegetation composition. Nitrogen in the form of NH4 was significantly higher in the soil and d15N was higher in leaves of Metrosideros polymorpha in the seabird plots. While there were significant amounts of nitrogen being deposited, this was not reflected in the plant community composition. A better understanding of the biology, ecology, economics and history of seabirds and seabird restoration will facilitate the most effective conservation of these important species.