Hi-tech puffins to monitor decline in seabird populations
Stubby seabird with comedy beak to help scientists investigate steep decline in seabird populations across Britain Short, stubby and gifted with a distinctive comedy beak, the puffin is an iconic bird. But seabird may also be the bellwether for a crisis in the seas around Britain. The puffin now has a new role, helping scientists investigate the causes of a steep decline in seabird numbers across the British Isles using miniaturised digital tracking devices, including one borrowed from in-car satellite navigation systems. Data for last year shows puffin numbers suddenly and sharply crashed. Scientists found that on the most significant North Sea colonies, puffin populations fell by a third or more. Adult puffins were malnourished, with large numbers washed up dead along the UK's coast. Confronted by other evidence of a significant change in the North Sea's health, which has led...
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