Research spotlight: Tracking the connectivity of Indian Ocean Seabirds
The Western Indian Ocean is home to one of the most important aggregations of tropical seabirds in the world, supporting in the region of 19 million seabirds of 30 species, across 54 individual sites, however the question of where they go, and why, has never been fully understood.
A programme of study, co-led by scientists at the Lyell Centre, is tracking and analysing the movement and habits of different seabird populations with the aim of answering one of science’s most enduring mysteries.
“Seabirds are one of the most threatened and most travelled of marine vertebrates. Unravelling the mysteries of their at-sea behaviour is not only exhilarating, but is also at the cutting-edge of marine science.”
– Professor Stephen Votier, Principal Investigator
Funded by the Bertarelli Foundation, ‘Birds Without Borders or Isolated Islands? Connectivity of Western Indian Ocean Seabirds’ is assessing how six ecologically different breeding colonies are connected within the Chagos Archipelago and wider Western Indian Ocean. Through the combination of using satellite tags and identifying foraging hotspots, the multi-team project, co-led by Professor of Seabird Ecology and Conservation at the Lyell Centre, Stephen Votier, seeks to understand the underlying environmental drivers that encourages different species to repeatedly breed and forage in the same place.
Better understanding of the habits, movements and genetic relatedness of these oceanic voyagers can inform protective measures to protect and conserve seabird populations that have been negatively impacted through human activities.
The research programme has sparked a number of publications:
· From route to dive: multi-scale habitat selection in a foraging tropical seabird
· Marine Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in the Chagos Archipelago
· Tracking seabird migration in the tropical Indian Ocean reveals basin-scale conservation need
This research programme is an endorsed action of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030, which aims to protect and restore biodiversity and develop a sustainable and equitable ocean ecosystem for all.