Accessible ecophysiological tools for seabird conservation

Abstract

Seabirds are the most endangered avian taxa on Earth, with over a third of species globally threatened. To help slow their decline, conservation physiology seeks to determine how seabird responses to climatic and anthropogenic threats influence demographic processes, but it is not widely utilized in monitoring. A wide variety of metrics and methods are available to the conservation practitioner; thus, the correct method selection is paramount. This is a review of physiological tools to assess both individual and population health in seabirds, outlining which tools could be accessible enough to incorporate into conservation management strategies to increase the efficacy and range of population monitoring. Ultimately, the cost and expertise required limits the use of some tools in a community-based management context, but they are useful in academic research in collaboration with conservation projects to generate data to inform management strategies for threatened species. The value of the data available from particular tools is weighed against the invasiveness of the methodology to assess the practicality of incorporating physiological tools into routine seabird monitoring programmes. A broader application of conservation physiology tools in a monitoring context could help manage threatened species; this paper summarizes a set of physiological variables from minimally invasive samples that have potential to assist in monitoring population health for seabird conservation. The full potential of these physiological tools is yet to be realized in seabirds.