Destruction of Guillemot Colonies in the Southern Barents Sea and the Factors That Determine It

• Published in: Biology bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vol. 50; no. 9; pp. 2286 - 2293
• Main Authors: Krasnov, Yu. V., Ezhov, A. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.12.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Ecology; Fishing; Food industry; Life Sciences; Salvage; Winter; Zoology; Barents Sea; common guillemot; numbers; Murman coast; Barents Sea; Brünnich’s guillemot; bird market
• ISSN: 1062-3590; 1608-3059
• DOI: 10.1134/S1062359023090170

Features of the dynamics of numbers of the common guillemot ( Uria aalge ) and Brünnich’s guillemot ( U. lomvia ) have been analyzed based on long-term monitoring data obtained from colonies from the southern Barents Sea coast. Since the 2000s, the numbers of guillemots in colonies have been shown to decrease gradually. In 2019–2021, most of the guillemot colonies of the southern Barents Sea coast disappeared. Two factors have been found to affect the dynamics of guillemot colonies in the last few decades within their winter–spring range indirectly, through changes in the availability of the main food resources: the fishing industry and change in oceanographic conditions. The former affects only the birds from southwestern Barents Sea colonies, but the latter is relevant within the whole winter–spring area from the Barents Sea to the western areas of the North Atlantic and affects the guillemots’ living conditions in the most critical periods of their life. In the future this may cause significant changes in the location of guillemot colonies in the southern Barents Sea.