CHAPTER 18
Evaluating the Coastal Environment for Marine Birds
S. Wanless, P.J. Bacon, M.P. Harris, and A.D. Webb
ABSTRACT: The marine environment is being increasingly exploited by fisheries and
the oil and gas industry. Conservationists urgently need the ability to identify the
processes that determine patterns of abundance of marine species. We describe a
preliminary Geographic Information System (GIS) in which spatial data on
environmental variables (seabird colony locations, sea depth and seabed sediments) are
integrated with realistic energy constraints faced by marine birds during the breeding
season. A simple foraging model predicts the spatial variation in the quality of given
locations as potential feeding sites under different feeding conditions and stages of the
breeding cycle. We show how the approach can be used to help managers identify key
marine areas and assess the impacts of environmental change or damage.
Introduction
With the increasing exploitation of Scottish waters both for fisheries and oil and gas
production, the pressure on marine communities has intensified. From a conservation
point of view the need to identify the factors and processes that determine patterns of
abundance in marine species has never been more critical. In this chapter we use a
Geographical Information System (GIS) to integrate the results of recent studies on
seabird feeding behaviour, collected using radio telemetry techniques, with spatial
information on three environmental variables: namely, distance from the breeding
colony, water depth and seabed sediments. In any given area this approach allows us to
investigate how environmental characteristics potentially influence the feeding
performance of marine species under varying levels of prey availability (Wanless et al.,
1998).
221
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 221–232.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Evaluating the Coastal Environment for Marine Birds
S. Wanless, P.J. Bacon, M.P. Harris, and A.D. Webb
ABSTRACT: The marine environment is being increasingly exploited by fisheries and
the oil and gas industry. Conservationists urgently need the ability to identify the
processes that determine patterns of abundance of marine species. We describe a
preliminary Geographic Information System (GIS) in which spatial data on
environmental variables (seabird colony locations, sea depth and seabed sediments) are
integrated with realistic energy constraints faced by marine birds during the breeding
season. A simple foraging model predicts the spatial variation in the quality of given
locations as potential feeding sites under different feeding conditions and stages of the
breeding cycle. We show how the approach can be used to help managers identify key
marine areas and assess the impacts of environmental change or damage.
Introduction
With the increasing exploitation of Scottish waters both for fisheries and oil and gas
production, the pressure on marine communities has intensified. From a conservation
point of view the need to identify the factors and processes that determine patterns of
abundance in marine species has never been more critical. In this chapter we use a
Geographical Information System (GIS) to integrate the results of recent studies on
seabird feeding behaviour, collected using radio telemetry techniques, with spatial
information on three environmental variables: namely, distance from the breeding
colony, water depth and seabed sediments. In any given area this approach allows us to
investigate how environmental characteristics potentially influence the feeding
performance of marine species under varying levels of prey availability (Wanless et al.,
1998).
221
D.R. Green and S.D. King (eds.), Coastal and Marine Geo-Information Systems, 221–232.
© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.