Join the global conversation on seabird conservation and research

The World Seabird Conference brings international researchers together to share findings and shape seabird conservation.

Early-bird registration closes: 12 June 2026

bit.ly/4vnwNBU
#WSC4

Our @aunz.theconversation.com article with Jane Younger & Noémie Friscourt on the recent @sscmarine.bsky.social #IUCN Red List uplisting of #Antarctic fur seals and Emperor #penguins to #Endangered and the implications for Southern #Ocean #ecosystems.

#Antarctica #conservation #climatechange #HPAI

Antarctic fur seal pup. Credit: Augustin Clessin.

In a new article for @theconversation.com, ACEAS Chief Investigator Professor @pelagicblue.bsky.social, with colleagues Dr Jane Younger and Research Associate Dr Noémie Friscourt, explain what’s driving these rapid declines and what can still be done to protect these species.

Our new State of the World’s Migratory Species: Interim Report 2026 has found that a number of species that previously had stable populations are decreasing. 26 CMS-listed species have moved to higher extinction risk categories.

Dive into our #SWMS26 report: www.cms.int/publication/...

Migratory animals connect the planet but they are facing unprecedented pressures. #CMSCOP15 in Brazil is the best opportunity to strengthen international cooperation and adopt transformative measures that will secure their future and safeguard their habitats.

Learn more www.cms.int/news/press-r...

Migratory species depend on networks of habitats. When these connections remain intact, they can move freely, ecosystems stay resilient, and natural processes that sustain life continue to flow.

Participants at #CMSCOP15 will seek to maintain, restore & strengthen these networks: www.cms.int/cop15

Indigenous knowledge confirms what scientists observe: Large birds are disappearing Many Indigenous peoples and local communities live in close contact with nature and learn to identify the wildlife around them from an early age. New research published in the International Journal…

"All the big birds are now gone."
This observation from a Kenyan elder reflects a global pattern. A new study shows that Indigenous ecological memories across three continents align with scientific data: Large, slow-breeding species are being lost to habitat change and hunting.

By Bobby Bascomb.

Tomorrow: join us for the CMS webinar on health and migratory species! 🦍🩺

Learn why wildlife health is vital for conservation, what this means for migratory species, and how it connects to wider One Health efforts as we look ahead to #CMSCOP15.

Register: www.cms.int/webinar-health

With @wcs.org

Avian flu strikes California’s northern elephant seals; area quarantined Ever since a deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, killed some 17,000 southern elephant seal pups on South American coastlines in 2023 and 2024, researchers and public officials have kept an…

Seven young northern elephant seals at California’s Año Nuevo State Park tested positive for H5N1, marking the first known infections in the species.

The virus has hit hundreds of bird and mammal species worldwide. Officials have closed the beaches as a precaution.

Climate change is slowing southern right whale birth rate, 33-year study finds Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off Australia’s southern coast are having calves less often than they used to. A new study links this slowdown to warming water and shrinking sea ice in…

A 33-year study finds southern right whales off Australia are calving less often, with birth intervals rising since 2015.

Researchers link the slowdown to climate-driven declines in krill and copepods, warning similar trends worldwide could threaten a species still recovering from whaling.

Call for Proposals for #IMCC8 now open!
Have an idea for a symposium, workshop, training course, that can move marine #conservation forward? Now’s the time to shape the program with bold science, practical solutions + inclusive perspectives.
Due by March 6th. Learn more: conbio.org/mini-sites/i...

We invite you to submit an abstract for a session on animal movement, behaviour and biologging at the 7th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in Bruges, Belgium (17-20 November 2026) @wcmb2026.bsky.social, @inbo.be, @vliz.be, @aquatictracking.bsky.social

More info below! 👇

My friend Jon has died | First Dog on the Moon Jon Kudelka loved his beautiful family and was fiercely intolerant of greed and hypocrisy * Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published * Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

My friend Jon has died | First Dog on the Moon

A silly seal

1) 💕 Looking for your perfect match on #ValentinesDay? So are these marine species 😍

As ocean temperatures and conditions shift, predators and prey are falling out of sync, causing cascading effects across marine ecosystems in South America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Logo for IMCC8

Join 800+ ocean conservationists in Edinburgh, Nov 13-17, 2026 to Make Marine Science Matter.

Submit symposia, workshops, focus groups, art & conservation projects + nominate plenary speakers by March 6.

Details: conbio.org/mini-sites/i...

Pervasive increase in tree mortality across the Australian continent Nature Plants - Eight decades of forest plot monitoring show a pervasive increase in tree mortality across Australia’s forest biomes driven by climate change, jeopardizing their role as...

New research from our group: A pervasive increase in tree mortality across the Australian continent - driven by rising temperatures
rdcu.be/eXSa7

A rare right whale spotted off Ireland resurfaces near Boston In a rare sighting, a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, first photographed in 2024 off the coast of Ireland, was recently reidentified near Boston, U.S., on Nov. 19. This is the first…

A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale first spotted off Ireland in 2024 has been reidentified near Boston after crossing the Atlantic — a rare journey highlighting both the species’ resilience and how much scientists still have to learn.

Warm, humid ‘atmospheric rivers’ threaten Antarctica Growing more common as climate warms, these once-rare events could ultimately accelerate ice loss

Growing more common as the climate warms, once-rare “atmospheric rivers” could ultimately accelerate ice loss. https://scim.ag/4pwFAhx

Here’s a glimpse of our SCAR team at this year’s 44th CCAMLR Meetings.

SCAR contributed seven papers covering topics from krill management to climate change, avian influenza, and plastic pollution, supporting the conservation of the Southern Ocean.

🌊 Full report:
scar.org/scar-news/st...

The application deadline for the 2026 SCAR Ant-ICON | SC-ATS science-policy fellowship programme is coming up soon!

Apply by 23 November to be considered for the 2026 cohort: scar.org/fellowships-...

The great escape: seal flees killer whales by jumping on to photographer’s boat Charvet Drucker captures dramatic video and photos of seal being hunted by orcas in Salish Sea, north-west of Seattle

Common seal uses photographer’s boat as refuge from orcas on the hunt!

ACEAS researchers awarded ARC Discovery Project grant to unlock East Antarctica’s secrets - ACEAS A team from the Australian Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS) has received a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant to investigate East Antarctica’s Auro...

👏 Congratulations to a team of ACEAS researchers who have been awarded an ARC Discovery Project grant to investigate East Antarctica’s Aurora Subglacial Basin – a region posing one of the greatest risks for multi-metre sea level rise this century.

Read more: antarctic.org.au/aceas-resear...

Bird Flu Ravaged the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Study Finds

Bird Flu Ravaged the World’s Largest Elephant Seal Population, Study Finds www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/s...

Fears for elephant seals as bird flu kills half of population in South Atlantic Study estimates 53,000 females have died on South Georgia since 2023, with ‘dramatic impact’ on future of the species

New study highlights the drastic, ongoing impact of bird flu on southern elephant seals at South Georgia. Significant mortality has now been recorded across many key breeding sites leading to increasing concerns about their conservation management. @ccgbam.bsky.social
@bas.ac.uk

The Slender-billed Curlew was declared extinct in October 2025.

At #AEWAMOP9, delegates paid tribute to it, with this rare taxidermied specimen on view.

Read personal reflections and testimonies from those who searched for, studied, and cared deeply about it: www.unep-aewa.org/en/news/reme...

Culture and conservation in baleen whales | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Culture, defined as information or behaviours shared within a population and acquired from conspecifics through social learning, acts as a second inheritance system which has important implications for species' ecology and evolution. Understanding the ...

New paper:
Culture and conservation in baleen whales

@ellengarland.bsky.social, @petercorkeron.bsky.social, Mike Noad, Briana Abrahms, @jennyallen13.bsky.social, @rconstantine.bsky.social, @lrendell.bsky.social, Renata Sousa-Lima, Kate Stafford, @emma-carroll.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

Why are Procellariiform seabirds most diverse in the Southern Hemisphere?

Our study found that wind patterns and time since evolutionary origin best explain the extratropical peak in breeding species richness of these remarkable seabirds. 🐦💨

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Abandoning Antarctic krill management measure threatens conservation progress (commentary) All along the western Antarctic Peninsula, whales, penguins and seals in their millions depend on krill (Euphausia superba) throughout the year. In the most rapidly warming region on the continent,…

[COMMENTARY]

This October, as delegates gather to discuss CCAMLR priorities, the authors of a new commentary argue, “At stake is more than a fishing rule, but also the commitment to manage fisheries proactively, rather than reactively.”

** Views are authors'.

Fascinating! 😍 Still so much to discover and learn!

Schematic diagram of the influence of seabirds on temperate and tropical near-shore marine systems. Temperatre systems: - Nutrient enrichment and predation on herbivorous invertebrates can lead to increased algal production - Phytoplankton communities change, featuring more large-celled species - Intertidal organisms incorporate seabird-enriched material by grazing on detritus and biofilm in tidepools - Macroalgae biodiversity and primary production are boosted Tropical systems: - Mangrove leaf nutritional quality increases - Corals recover faster after bleaching events - Fish biomass increases across different trophic groups - Pelagic and benthic consumers' foraging behaviour shifts - Parrotfish grazing and bioerosion rates increase - Fish grow larger

New in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com: our review of the influence of #seabirds, via their nutrient transfer, on islands & adjacent marine ecosystems 🐦🏝️🪸

We highlight knowledge gaps & future directions ✨

"The circular seabird economy is critical for oceans, islands and people": doi.org/10.1038/s443...