5/2/2023 0 Comments City hotel venture townsSea surface temperatures off the northern coast of Norway have warmed nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1980s, which may be driving the birds’ traditional food sources of small crustaceans, capelin and other fish out of reach. Reiertsen and other scientists are trying to determine the reasons for the kittiwakes’ urban migration, but say ocean warming plays a leading role. At the current rate of decline, scientists project that kittiwakes could become extinct in Norway within four decades. The species is now rated as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list. "There are huge concerns about kittiwakes in Europe,” says Mark Mallory, an environmental scientist and Arctic seabird expert at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. And kittiwakes, once a common sight swirling in the hundreds of thousands across sea cliffs in the northern United Kingdom, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway-home to more than half of the species' breeding population-are among the hardest hit. The scene is especially drastic in the Arctic. Seabirds worldwide are in crisis, with global populations plummeting nearly 70 percent over the past 70 years due to climate change, overfishing, habitat loss, and other human impacts on their environment. They’re building boutique hotels just for kittiwakes, so the birds can raise their families in town without being a nuisance to people. Taking a cue from the hotel construction around Tromsø, Reiertsen and a group of colleagues have hatched a plan to help save these iconic Arctic seabirds. ![]() This unusual urban invasion may be a last chance for the region’s kittiwakes, whose numbers along the coast of Norway have plunged by three-quarters since the 1980s, says Tone Kristin Reiertsen, a seabird ecologist with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Tromsø. “The kittiwake cliffs are just being emptied.” “There's something going on in the bird cliffs that makes them struggle to raise chicks,” says Reiertsen. Now, due to a warming ocean, increased storminess and other changes that are decimating chick production in their normal habitat, the birds have been setting up house in places such as shopping centers and office buildings in Tromsø and other towns along Norway’s north coast, where they are rankling locals with their noise and mess. But in the past few years from March to September, that’s changed. Usually, kittiwakes nest in cliffs over the ocean and seldom venture inland. These guests are black-legged kittiwakes-the most seafaring member of the gull family, and one that is facing an uncertain future. While the human tourist boom is on hold for now, some visitors are still flocking in and looking for suitable places to stay. Spurred by a recent flood of adventurers chasing the northern lights and sightseers wanting a glimpse of the glaciers before they’re gone, this tourism hub on Norway’s north coast has been building hotels geared for an anticipated 2.3 million visitors a year. ![]() TROMSØ, Norway Construction cranes tower stork-like over the skyline of this burgeoning burg 200-plus miles above the Arctic Circle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |