The impact of climate change on the ability of Arctic seabirds to coordinate parental care, RiS ID: 11366

As the Artic environment continues to undergo climate change, the ability of organisms to adapt to the unstable conditions is a subject of ubiquitous interest and concern. Arctic seabirds are made particularly vulnerable to decline by exhibiting highly specialised behaviours, which suit predictable Arctic conditions, but lack plasticity, limiting the ability of the birds to adapt to rapid climate change. Obligate bi-parental care increases breeding success in harsh but predictable environments, but in the modern Arctic, the unavoidable need to coordinate and cooperate with a partner limits the ability of an individual to respond to rapid environmental change. In this PhD project, the parental care strategies of a population of black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) (based in Svalbard) will be quantified through the application of biologging technology and behavioural observation. The impact of real-time climate change on foraging behaviours and subsequent breeding success will then be investigated. In particular, the constraints imposed on individual and pair plasticity by obligate bi-parental care will be explored, in order to discover if this limitation prevents birds from compensating for one another and the immediate environmental conditions. The suitability of this strategy for modern Arctic conditions will be evaluated, with a view to help reverse the decline of this species and predict future population trends.