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posted by CoolHand on Saturday April 28 2018, @03:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the flippin-em-the-bird--colony dept.

Where do seabirds go when their nesting colony is buried by a volcano? In 2008, the eruption of the Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutian archipelago provided a rare opportunity to track how the island's Crested and Least auklet populations responded when their nesting colony was abruptly destroyed. As a new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances shows, the birds were surprisingly adaptable, establishing a new colony on freshly created habitat nearby in only four years.

Crested and Least auklets rely on habitat that must be maintained by continual disturbance -- they nest in crevices in talus slopes formed by rock falls, which eventually become unusable when they're filled in with soil and debris. The volcano's 2008 eruption buried all of the suitable nesting habitat for the 100,000 Crested Auklets and 150,000 Least Auklets that had been nesting on Kasatochi.

[...]"The volcanic eruption at Kasatochi in 2008 provided the rare opportunity to document the response of a colonial seabird to the sudden and complete destruction of their nesting habitat. This study capitalized on that opportunity and gives us a glimpse into the ability of these species to disperse to nearby colonies and colonize new habitat," adds the University of New Brunswick's Heather Major, an expert on Aleutian seabirds who was not involved in the study. "This study is therefore important to our understanding of dispersal and habitat selection, and more generally, the ability of these two species to respond to large disturbances at their nesting colonies."

Materials provided by American Ornithological Society Publications Office.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday April 28 2018, @05:28AM (2 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday April 28 2018, @05:28AM (#672932) Homepage

    When you're messing with Hillary and the DNC at large, it's doesn't matter that they know who the old-skool Shoguns are, because to them Shoguns are the same thing as Shotguns. They just blew my brains out! Vince Foster's ghost lives on! Avenge my death, Vince! We're counting on you!

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday April 28 2018, @10:56AM (1 child)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday April 28 2018, @10:56AM (#672966) Homepage Journal

    You are a goofy bastard.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:03AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @12:03AM (#673178)

      So feels like this is Eth after a 3 day meth binge.

      Can’t wait til we see the 5+ version.