Next video will be on species extinction.
Consider the albatross.
A bird that mates for life and flies over 6,000 miles for food, the albatross has seen profound population declines over the past several decades. It appears now as though a harbinger for its own demise.
Or take the Fiji petrel, a black, tube-nosed bird that spends almost its entire life skimming the oceans. The petrel, the albatross and other birds suffer when the oceans are polluted and overfished and a new study in PLOS One suggests they are paying a heavy price. Since the 1950s, the study concludes that seabird numbers have dropped by nearly 70 percent.
“Seabirds are particularly good indicators of the health of marine ecosystems,” said University of British Columbia’s Michelle Paleczny, a co-author of the study and a researcher with the Sea Around Us project. “When we see this magnitude of seabird decline, we can see there is something wrong with marine ecosystems. It gives us an idea of the overall impact we’re having.”
For the study, the researchers compiled information on more than 500 seabird populations from around the world, representing 19 percent of the global seabird population. They found overall populations had declined by 69.6 percent or the equivalent to a loss of about 230 million birds in 60 years.
Hi Peter, just wanted to say thanks.
Your videos tend to make my day more depressing, but I appreciate more than I can say the effort and thought you put into building and delivering this service and archive, as well as creating new content through active involvement.
Keep up the good fight! You are an inspiration and a resource for those of us trying to do the same on a smaller scale.
[No special reason for this post – just catching up after a few days away and felt grateful.]
you are so welcome!