• Because centers of abundance of marine birds shift (Fisher 1952; Drury 1963, 1974a), it will be prudent to plan for large areas and over long periods of time. Harrison Lewis, a pioneer in seabird management in eastern Canada, said (personal communication) that just as soon as he got approval of a new seabird sanctuary through the long corridors of the distant government bureaucracies in Ottawa, the birds would move to a new island and he had to start the process all over again.
The objective is to maintain a variety of colony sites for populations to move among as local patterns of productivity in the shallow sea shift.
Goals for Research on Population Dynamics of Seabirds for Purposes of Conservation
1. To learn the distribution and relative importance of seabird colonies, the number of pairs nesting and nonbreeding individuals at each colony, and the timing of breeding activities for each geographical region. The most important step toward conserving marine birds is to get public ownership and protection for their breeding grounds.
2. To understand the life cycle of key species. Three needs are clear:
a. To identify key species whose biological characteristics can conveniently be studied and measured. Studies of these species may be useful in monitoring the "health" of seabird breeding areas.
If it is established that the reproductive success of certain species varies similarly in response to changes in their marine habitat (such as black-legged kittiwakes and horned puffins), one could use key species (black-legged kittiwake) to assess the performance of those species in a colony whose breeding success is difficult to measure (horned puffin).
b. To develop efficient and practical ways of censusing and measuring productivity of crevice-, scree-, and hole-nesting species such as puffins and auklets.
c. To establish annual differences in reproductive success and mortality rates by age classes of the key species, and from these to identify rates of population turnover so as to be able to predict the effects of mass mortalities.