Amid the horrific devastation in Japan comes news of the effect of the tsunami on low-lying islands in the Pacific which are home to breeding seabirds. Have a look here:
It seems that the seabirds may have taken a bit more of a hit than the early reports suggested. Today's New York Times had a note indicating that just in the Hawaii and Pacific Islands NWR 2000 adults and 110,000 chicks albatross were killed. No estimates for other seabirds (like terns and petrels) or outside the refuge were mentioned.
Thanks Declan. That's a big loss. You will know this but for others:
Seabirds are long-lived animals. They live a lot longer than you might think, considering their body size. Some albatrosses live to their 60s and other seabirds often live 20, 30+ years. They usually start breeding when they are 3 years old or older (up to 11 years) but many seabirds still have lots of opportunities to breed and produce chicks. This means that any one breeding season is not critical in terms of lifetime reproductive success. So although this is a bad event, seabirds are essentially pre-adapted to withstand a bad year of breeding like this. Contrast this with a bird that lives maybe 2-3 years and may breed just once in their lifetime. For species like this, one breeding season may determine their whole lifetime reproductive success.