New Zealand is a global seabird hotspot having a quarter of the world’s seabirds species. Approximately one third of these seabirds breed only in New Zealand. Sadly, over the years, light pollution and intensity is a growing conservation concern for seabirds both in New Zealand and internationally. Many of these seabirds can become disoriented and grounded by the lights from buildings, bridges and boats. Many fledgling seabirds, especially Procellariiformes such as petrels and shearwaters, are susceptible to light pollution. The Hauraki Gulf, a seabird hotspot located near Auckland, is New Zealand’s largest urban city, with a considerable amount of light pollution and regularly documented events of seabird groundings. We identified the characteristics of locations especially prone to seabird groundings across Auckland. We used an online database of seabirds taken to BirdCare Aotearoa, an avian rehabilitation facility, by the public to map three years of seabird groundings and test for correlations between seabird groundings and the natural night sky brightness. In general, seabird groundings correlate with the brightness of the area and are species-specific. The areas with greater light pollution often had a higher number of seabird groundings. We also found important seasonal patterns and species differences in groundings which may be a by-product of species ecology, visual ecology and breeding locations. These findings can be applied worldwide to mitigate groundings by searching and targeting specific brightly lit anthropogenic structures. Those targeted structures and areas can then be the focus of light mitigation efforts to reduce seabird groundings. Finally, this study illustrates how a combination of community science, and a concern for seabirds grounded from light attraction, in addition to detailed animal welfare data and natural night sky brightness data can be a powerful, collaborative tool to aid global conservation efforts for highly-at-risk animals such as seabirds. More info at:
Heswall et al. 2022. Artificial light at night correlates with seabird groundings: mapping city lights near a seabird breeding hotspot. PeerJ
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October 2023
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