27 March 2026 | 16:00 - 18:00 CET
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: Preben Hornungstuen
Organiser: Morten Frederiksen (Aarhus University, Denmark)
Session Description:
Birds play a key role in the marine ecosystems, especially in the polar regions. They provide provisioning, regulating, and cultural services—such as transferring nutrients from sea to land, accelerating nutrient cycling that aids carbon sequestration, and offering natural spectacles for people. In some communities, seabirds are a source of food, income, or valued harvesting traditions. Yet, most seabird populations are declining. To guide sustainable resource use and meet global biodiversity agreement targets, we must identify which services seabirds provide, where they are threatened, as well as opportunities to reverse declines. This has been limited by gaps in knowledge of seabird distribution and their role in carbon cycling and provisioning and cultural services. Recently, the SEATRACK programme mapped year-round seabird migrations in the Atlantic Arctic, providing a foundation for studying seabirds as ecosystem service providers. At this meeting, we will explore which steps that need to be taken to improve our understanding of seabirds as an ecosystem service.