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Research

Take a read of some snippets of research being undertaken at various institutes to help protect, conserve and understand threats to seabirds in he Auckland region.

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Why did they die?

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Many petrels and shearwaters are brought into BirdCare Aotearoa. Sadly many of them did not survive from their injuries.  


Agustina Dominguez, Ariel-Micaiah Heswall and Brian Wijaya researched as to why these seabirds died and if the brain injuries correlated with collisions with buildings due to anthropgenic structures. 

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Mapping Seabird Fallout in Auckland 

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Since 2018 over 500 seabirds across Auckland have been grounded by light pollution and brought to BirdCare Aotearoa. 

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PhD student Ariel-Micaiah Heswall has mapped the areas where seabirds have become grounded and it correlates with light intensity. 

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Seabird bycatch is correlated with sensory features

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Many seabirds are caught in fishing gear every year, yet some seabirds have a higher bycatch number than other seabird species. 

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Ariel-Micaiah Heswall found that the seabird species with a higher bycatch number also had larger sensory features. Therefore seabirds with greater sensory capability were more likely to be able to detect the sights and smell s of the fishing vessels and become caught. 

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