Facing Climate Change: The Case of the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Abstract

Arctic seabird populations have been on the decline in recent decades, yet a clear cause has not been identified. The Arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) provides a unique opportunity for evaluating the potential of climate-related changes in causing seabird declines due to its 50,000 km annual migration between the northern and southern poles. This paper discusses climate change as it relates to five predominant areas of the Arctic tern life history (habitat, migration, diet, reproduction, and predation) in order to ascertain the future of Arctic seabirds.