Authors
Flemming Merkel, Aili Lage Labansen, David Boertmann, Anders Mosbech, Carsten Egevang, Knud Falk, Jannie Fries Linnebjerg, Morten Frederiksen, Kaj Kampp
Publication date
2014/8
Journal
Polar Biology
Volume
37
Pages
1061-1071
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Description
Large population declines were reported for the thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) in Greenland for the period 1930s–1980s, but no national status has been published for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the murres have gained more protection and several human-induced mortality factors have been markedly reduced. Here, we give an updated status based on the past 30 years of murre count data. The total Greenland population in 2011 was estimated to 468,300 birds (95 % CI 430,700–505,900) or around 342,000 breeding pairs, distributed within 19 colonies. This represents an overall reduction of 13 % since the mid-/late 1980s. In the same period, five colonies went extinct. Large and apparently stable colonies in Qaanaaq (Northwest Greenland) account for more than half the population (68 %), but most other colonies declined heavily, with up to 6 % p.a. in the most critical areas. So far, nothing indicates …
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