Fauna
← Back to the articleAnimal profile · Fauna articles

Seabirds

This reading profile brings together 9 source-linked articles that reference seabirds.

Explore Fauna’s source-checked field guides and research articles covering seabirds, or search the species catalog below for individual species profiles.
Across Fauna

Source-linked reading

  1. Field guideHow seabirds handle saltKidneys alone cannot efficiently excrete all the salt gained from seawater and marine prey while conserving water. Nasal salt glands actively move ions into a secretion saltier than blood; ducts carry it to the nostrils, where droplets run or are shaken from the bill.
  2. Field guideAbundance vs. occupancyAbundance asks how many individuals occur in a defined area or population; occupancy asks what proportion of defined sites are occupied or used. Neither is the raw count alone when individuals or occupied sites can be missed during sampling.
  3. Field guideAdaptive radiation explainedA lineage may enter a new region, acquire a key innovation, or encounter ecological space opened by environmental change or extinction. Divergent selection and reproductive isolation can then produce ecologically differentiated species. Radiations vary in speed, size, gene flow, and whether diversification rates show an early burst.
  4. Field guideDensity dependence explainedCompetition, disease, predators, mate finding, cooperative defense, and habitat modification can make demographic rates depend on density. Negative effects tend to stabilize abundance, while positive effects at low density can hinder recovery. The response may be delayed and can differ among ages, habitats, seasons, and spatial scales.
  5. Field guideHow birds flyA flying bird redirects air with a wing whose camber, angle, area, and motion continually change. The resulting aerodynamic force can be oriented upward for weight support or forward for propulsion; muscles, joints, feathers, tail, and sensory feedback tune each wingbeat.
  6. Field guideHow birds navigate during migrationMigration requires both a heading and a way to relate the bird's current position to a destination. Different birds combine inherited programs, learned landmarks, and several sensory cues, with no single mechanism explaining every journey.
  7. Field guideHow close is too close to wildlife?Viewing distances vary by jurisdiction, species, activity, season, and site. Some are enforceable rules; others are official guidance. Check the place-specific requirement and back away whenever wildlife responds to you.
  8. Field guideIsland biogeography explainedThe classic model proposes that immigration tends to add species and local extinction removes them, with island isolation affecting arrival and area affecting persistence. It predicts tendencies and turnover around a dynamic richness, not an exact permanent species list for every island or habitat fragment.
  9. Field guideLight pollution and wildlifeLife on Earth evolved with a reliable cycle of day and night, and artificial light at night breaks it. Glare and skyglow disorient migrating birds and sea-turtle hatchlings, draw and exhaust insects, and shift the timing of feeding and breeding across many species—yet much of the harm is avoidable with smarter, shielded, warmer lighting.