Recent responses to changes in stocks of prey species by seabirds breeding in the southern Barents Sea

Seabirds breeding in the southern Barents Sea feed mainly on pelagic fishes – capelin Mallotus villosus, herring Clupea harengus, sand eels Ammodytes sp., and polar cod Boreogadus saida. This study shows how seabirds breeding in two colonies, one in northern Norway and one off the Kola Peninsula, Russia have responded to the recent huge changes in the capelin and herring stocks through changes in chick diet and breeding success. It seems that...