Research
Declining environmental predictability erodes reproduction in a tropical seabird
Nature · By Santiago Ortega ·
The Brief
- A Nature Climate Change study reports that for a tropical seabird model species, winter–spring phytoplankton blooms kept a stable mean timing but became more variable between years.
- The authors report that breeding synchrony in the seabird weakened as bloom timing became less predictable.
- The paper was published online on 13 November 2026 with doi 10.1038/s41558-026-02795-7.
Why it matters
Reduced predictability of food availability, rather than only shifts in average timing, may disrupt reproduction in wild animals, which matters for conservation and for climate impact research.
Who’s affected
- ecologists and seabird researchers
- conservation managers concerned with marine predators
- climate scientists studying ocean productivity
- #seabirds
- #phytoplankton
- #breeding ecology
- #climate change
- #marine ecology
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02795-7 The authors show that, for a tropical seabird model species, winter–spring phytoplankton blooms kept a stable mean timing but became more variable between years. Breeding synchrony weakened…
Timeline
Study published online in Nature Climate Change
nature.com
Declining environmental predictability erodes reproduction in a tropical seabird