A framework and review of evidence of the importance of coral reefs for marine birds in tropical ecosystems.

ABSTRACT: As global heating and other anthropogenic influences alter tropical marine environments, it is unclear how marine bird populations will be impacted and whether their current roles in tropical marine ecosystems will change. Although marine birds roost and breed on tropical islands in large numbers, the direct trophic interactions between these birds and their prey across the tropics are poorly documented. We present a first framework for evaluating the dependence on and contributions of marine birds to tropical coral reef ecosystems and use it to examine the evidence for different kinds of interaction, focusing primarily on avian diets. We found 34 publications between 1967 and 2023 that presented a total of 111 data sets with enough detail for quantitative dietary analysis of tropical mari

SUBMITTER: Cumming GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11336204 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature