Future Directions in Conservation Research on Petrels and Shearwaters

International audienceShearwaters and petrels (hereafter petrels) are highly adapted seabirds that occuracross all the world’s oceans. Petrels are a threatened seabird group comprising 124species. They have bet-hedging life histories typified by extended chick rearing periods,low fecundity, high adult survival, strong philopatry, monogamy and long-term matefidelity and are thus vulnerable to change. Anthropogenic alterations on land and atsea have led to a poor conservation status of many petrels with 52 (42%) threatened species based on IUCN criteria and 65 (52%) suffering population declines. Somespecies are well-studied, even being used as bioindicators of ocean health, yet for othersthere are major knowledge gaps regarding their breeding grounds, migratory areas orother key aspects of their biology and ecology. We assembled 38 petrel conservationresearchers to summarize information regarding the most important threats accordingto the IUCN Red List of threatened species to identify knowledge gaps that mustbe filled to improve conservation and management of petrels. We highlight researchadvances on the main threats for petrels (invasive species at breeding grounds, bycatch,overfishing, light pollution, climate change, and pollution). We propose an ambitiousgoal to reverse at least some of these six main threats, through active efforts suchas restoring island habitats (e.g., invasive species removal, control and prevention),improving policies and regulations at global and regional levels, and engaging localcommunities in conservation efforts