by Issam AHMED The common murre, a large black-and-white seabird native to northern waters, has become far less common in Alaska over the past decade due to the impacts of climate change. A study published Thursday in Science reveals that a record-breaking marine heat wave in the northeast Pacific from 2014 to 2016 triggered a catastrophic population collapse, wiping out …
LOADING ERROR LOADING An estimated 1 million seabirds died along North America’s west coast during a marine heat wave, and scientists have now analyzed how their deaths were likely linked to a large mass of warm water known as “the Blob.” From summer 2015 to spring 2016, about 62,000 dead or dying common murres were found washed up on shores …
This article originally appeared at Common Dreams. On the heels of new research showing that the world's oceans are rapidly warming, scientists revealed Wednesday that a huge patch of hot water in the northeast Pacific Ocean dubbed "the blob" was to blame for killing about one million seabirds. "About 62,000 dead or dying common murres, the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird …
The unprecedented death of nearly one million birds between 2015 and 2016, whose remains washed ashore in Alaska, US, was brought on by a severe and long-lasting marine heat wave, a new study says. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, said the common murre underwent the largest avian die-off ever witnessed due to an extreme marine heat wave …
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Common murres look like skinny penguins but fly like F-15 fighter jets. So biologists were stunned four winters ago when carcasses of emaciated common murres showed up on beaches in what they say was the largest seabird die-off recorded in the world’s oceans. Common murres were ambushed by effects of the northeast Pacific marine heatwave dubbed “The …
A rescued murre is examined at the International Bird Rescue on Sept. 4, 2015, in Fairfield, Calif. In the fall of 2015, two years into a heatwave in the Pacific Ocean colloquially known as “the Blob,” an unusually large influx of common murres, a small northern seabird, began to wash ashore. “This just doesn’t happen.” Altogether, the die-offs spanned three …
