Counting the impact of avian flu on the gannets of Bass rock

Submitted by PBMS Admin on

A study using new technology shows that Avian Flu severely affected the gannet population of Bass Rock in 2022 with a 25 to 30 % reduction since 2014. 

The Bass Rock gannet census in 2014 showed 75,000 sites whereas this year, with the help of modern state of the art technology the census counted 55,000, showing the extent of loss to the colony through the severe bird flu outbreak in June 2022. 

Prior to this, the colony was known to be increasing annually for over 100 years. However, the good news is that there appeared to be a recovery in in the 2023 breeding season with no evidence of widespread mortality this summer.

For the full story visit: https://www.seabird.org/press-releases/new-technologies-help-researchers-to-quantify-the-impact-of-avian-flu-on-the-world-s-largest-northern-gannet-colony

And the BBC news website also has a story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3glyylxk4mo

 

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