When scientists on the east coast started to notice declining populations of the large sea duck known as the common eider, they collaborated on a research project to track the birds. Now hundreds of eiders have implants that allow researchers to track their migration and activities.
CHMA heads over to the Beaubassin Research Station outside of Aulac to talk with Ducks Unlimited Canada research biologist Nic McLellan about the findings of that research, including declining populations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
“We suspect climate change is the underlying cause,” says McLellan. “The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest warming waters in the world,” with rising temperatures leading to things like declines in blue mussels, a favourite food of eiders, and to increases in green crabs, an invasive species that is changing the habitat.
McLellan says eiders may be “the canary in the coal mine” alerting to changes in the marine environment that could also disrupt other species. “We might be able to use what we’re seeing with eiders to help provide insight into other things.”
