Seabirds & their vulnerability to a warming climate: Q&A with researcher Emily Choy

A study released this month found that as the climate changes in the North, some cold-adapted arctic birds are especially susceptible to heat stress.

Eye on the Arctic --a circumpolar co-production Initiated and co-ordinated by Radio Canada International that seeks to understand the impact of global warming on the Arctic--recently connected with Dr. Emily Choy, a postdoctoral fellow in the Natural Resource Sciences Department at McGill University to learn more about her study, "Limited heat tolerance in a cold-adapted seabird: implications of a warming Arctic” published July 7th in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

In the paper, the researchers found that mures struggle to dissipate heat and can start showing signs of heat stress at temperatures as low as 21 C. The research was done in Canada on Coats Island in northern Hudson Bay following reports of mure die-offs in the area on sunny days. 

Read the full article in Eye on the Arctic.