Australasian Bird Reviews: No. 2 – THE BREEDING SEABIRDS OF SOUTHWESTERN AUSTRALIA: TRENDS IN SPECIES, POPULATIONS AND COLONIES
| Posted: |
08/09/2021 |
| Author(s): |
J. N. Dunlop, R. D. Wooller |
Australia has the only continental west coast with a poleward flowing warm, low salinity boundary
current. This water mass, the Leeuwin Current, masks the deeper, equatorward, cold water, Westralian
Current along the continental slope for much of the year, although it flows strongly only from about
April to August.
In southwestern Australia, apparently as a consequence of the Leeuwin Current, tropical seabird
species breed much further south than their usual latitudinal limits and often share nesting islands with
southern, cool water species in peculiar communities. On the south coast of Western Australia the
cool water breeding seabird fauna is apparently depauperate, due to the intrusion of the tropical drift.
There are evidently both short and long-term cycles in the strength and dominance of the Leeuwin
Current which profoundly affect the distribution and biology of the breeding seabird species. The
prevalent conditions appear to influence nesting season, reproductive periodicity, and range extension
or contraction. Trends may be evident at the species, population and colony level.
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