Brunich’s guil­l­emot on the Nor­we­gi­an Red List

If you have seen the bird­life of Spits­ber­gen, then you will never for­get the con­cen­tra­ti­on of wild­life at the cliffs whe­re up to seve­ral ten thousand bree­ding pairs of Brunich’s guil­l­emots are crow­ded tog­e­ther on incre­di­bly steep cliffs. The decrease in num­bers has now lead to the spe­ci­es being included in the Nor­we­gi­an Red List. Main­land Nor­way has seen a num­ber of sea­birds colo­nies vir­tual­ly dis­ap­pearing in recent years. The situa­ti­on in Spits­ber­gen is not (yet) that bad, but the new clas­si­fac­tion sends a clear signal. The reasons for this deve­lo­p­ment are not yet ful­ly unders­tood, but are likely to be lin­ked to chan­ges of food avai­la­bi­li­ty, which may again be rela­ted to cli­ma­te chan­ge and/or over­fi­shing.

The Brunich’s guil­l­emot is not the only spe­ci­es that is new to the latest edi­ti­on of the Nor­we­gi­an Red List. This does not neces­s­a­ri­ly mean that the new spe­ci­es, most­ly gras­ses, are in a situa­ti­on worse than they used to be: In some cases, the reason is sim­ply more infor­ma­ti­on, for exam­p­le about a very limi­t­ed dis­tri­bu­ti­on area which is in its­elf reason for con­cern.

Other spe­ci­es could be remo­ved from the list.

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