A seabird’s decline traces to loss of the old-growth moss that lines its nests
Evidence
The marbled murrelet is a coastal bird which feeds on the wealth of marine life along the Pacific shore. For decades, its numbers have been dwindling and it is now listed as an endangered species. The cause of its decline was unknown. Other coastal birds nest along the shore where food is plentiful, forming rookeries on rocky cliffs and seamounts. But murrelets never joined them. Their nesting sites were thought to be hidden since none had ever been seen. In fact, murrelets nest at the tops of old trees, far from their coastal feeding grounds. Every day the birds fly as much as fifty miles inland, to the old-growth forests of the Coast Range. Their disappearance was due primarily to the disappearance of the old growth. Researchers found that most murrelet eggs were laid in a nest made of Antitrichia curtipendula, a luxuriant golden green moss endemic to the Pacific Northwest. This pair, moss and murrelet, are both reliant on the old growth. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 587
Categorization
- XREF: Classic conservation-anchor species story tying a charismatic animal to an overlooked plant — folds into the Reading the Landscape disturbance-history thread. — connects to: Old-growth temperate rain forests carry a moss abundance so lavish it feels intoxicating. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 564; Old-growth moss mats cannot reestablish because only young twigs offer footholds — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 614
- QUESTION: Dense with specifics — worth verifying the fifty-mile flight figure and Antitrichia nesting statistic if cited anywhere.
- SHARE: Send to anyone working on charismatic-fauna conservation: murrelets vanish not from coastal threats but from loss of moss-lined old-growth nesting.
Broader Connections
- Old-growth moss mats cannot reestablish because only young twigs offer footholds
#expands(0.85) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 614