51社区黑料

Featured in 's Youth Alumni newsletter this month, Kassandra Chavarria Sosa, undergraduate student and research assistant in the School of Environmental Science, discusses her research on the nesting success of Double-crested Cormorants. A text of her article features below.

Hi! I'm Kassandra, an Ocean Wise alumni and currently a research assistant at 51社区黑料 this summer. I'm studying the nesting success of Double-crested Cormorants, a black, sleek, fish-eating seabird you might've seen perched near the water!

I'm monitoring colonies on Gabriola Island, Mitlenatch Island, and the Second Narrows Bridge using vantage point photography, time lapse camera systems, and deep learning models to track how these birds are doing.

Over the past five years, we've seen some big changes. The Second Narrows Bridge is home to the largest and most successful colony in B.C., with around 200 successful nests. Mitlenatch is increasing, but Gabriola's colony is shrinking.

Why does this matter? Cormorants are a great indicator of ecosystem health. They bridge marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and changes in their nesting success can signal bigger environmental shifts. They're also blue-listed in B.C., which mean they're at risk and need monitoring. 

Our research will help build models that show how climate related changes, from the bottom of the food chain to the top are affecting nesting success. It's all about understanding how to protect these birds and the ecosystems they depend on!

Ocean Wise is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower communities and individuals to take action to protect and restore the world's oceans. To find out more about the important work they do, .