Priorities for Future Research

The recent Status Assessment and Conservation Plan developed for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) outlines priorities for monitoring, research, education, management, and policy across North America (Evers 2007). Threats vary by geographic region and season and are detailed in the USFWS plan. A few of the largest current threats include the deposition of both mercury and sulfur on landscapes with high sensitivity, resulting in documented lowered reproductive impacts to breeding loons (e.g., e. Ontario, w. Quebec, Canadian Maritimes, New York and New England), annual botulism type E outbreaks killing thousands of migrant adults each fall in Lakes Erie, Michigan and Ontario, and oil spills, commercial fish netting and other threats that reduce marine habitat quality that can lead to emaciation syndrome. There is a need to develop standard monitoring, research, outreach, and management approaches to these threats and others, including the potential impacts of climate change and impending marine-based wind power arrays.

General future priorities include:

Monitoring: Increase standardized monitoring efforts across a range of spatial and temporal scales that are appropriate for each region’s population levels and threats. Measurement metrics should include the identification of territorial pairs and chicks > 6 weeks of age. Use as indicator of mercury risk and injury for national regulatory purposes.

Research: (1) Identify potential sink populations in the breeding range based on the Plan’s population model; (2) better understand physiology, (3) develop a range-wide genetic profile, (4) develop geographic linkages among breeding, migratory and wintering populations; (5) continue conducting laboratory and field research to establish lowest observed adverse effect thresholds for methyl-mercury as well as emerging chemicals such as PBDEs and PFOs; (6) develop a web-based information center to enhance networking among field biologists, lab scientists, and museum curators and to compile standardized geo-referenced databases.

Education and Information: (1) Develop a web-based information center to increase awareness of conservation needs and enhance access to databases; (2) promote responsible recreation fishing practices; (3) promote changes in commercial fishing techniques.

Management Activities: (1) Protect breeding habitat at a landscape level to minimize further degradation or fragmentation of suitable habitat; (2) implement a territory ranking system to help prioritize conservation efforts; (3) protect breeding habitat at a local level in order to sustain local populations of public importance; (4) develop a standard process for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to dictate mitigation and/or other management tools that assist resource managers.

Public Policy: (1) Connect efforts and information within this document with relevant conservation plans; (2) investigate, document, and summarize relevant data to assist science-based legislation and policy regarding mercury pollution, lead use, oil spills, fishery by-catch, and reservoir management; (3) implement use as a novel avian indicator for monitoring regulatory actions at national and international levels.