CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Seabirds are important components of the marine ecosystem and provide an income for local economies throughecotourism. Human disturbance may affect colonial birds causing a decrease in reproductive success and population size.Breeding colonies of Phalacrocorax atriceps and P. magellanicus, are one of the major tourist attractions of Ushuaia cityand the number of tourist vessels visiting colonies increased in recent years. We aim to evaluate if there is an influenceof human activities on the distribution and abundance of Cormorants´ and Shags´ colonies and individuals at sea in theBeagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. Explanatory variables from anthropic source, such as distance to the vessels route, andenvironmental variables, as adequate substrate type to nest and bathymetry, for each species were defined and relatedto the data recorded of the size of both species colonies and the feeding distribution. Allocation of colonies and distributionat sea of P. atriceps and P. magellanicus in the Beagle Channel were not affected by tourism activities. Abundance of P.magellanicus at the colonies was associated to islands with a large surface of rocky cliffs available for nesting. Distributionof P. atriceps at sea was related to shallow waters. Although no anthropogenic impact was noticed in our study, given theincrease in boat traffic and tourism, more specific and long term studies are encouraged to provide the precise and sitespecificguidelines for a sustainable tourism management allowing seabird conservation.

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