Atlantic puffin colonies on North Atlantic islands face climate-driven declines in their primary prey, causing breeding failures and individual welfare harm.
Puffin chicks on prey-depleted islands experience prolonged starvation as parents cannot find adequate food close enough to provision them. Emaciated chicks die slowly from starvation and exposure. Adults making longer foraging trips become exhausted reducing their survival. This is a direct welfare consequence of climate change altering ocean temperature and prey distribution. Colony breeding failures cascade through years as population age structure shifts toward fewer breeding adults.