Rising temperatures from climate change are causing thermal stress in seabird colonies, affecting chick survival, adult condition and breeding success with direct welfare implications.
Seabird climate welfare is a large-scale welfare consequence of global temperature rise that cannot be addressed through individual welfare intervention. Chicks dying from heat stress, parents unable to maintain body temperature while incubating eggs, and breeding populations producing fewer viable offspring are all welfare costs driven by atmospheric changes requiring systemic response. The welfare case for climate action includes this seabird thermal suffering as one component of the enormous wildlife welfare costs of unmitigated climate change. Conservation interventions such as shaded nest structures have been trialled in some contexts but cannot address the scale of open-cliff nesting seabird thermal vulnerability.