Effects of displacement from marine renewable developments on seabirds breeding at the Isle of May

5. Conclusions

Offshore renewable developments have the potential to impact on seabirds by displacing individuals from optimal foraging areas. The impact of displacement is particularly important for breeding seabirds that, as central place foragers, are constrained to obtain food within a certain distance from the breeding colony. The current worst case scenario is that displacement causes 100% mortality, so there is a need to model more realistic consequences of displacement. In practice, displacement is likely to result in changes to daily energy and time budgets, and the model presented here is a demonstration of how this can be quantified. It also lays the foundation for estimating population consequences of displacement by linking time-energy budget models of foraging with population models.