The tall, stony coastlines of the northeast Pacific Ocean are much quieter than they were just a decade ago. Following a punishing marine heat wave in the region, the raucous seabird colonies that once crowded the sea cliffs are now greatly thinned, to a quarter of their former size in some places.
This abrupt loss of millions of birds, and probably many other animals, may be the largest wildlife mortality event recorded in modern times, researchers report in the Dec. 13 Science.
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