Penetrating Shortwave Radiation

Few of the Pelecaniformes are globally threatened, although some island and inland populations of pelecaniform birds have become extinct in the face of habitat loss and contamination. In some species (e.g., double-crested cormorant, white pelican), numbers are increasing with near-exponential growth, while in others (e.g., Dalmatian pelican) population abundance is rapidly decreasing. Island species and populations have been especially hardhit by the introduction of terrestrial predators such as cats, rats, and pigs; loss of traditional breeding habitat has played a greater role in aquatic and inland-nesting species. Some islands such as Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) and Ascension Island (Atlantic Ocean) are breeding grounds for several pelecaniform species, and their recent protected status has promised a much better future than might have been possible only a few years earlier.