Abundance of urban Herring and Lesser black-backed gulls in Liverpool, UK

Reiss, M ORCID: 0000-0002-3264-3049 (2026) Abundance of urban Herring and Lesser black-backed gulls in Liverpool, UK. Masters thesis, Liverpool John Moores University.

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Abstract

With increasing urbanisation, some wildlife species may face extinction or need to relocate, while others thrive in the urban environment. Urban gulls are a well-studied example of a wildlife that successfully adjusted to life in urban environments. However, their increasing numbers in urbanised spaces can intensify the human-gull conflict, which must be addressed by appropriate management strategies. One of the essential components in conflict mitigation is an understanding of the gull abundance, which was the aim of this study. Between January and December 2022, nine distance-limited count points were established in Liverpool, UK, where counts were conducted monthly. The study focused on the effect of environmental and anthropogenic factors, such as weather conditions, tides, land cover, human density, time of day, and season, on gull abundance. Data were then analysed to identify which factors impacted their numbers the most. The study shows an increase in gull numbers during afternoons coinciding with peak availability of anthropogenic food sources. Juvenile gulls were also more abundant in the evenings, potentially reflecting their adjustment to the times of lower intraspecific competition. It was also revealed that only juvenile Lesser black-backed gulls responded to a greater number of humans, which decreased their count. Higher temperatures also had a significant impact on the number of gulls, increasing their numbers. Overall, this study reveals the presence of species- and age-specific responses to anthropogenic and environmental factors, highlighting the need to recognise these differences and integrate them when planning human-gull conflict mitigation strategies.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information:	No embargo requested / CC BY-NC-ND licence requested BR 24/09/26
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Urban gulls; gull abundance; human-wildlife conflict; Herring gull; Lesser black-backed gull
Subjects:	Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions:	Biological and Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Date of acceptance:	17 September 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	24 September 2026
Date Deposited:	24 Sep 2026 15:16
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2026 15:17
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00029470
Supervisors:	Wronski, T, Mettke-Hofmann, C and Macleod, R
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29470

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