Seabirds evolved about 60 million years ago, as Earth’s continents drifted toward their current positions and modern oceans formed. They spread across thousands of undisturbed islands in expanding seas. And when flying dinosaurs and giant omnivorous marine reptiles died out, seabirds stepped in to fill the ecological gap as ecosystem engineers. They distribute nutrients in the form of guano, which benefits plankton, seagrass, and coral reefs, which in turn feed fish populations that eat seabirds and marine mammals in a cycle that forms a biological carbon pump. The stronger the pump, the more carbon dioxide it pushes into the sediment reservoir on the seafloor. (BOB BERWYN)

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