Editing Roseate tern (section)

==Conservation status==
[[File:Roseate Tern at Heron Island, Capricornia Cays National Park QLD.jpg|thumb|left|''S. d. gracilis'', [[Capricornia Cays National Park]], Queensland, Australia]]

In the late 19th century, these birds were hunted for their plumes which were used to decorate hats.  More recently, their numbers have decreased in some regions due to increased competition and predation by large [[gull]]s, whose numbers have increased in recent times.  This species, as of 2019, is one of the UK's rarest breeding seabird.<ref name="community.rspb.org.uk">{{Cite web|url=https://community.rspb.org.uk/getinvolved/wales/b/wales-blog/posts/celebrating-recent-successes-around-wales|title=Celebrating recent successes around Wales - RSPB Cymru Blog - We love Wales! - the RSPB Community|date=19 June 2019 }}</ref>

The largest European colony, accounting for more than 75% of the European population, is in Ireland, at [[Rockabill Island]], [[County Dublin]]. In 2013, 1213 pairs nested at Rockabill. The colony at [[Lady's Island Lake]], [[County Wexford]], is also of crucial importance, with 155 pairs nesting there in 2013.<ref>''Annual Report of the Irish Rare Birds Breeding Panel 2013''</ref>

With their favouring partly hidden nest sites, the provision of nestboxes has proven a dramatic conservation success, with the birds taking to them very readily. This results in greatly increased breeding productivity with the protection given to the young from predatory birds like [[European herring gull|herring gulls]]. At the UK's most important colony, on [[Coquet Island, England|Coquet Island]], [[Northumberland]], the population rose from 25 pairs 1997 to 154 pairs in 2022 after nestboxes were provided. Similar measures have been undertaken at the [[Anglesey tern colonies]] along with clearance of vegetation, in particular [[Malva arborea|Tree Mallow]].  In 2018, for the first time in more than a decade, a pair fledged two chicks on [[The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey|the Skerries, off Anglesey]] after a [[RSPB]] project over previous years involving wardening, newly designed nest boxes being placed strategically around the islands along with lures playing roseate tern calls and hand-made decoys.<ref name="community.rspb.org.uk"/>

In the UK the roseate tern has been designated for protection under the official government's national [[Biodiversity Action Plan]].  One of the main reasons given in the UK plan for threat to the species is [[global warming]], creating an alteration of vertical profile distribution for its food source fishes.  The roseate tern is one of the species to which the ''Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds'' ([[AEWA]]) applies.

The Canadian Wildlife Service lists the roseate tern as Threatened. The U.S. Department of Interior lists the northeastern population as Endangered and the Caribbean population as Threatened.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Nisbet, Ian C. |author2=Gochfeld, Michael |author3=Burger, Joanna | url=http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/370/articles/introduction|publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology| location=Ithaca, New York| work=Birds of North America Online|title= Roseate Tern|date=2014|access-date=15 August 2015}}</ref>

<gallery>
Roseate terns Palometas.jpg|Late in the breeding season, the bill base on ''S. d. dougallii'' turns red. [[Puerto Rico]].
Sterna dougallii dougallii MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.132.10.jpg|Egg of ''Sterna dougallii dougallii'' - [[Muséum de Toulouse]]
Sterna dougallii bangsi MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.132.11.jpg|Egg of ''Sterna dougallii bangsi'' - [[Muséum de Toulouse]]
</gallery>