The Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) is now the only species of marine bird in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska that is listed as "not recovering" on the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (EVOS) Trustee Council's Injured Resources List and has shown no sign of population recovery. During the 20 years since...
The Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a rare member of the seabird family Alcidae that breeds in coastal areas of Alaska and Beringian Russia. The species belongs to the genus Brachyramphus, an unusual seabird taxon in which all three extant species nest non-colonially, situating their nests up to 75 km...
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) in Prince William Sound, Alaska provided impetus for a great deal of research into the ecosystems of the Northern Gulf of Alaska. Buried within the multitude of resulting impacts, which included hundreds of thousands of oiled seabirds and dramatic ecosystem shifts in the...
A detailed understanding of the foraging ecology of species preying upon
threatened or endangered prey may contribute to identifying and evaluating
management options to reduce predation, when such management is deemed
appropriate. In the Columbia River estuary, Caspian terns (Sterna caspia) and
double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) have been identified as...
This study was designed to enhance understanding of factors influencing foraging distribution, diet composition, and overall
reproductive success of Caspian terns (Sterna caspia) nesting on East
Sand Island in the Columbia River estuary. This colony of nearly
10,000 breeding pairs is of concern to regional resource managers
because Caspian terns...
Incidental bycatch in commercial fisheries has been identified as a threat to black-footed albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan albatrosses (P. immutabilis). Effective long-term conservation of these albatrosses necessitates a thorough understanding of their marine distribution, which marine habitats are selected during foraging, and where they are most likely to interact...
The ability to non-destructively assess fish condition and subsequently track fish behavior and survival can be vital in understanding natural and anthropogenic stressors and sources of mortality, especially in populations of fish listed as threatened or endangered. I investigated the use of a quick, non-lethal, external examination technique to assess...
Availability of suitable nesting habitat that is free of nest predators and provides access to adequate prey resources within commuting distance is a major factor limiting seabird populations. Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia) in western North America have shifted their breeding habitat from naturally occurring habitats in interior wetlands, lakes, and...
I investigated the relationship between harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) behavior and lack of recovery from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. First, I evaluated the hypothesis that harlequin ducks in winter have little flexibility to increase foraging time in response to disturbance because they are constrained...
Monitoring reproductive success, prey species composition, and colony size of marine birds has been proposed as a method of assessing changes in marine systems that are otherwise difficult to sample (Cairns 1987). I measured inter-annual and intra-seasonal variability in reproductive parameters, taxonomic composition of the diet, and adult body condition...