PSG 2012 Hawaii abstracts - Pacific Seabird Group

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Naomi A. Bargmann *1, 2 , Veronica M. Padula 1 , and Douglas Causey 1, 2 , 1 nbargmann@gmail.com, Department of Biological Sciences, U Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, 2 Environmental and Natural Resources Institute, U Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508 Stable isotope analyses are often used to infer migration patterns, diet composition and trophic status of seabirds. Many techniques are used to analyze stable isotopes among and within tissues, which potentially affect the results, their interpretation and thus the comparability of studies. One such difference is seen with the processing of lipids in samples. Tissues contain variable amounts of lipids that are depleted in the heavy carbon isotope ( 13 C) and may introduce a bias in these values. There is evidence that lipid extraction may affect other stable isotope ratios, such as δ 15 N. Consequently, correction factors need to be applied to appropriately interpret δ 13 C and δ 15 N values for individual species and tissue type. In this study, we collected seven species of seabirds from the Near Islands, the western most group of islands in the Aleutian Island archipelago. We sampled kidney, liver, heart and muscle samples from each bird and after freeze drying, individual tissue samples were divided into two subsamples. We left one subsample unaltered and extracted lipids from the other subsample using a 2:1 chloroform-methanol solution. We found that δ 13 C values varied among species and tissue type by as much as 1 %, while δ 15 N values remained fairly robust. Ultimately, the correction factors calculated for these seven seabird species will contribute to the growing body of knowledge regarding the effects of lipids on stable isotope ratios. NIGHT BIRDS RETURNING: A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO RESTORE SEABIRD NESTING HABITAT IN GWAII HAANAS NATIONAL PARK RESERVE AND HAIDA HERITAGE SITE Carita Bergman 1 , Jennifer Boyce 2 , Chris Gill 3 , Christine Gruman 4 , LukeHalpin 4 , Gregg Howald 5 , Laurie Wein* 1 , 1 Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, Box 37, Queen Charlotte, BC V0T 1S0, CANADA, Carita.Bergman@pc.gc.ca; 2 NOAA Restoration Center, Long Beach, CA; 3 Coastal Conservation, Tappen, BC; 4 School of Resource & Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, BC; 5 Island Conservation, Vancouver, BC Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, cooperatively managed by the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada (Parks Canada), has identified introduced species as the primary threat to ecological integrity of the park reserve. Management of invasive species, including invasive rats, is an agency priority. In 2009, in an effort to restore 10 seabird nesting islands (~800 ha), a 5-year, 2- phase project to eradicate two species of rats was initiated. Islands were selected based on their historic seabird nesting values, with an objective to restore nesting habitat for Ancient Murrelets (translated as “night birds” from the Haida language, Synthliboramphus antiquus, a COSEWIC listed species) and two species of storm-petrels (Oceanodroma furcata and O. Leucorhoa). This project comprises three components: pre- and post- eradication monitoring (of both key ecosystem indicators and impacts to nontarget species), Phase 1 eradication (~100 ha using bait stations), and Phase 2 eradication (750 ha using bait broadcast techniques). The project is a collaboration between Gwaii Haanas, Island Conservation, Coastal Conservation, Simon Fraser University, and the Luckenbach Council. We present here a summary of pre-eradication monitoring, and Phase 1 eradication, completed in 2011. Modified eradication techniques dramatically reduced non-target species risk while still achieving the desired result. We see great potential for expansion of such restoration work both across lands managed Parks Canada Agency,
and in other high value conservation areas in Canada. To harness this opportunity, increasing international participation and financing of such projects is required. PATTERNS IN NESTING SUCCESS OF CASPIAN TERNS ACROSS WESTERN NORTH AMERICA IN 2011 Kirsten S. Bixler* 1 , Daniel D. Roby 1 , Donald E. Lyons 1 , Yasuko Suzuki 1 , Allison Patterson 1 , Stefanie Collar 1 , Tim Lawes 1 , Pete Loschl 1 , Nathan J. Hostetter 2 , and Ken Collis 2 , 1 USGS-Oregon Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, 104 Nash Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA, Kirsten.Bixler@oregonstate.edu; 2 Real Time Research, Inc., 52 S.W. Roosevelt Avenue, Bend, OR 9772, USA The world’s largest colony of Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia), on East Sand Island near Astoria, Oregon, experienced complete nesting failure for the first time during the 2011 breeding season. The proximate cause of colony failure was intense disturbance by Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and associated nest predation by Western/Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus occidentalis x L. glaucescens). The colony may now have attracted an insurmountable level of predation due to its large size (nearly 10,000 pairs) and consistent presence over the last 13 years. Natural history traits of this species, particularly low nest site fidelity and sporadic utilization of historical colony sites, seem to corroborate this top-down explanation of colony abandonment. However, a survey of Caspian Tern nesting success across western North America suggests an alternative hypothesis. All breeding attempts by Caspian Terns in coastal Washington also failed, and few initiated nesting in the San Francisco Bay area. Colonies in interior Washington were normal in size and productivity; however, higher elevation sites in interior Oregon and California experienced late and limited nest initiation and generally poor productivity. Because reproductive success was very low for coastal and higher elevation inland colonies over a large geographic area, we hypothesize that climate conditions in early 2011 were poor for Caspian Terns from northern California to Washington, resulting in low food availability and limited reproductive investment. This regional pattern in nesting success suggests that climate-mediated prey availability may have been a major contributing factor in the nesting failure of the East Sand Island Caspian Tern colony. ACOUSTIC ACTIVITY AS AN INDEX OF RELATIVE ABUNDANCE AT SEABIRD COLONIES: A LOW-COST AND SCALABLE TOOL FOR MEASURING CONSERVATION OUTCOMES. Abraham L. Borker* 1 , Matthew W. McKown 1 , Josh T. Ackerman 2 , Collin A. Eagles-Smith 2 , Donald A. Croll 1 , and Bernie R. Tershy 1 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 USA, aborker@ucsc.edu; 2 U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Davis Field Station, One Shields Avenue, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA <strong>Seabird</strong>s are ecologically important and face conservation threats in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Monitoring programs to assess seabird populations and measure the success of conservation actions are hampered by the remoteness of many seabird colonies and the global scale of the threats. Innovative technology may now make it possible to remotely monitor seabird colonies at the larger spatial scales necessary for conservation. Automated acoustic sensors offer a low-cost, low-impact method for monitoring seabirds. Here we tested the efficacy of acoustic sensors to measure relative seabird
Page 1 and 2: PSG 2012 HAWAII ABSTRACTS ANTI-CYCL
Page 3 and 4: daylight hours). Caspian Terns used
Page 5 and 6: SEABIRDS AS ADHESIVE SEED DISPERSER
Page 7: in 2007. Hotspots increased in numb
Page 11 and 12: Program,1901 Spinnaker Drive, Ventu
Page 13 and 14: Human-introduced predators have dev
Page 15 and 16: Vertical radar heights for all site
Page 17 and 18: SEABIRD VULNERABILITY TO CLIMATE CH
Page 19 and 20: population of Sabine's Gulls, in co
Page 21 and 22: distinguish the effects of natural
Page 23 and 24: FOR MITIGATING EFFECTS OF SEABIRD L
Page 25 and 26: A seabird social attraction project
Page 27 and 28: US National Park system yet these a
Page 29 and 30: In 2010, we initiated a project to
Page 31 and 32: West Coast groundfish fisheries. An
Page 33 and 34: DIET ANALYSIS OF THE DOUBLE-CRESTED
Page 35 and 36: oreal winter. The Pomarine Jaeger (
Page 37 and 38: and French Polynesia. Our results s
Page 39 and 40: California’s Marine Life Protecti
Page 41 and 42: The problems of seabird bycatch in
Page 43 and 44: We investigated broadscale marine d
Page 45 and 46: needed by today’s seabird researc
Page 47 and 48: EFFECTIVENESS OF DOUBLE-WEIGHTED BR
Page 49 and 50: uncertainty throughout the manageme
Page 51 and 52: pairs of short-tailed albatrosses (
Page 53 and 54: comparing counts from satellite ima
Page 55 and 56: PELAGIC CORMORANT POPULATION STATUS
Page 57 and 58: MARINE BIRD “HOTZONES” IN THE C
Page 59 and 60:
Management of Caspian terns (Hydrop
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sites and years. We also recommend
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Matthew McKown* 1 , Martin Lukac 2
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Throughout the US, Black Skimmers e
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Konoyama, Abiko, Chiba, 270-1145 Ja
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comparison. Although thermography w
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SEARCH AND FISH: SEABIRDS AS AN ECO
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PLASTICS, PHTHLATES, AND PCB CONTAM
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Program (ESP) and the Technology As
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Honolulu, HI, Jeffrey.Polovina@noaa
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Shearwaters based on the 1963 and 1
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PATTERNS OF CHANGE IN DIETS OF TWO
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tidal/current gyral systems could b
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SEABIRD DIET AS AN INDICATOR OF ANN
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habitat was occupied. Other species
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preferentially selecting a specific
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IS IT STILL A BIRD EAT BIRD WORLD H
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SEABIRDS IN THE NEAR-SHORE CALIFORN
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were positively correlated with the
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generally better), and that in most
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TERRESTRIAL HABITAT SUITABILITY MOD
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Introduced mammalian predators are
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Institute for Nature Research, Arct
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nesting sites as the top conservati
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time, may have allowed the Hawaiian
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Stable isotope analysis can provide
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We also found evidence to support t
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already resulted in a record number
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opportunity for the audience to ask
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PSG 2012 Hawaii abstracts - Pacific Seabird Group

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