Project Information

Title: LTM Program - Long-term monitoring of seabird abundance and habitat associations during late fall and winter in Prince William Sound. 13120114-C

Project Year and Number: 2013: 13120114-C

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2021: 21120114-E, 2020: 20120114-E, 2019: 19120114-E, 2018: 18120114-E, 2017: 17120114-E, 2016: 16120114-C, 2015: 15120114-C, 2014: 14120114-C, 2012: 12120114-C

Principal Investigator (PI): Mary Anne Bishop (Prince William Sound Science Center)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Project Website: https://gulfwatchalaska.org/monitoring/pelagic-ecosystem/long-term-monitoring-of-seabird-abundance-and-habitat-associations-during-late-fall-and-winter-in-prince-william-sound/

Research Location: Prince William Sound

Restoration Category: Monitoring

Injured Resources Addressed: Common Murres, Kittlitz's Murrelets, Marbled Murrelets, Pigeon Guillemot

Abstract:

This project is a component of the integrated Long-term Monitoring of Marine Conditions and Injured Resources and Services submitted by McCammon et. al. The vast majority of seabird monitoring in areas affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill has taken place around breeding colonies during the reproductive season, a time when food is generally at its most plentiful. However, seabirds spend most of the year widely dispersed. Late fall through winter are critical periods for survival as food tends to be relatively scarce or inaccessible, the climate more extreme, light levels reduced, day length shorter and water temperatures colder. Post-spill ecosystem recovery and changing physical and biological factors all have the potential to affect PWS seabird populations. Of the seabirds that overwinter in PWS, nine species were initially injured by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, including three species that have not yet recovered (marbled murrelet, Kittlitz’s murrelet and pigeon guillemot). Here we propose to continue to monitor from 2012 through 2016 seabird abundance, species composition, and habitat associations using multiple surveys (up to 5 surveys per season) during late fall and winter. The data will improve our predictive models of seabird species abundance and distribution in relation to biological and physical environmental factors. In addition, by monitoring the top-down forcing by seabirds, a major source of herring predation, this project will complement the suite of PWS Herring Research & Monitoring studies, including improved mortality estimates for herring population models. This project is part of the pelagic component within the integrated Long-term Monitoring of Marine Conditions and Injured Resources and Services submitted by McCammon et. al. Our project uses as observing platforms the vessels associated with the LTM Humpback Whale surveys and PWS Herring Research & Monitoring Juvenile Herring Abundance Index as well as the Extended Adult Herring Biomass Surveys and integrates the seabird observations with those studies.


Proposal: View (716 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY13: View (9,357 KB)
Final Report: See Project 16120114-C

Publications from this Project: None Available