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In this project we are using three components of Tufted Puffin foraging ecology to provide some insights into the health of forage fish communities in Alaska: i) chick diet composition, ii) chick body condition, and iii) the at-sea density of foraging adults around selected colonies. These parameters show strong connections with food resources in the environment, a quality that is desirable when using seabirds as indicators. Tufted Puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) are an ideal study subject because they are colonial piscivores with broad diets that appear to consume the most abundant and available prey near colonies.
The distribution and abundance of small, schooling forage fish (e.g., sandlance, capelin) in Alaska is known from small-scale directed studies, but mostly inferred from incidental catches in large-scale trawl surveys that were not designed (by gear or location) to sample forage species. In contrast, seabirds are conspicuous, highly mobile, samplers of forage fish that go to great distances (100+ km) and depths ( 200m) to locate ephemeral prey with great efficiency. Thus, data on their dietary habits provides a valuable complement to traditional fisheries sampling. We propose to analyze large diet databases for three abundant seabirds (puffins, murres and kittiwakes) to: 1) characterize forage fish communities in...
Forage fish play a vital role in marine ecosystems by funneling biomass and energy from lower trophic levels to higher marine vertebrates, including commercial fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Often it is useful to investigate factors influencing forage fish populations from the bottom up, and is equally fruitful to monitor the status of predators that influence them from the top down. Seabirds are conspicuous, highly mobile consumers of forage fish that go to great distances and depths to locate ephemeral prey. They can be effective samplers of regional food webs, providing a valuable complement to traditional fisheries sampling. We used the diet of Tufted Puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) to characterize forage...
The distribution and abundance of small, schooling forage fish (e.g., sandlance, capelin) in Alaska is knownfrom small-scale directed studies, but mostly inferred from incidental catches in large-scale trawl surveysthat were not designed (by gear or location) to sample forage species. In contrast, seabirds are conspicuous,highly mobile, samplers of forage fish that go to great distances (100+ km) and depths ( 200m) to locateephemeral prey with great efficiency. Thus, data on their dietary habits provides a valuable complement totraditional fisheries sampling. We propose to analyze large diet databases for three abundant seabirds(puffins, murres and kittiwakes) to: 1) characterize forage fish communities in the Gulf...
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