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Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology Active

By Alaska Science Center August 3, 2018

Alaska's coastal and offshore waters provide foraging habitat for an estimated 100 million birds comprising more than 90 different species; from loons and seaducks that nest inland, to petrels and puffins that breed on islands off shore. All these birds depend on the sea to provide a wide variety of food types— from clams, crabs and urchins nearshore— to krill, forage fish, and squid offshore. The availability of nesting habitat and suitable prey are important natural factors that regulate the distribution and abundance of marine birds. But seabird populations are also affected by human activities that have direct impacts (pollution, bycatch in fishing gear) and indirect effects (global warming alters food availability) on birds.

Return to Ecosystems >> Marine Ecosystems

Common Murres in a colony in Cook Inlet, Alaska in 2017
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Common Murres in a colony in Cook Inlet, Alaska in 2017.​​​​(Credit: Sarah Schoen, USGS. Public domain.)

The Department of Interior (DOI) is mandated by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Endangered Species Act to conserve and protect all seabirds. Seabirds also serve as practical indicators of change in the marine environment— natural or human induced— because they can be readily monitored at colonies and at sea. For all these reasons, marine bird research is a vital part of the DOI mission in Alaska and the North Pacific. We study population biology and feeding ecology of a variety of seabird species, including threatened and endangered species. We use a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates study of marine habitats and food webs so that we can better understand why seabird populations fluctuate over time. This website highlights some of the research conducted by the Seabird, Forage Fish and Marine Ecology Project at the Alaska Science Center.

Projects

The R/V Alaskan Gyre in Katmai National Park, Alaska
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
The  R/V Alaskan Gyre in Katmai National Park, Alaska.(Credit: George Esslinger, USGS. Public domain.)

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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NPPSD illustration

North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) contains survey transect data designed and conducted by numerous partners primarily to census seabirds at sea. The NPPSD includes more than 489,000 transect segments and includes observations of nearly 21 million birds of 252 species collected over the span of 50 years (from 1973 to 2022).
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) contains survey transect data designed and conducted by numerous partners primarily to census seabirds at sea. The NPPSD includes more than 489,000 transect segments and includes observations of nearly 21 million birds of 252 species collected over the span of 50 years (from 1973 to 2022).
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Dead birds on the beach

Seabird Die-offs in Alaska

Beginning in 2015, large numbers of dead seabirds have been appearing on beaches in most marine areas of Alaska. Although seabird die-offs are known to occur sporadically (e.g. 1970, 1989, 1993, 1997/1998, and 2004) in Alaska, these recent die-offs have been distinguished from past events by their increased frequency, duration, geographic extent, and number of different species involved.
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Alaska Science Center
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Seabird Die-offs in Alaska

Beginning in 2015, large numbers of dead seabirds have been appearing on beaches in most marine areas of Alaska. Although seabird die-offs are known to occur sporadically (e.g. 1970, 1989, 1993, 1997/1998, and 2004) in Alaska, these recent die-offs have been distinguished from past events by their increased frequency, duration, geographic extent, and number of different species involved.
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2 Black-legged Kittiwakes, one captured Pacific sand lance

Cook Inlet Seabird and Forage Fish Study

A massive die-off of Common Murres was documented in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) during the fall and winter of 2015-2016 in association with a record-breaking marine heat wave in the GOA.
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Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Cook Inlet Seabird and Forage Fish Study

A massive die-off of Common Murres was documented in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) during the fall and winter of 2015-2016 in association with a record-breaking marine heat wave in the GOA.
Learn More
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Arctic Terns in Cook Inlet, flying over bullwhip kelp on the surface of the water, Alaska

Harmful Algal Bloom Toxins in Alaska Seabirds

Elevated ocean temperatures are linked to the development of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Toxins from these blooms may pose health threats to marine organisms, including seabirds. Since 2015, the USGS has worked with a variety of stakeholders to develop testing methods and research projects to better understand the geographic extent, timing and impacts of algal toxins in Alaska marine ecosystems...
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Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Harmful Algal Bloom Toxins in Alaska Seabirds

Elevated ocean temperatures are linked to the development of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Toxins from these blooms may pose health threats to marine organisms, including seabirds. Since 2015, the USGS has worked with a variety of stakeholders to develop testing methods and research projects to better understand the geographic extent, timing and impacts of algal toxins in Alaska marine ecosystems...
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Many types of small fish laid out on the table for counting

Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Forage fish are small pelagic schooling fish that play a key role in transferring energy between plankton and top marine predators. Many seabirds, marine mammals, and commercial fish species depend on forage fish to grow and survive.
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Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Forage fish are small pelagic schooling fish that play a key role in transferring energy between plankton and top marine predators. Many seabirds, marine mammals, and commercial fish species depend on forage fish to grow and survive.
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A bucket of the trawl catch of forage fish

Terrestrial Influence on Glacial-Marine Food Webs

Where glaciers meet the sea in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), they create unique and productive marine habitats. Ringed by the continent’s tallest coastal mountains, 20% of the GOA coastal watershed is covered by glacial ice and the annual freshwater discharge into the GOA from glacial melt is comparable to that of the Mississippi river.
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Alaska Science Center
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Terrestrial Influence on Glacial-Marine Food Webs

Where glaciers meet the sea in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), they create unique and productive marine habitats. Ringed by the continent’s tallest coastal mountains, 20% of the GOA coastal watershed is covered by glacial ice and the annual freshwater discharge into the GOA from glacial melt is comparable to that of the Mississippi river.
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A view of the R/V Alaskan Gyre with a glacier in the background in Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound, Alaska

USGS Research Vessel Alaskan Gyre

The R/V Alaskan Gyre is a 50-foot fiberglass seiner that has been converted into a versatile research vessel to provide USGS scientists and collaborators with access to remote marine areas of Alaska and serve as a mobile laboratory. The vessel was built by Ledford Marine of Marysville, Washington in 1989 and is named after the Alaskan Gyre, a series of wind driven currents that rotate counter...
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Alaska Science Center
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USGS Research Vessel Alaskan Gyre

The R/V Alaskan Gyre is a 50-foot fiberglass seiner that has been converted into a versatile research vessel to provide USGS scientists and collaborators with access to remote marine areas of Alaska and serve as a mobile laboratory. The vessel was built by Ledford Marine of Marysville, Washington in 1989 and is named after the Alaskan Gyre, a series of wind driven currents that rotate counter...
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Below are data or web applications associated with this project.

Seabird Diet Data Collected on Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long-term monitoring program and contain diet data from Black-legged Kittiwakes (BLKI), Rhinoceros Auklets (RHAU), and Tufted puffins (TUPU) located on Middleton Island in Prince William Sound, Gulf of Alaska. The first table consists of information on seabird diet samples including the sampling method and number of prey types identified per sampl
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Alaska Science Center

Gridded Seabird Density Estimates in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

This data set provides monthly (March-October) gridded density estimates for seabirds in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Gridded density estimates were produced by applying spatiotemporal modeling of at-sea survey data collected between 1975 and 2021 of seabird at-sea surveys available in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD; Drew and Piatt 2015). We modeled joint dynamic species distributi
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Alaska Science Center

Assessing the Status and Trends of Seabirds and Forage Fish in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

This data release is composed of six datasets regarding colonial seabirds and forage fish at two seabird nesting colonies on Gull and Chisik Islands in lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. These data were collected to detect changes in the breeding population of Black-legged Kittiwakes and Common Murres on two nesting colonies in lower Cook Inlet and to compare those counts to baseline counts from 1995-1999.
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Alaska Science Center

Pelagic Forage Fish Distribution Abundance and Body Condition

Monitoring long-term changes in forage fish distribution, abundance and body condition in the Prince William Sound 2012-2019.
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Alaska Science Center

North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD)

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) is maintained by the USGS Alaska Science Center and includes survey transect data designed and conducted by numerous partners primarily to census seabirds at sea. The data provided here relate to observations of marine birds and mammals observed during at-sea surveys throughout the North Pacific including the Arctic Ocean, Beufort Sea, Chukchi Sea
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Alaska Science Center

Data from Common Murre Die-off Surveys and Necropsies Following the North Pacific Marine Heatwave, 2015-2016

These data are in two tables relating to a die-off of Common Murres in the north Pacific, 2015-2016. The tables provide: 1) beach survey locations, date, time, distance surveyed (kilometers), and number of Common Murre carcasses observed during surveys conducted along the coastline of Alaska to document the 2015-2016 die-off of Common Murres coincident with the North Pacific marine heatwave, and 2
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Alaska Science Center

USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection

Understanding the short- and long-distance movements of wildlife is critical for a wide variety of ecological research studies and management decisions. Since the mid-1980s, the USGS Alaska Science Center has collected data from wildlife tracking devices to: determine locations of animals throughout their annual cycles, understand patterns of habitat use, quantify time spent on various behaviors,
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Alaska Science Center

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

Filter Total Items: 114
An all-black (melanistic) Common Murre on rock ledge holding a display fish in its bill. Gulls are the rock ledge.
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A melanistic (all dark) Common Murre flying, wings spread, with blue sky and clouds in background.
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Skinny Common Murre flying with keel protruding. Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska link
Glaucous-winged Gulls fight over a Pacific Herring near Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
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A juvenile Marbled Murrelet near Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
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Four Tufted Puffins on the water near their breeding colony at Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
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Arctic Terns in Cook Inlet, flying over bullwhip kelp on the surface of the water, Alaska
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A Bald Eagle flies off with a Black-legged Kittiwake from Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
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A Bald Eagle flies off with a Black-legged Kittiwake, Alaska
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Two Common Murre chicks on rock ledge at Gull Island, Alaska
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A Black-legged Kittiwake with two chicks at Gull Island, Alaska
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An all-black (melanistic) common murre on rock ledge with gull behind and other black and white common murres.
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A Common Murre carries a Pacific sand lance, one of the most common prey items for murres, near its colony at Gull Island
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Common Murres on the water near their colony at Gull Island, Alaska
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A Bald Eagle disturbs Black-legged Kittiwakes nesting on Gull Island, Alaska
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Close up of Common Murre sitting on egg at breeding colony on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska.
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Close up of Common Murre sitting on egg at breeding colony on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska.
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Numerous Common Murres at breeding colony on Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska. Closest Murre is next to an egg.
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Skinny Common Murre flying over water with keel protruding. lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
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Skinny Common Murre flying with keel protruding. Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
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A Peregrine Falcon flies off with a Black-legged Kittiwake from its colony at Gull Island, Alaska
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Below are the publications associated with this project.

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Integrating seabird dietary and groundfish stock assessment data: Can puffins predict pollock spawning stock biomass in the North Pacific?

Information on the annual variability in abundance and growth of juvenile groundfish can be useful for predicting fisheries stocks, but is often poorly known owing to difficulties in sampling fish in their first year of life. In the Western Gulf of Alaska (WGoA) and Eastern Bering Sea (EBS) ecosystems, three species of puffin (tufted and horned puffin, Fratercula cirrhata, Fratercula corniculata, 
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Ecosystem response persists after a prolonged marine heatwave

Some of the longest and most comprehensive marine ecosystem monitoring programs were established in the Gulf of Alaska following the environmental disaster of the Exxon Valdez oil spill over 30 years ago. These monitoring programs have been successful in assessing recovery from oil spill impacts, and their continuation decades later has now provided an unparalleled assessment of ecosystem response
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators

During the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014–2016, abundance and quality of several key forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska were simultaneously reduced throughout the system. Capelin (Mallotus catervarius), sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), and herring (Clupea pallasii) populations were at historically low levels, and within this community abrupt declines in portfolio effects identify trophic
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Forecasting community reassembly using climate-linked spatio-temporal ecosystem models

Ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human activities, altering linkages among physical and biological components. Spatial community reassembly occurs when these human impacts modify the spatial overlap between system components, and there is need for practical tools to forecast spatial community reassembly at landscape scales using monitoring data. To illustrate a new approach, we extend a gen
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Seabird‐induced natural mortality of forage fish varies with fish abundance: Evidence from five ecosystems

Forage fish populations often undergo large and rapid fluctuations in abundance. However, most of their predators are buffered against such fluctuations owing to their slower pace of life, which allows them to maintain more stable populations, at least during short periods of food scarcity. In this study, we investigated top‐down processes exerted by seabirds on forage fish stocks in five contrast
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Can oceanic prey effects on growth and time to fledging mediate terrestrial predator limitation of an at‐risk seabird?

Most seabird species nest colonially on cliffs or islands with limited terrestrial predation, so that oceanic effects on the quality or quantity of prey fed to chicks more often determine nest success. However, when predator access increases, impacts can be dramatic, especially when exposure to predators is extended due to slow growth from inadequate food. Kittlitz’s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevir
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016

About 62,000 dead or dying common murres (Uria aalge), the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird of the North Pacific, washed ashore between summer 2015 and spring 2016 on beaches from California to Alaska. Most birds were severely emaciated and, so far, no evidence for anything other than starvation was found to explain this mass mortality. Three-quarters of murres were found in the Gulf of Al
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Ecosystems Mission Area, National Wildlife Health Center, Alaska Science Center

Spatial and temporal dynamics of Pacific capelin Mallotus catervarius in the Gulf of Alaska: Implications for ecosystem-based fisheries management

Pacific capelin Mallotus catervarius are planktivorous, small pelagic fish that serve an intermediate trophic role in marine food webs. Due to the lack of a directed fishery or monitoring of capelin in the Northeast Pacific, there is limited information on their distribution and abundance, and how spatio-temporal fluctuations in capelin density affects their availability as prey. To provide inform
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Algal toxins in Alaskan seabirds: Evaluating the role of saxitoxin and domoic acid in a large-scale die-off of Common Murres

Elevated seawater temperatures are linked to the development of harmful algal blooms (HABs), which pose a growing threat to marine birds and other wildlife. During late 2015 and early 2016, a massive die-off of Common Murres (Uria algae; hereafter, murres) was observed in the Gulf of Alaska coincident with a strong marine heat wave. Previous studies have documented illness and death among seabirds
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Effects of ocean climate on the length and condition of forage fish in the Gulf of Alaska

Climatic drivers of the size and body condition of forage fish in the North Pacific are poorly known. We hypothesized that length and condition of forage fish in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) should vary in relation to ocean temperature on multiple scales. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed morphometric data for capelin (Mallotus catervarius) and Pacific sand lance (PSL; Ammodytes personatus) sam
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Extreme reduction in nutritional value of a key forage fish during the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014–2016

Pacific sand lance Ammodytes personatus are a key forage fish in the North Pacific for many species of salmon, groundfish, seabirds, and marine mammals and have historically been important to predators in relatively warm years. However, extreme declines in the nutritional value of sand lance in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, during 2012-2016 indicate that energy transfer from lower trophic lev
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Alaska Science Center

Biogeography of pelagic food webs in the North Pacific

The tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) is a generalist seabird that breeds throughout the North Pacific and eats more than 75 different prey species. Using puffins as samplers, we characterized the geographic variability in pelagic food webs across the subarctic North Pacific from the composition of ~10,000 tufted puffin meals (~56,000 prey items) collected at 35 colonies in the Gulf of Alaska (G
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Below are news items associated with this research.

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Publication on Ecosystem Response to an Unprecedented Marine Heatwave in the Gulf of Alaska

The 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave in the Gulf of Alaska was the longest lasting heatwave globally over the past decade. A new study led...

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Story Map on Pacific Marine Heatwave and Seabird Die-off

A story map, developed by the National Park Service, is based on a published article by John Piatt, Sarah Schoen and Mayumi Arimitsu at the U.S...

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'The Blob' - The Story of the Pacific Heatwave

About 62,000 dead or dying common murres, the trophically dominant fish-eating seabird of the North Pacific, washed ashore between summer 2015 and...

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Responding to Alaska's largest seabird die-off at Katmai National Park & Preserve

In 2015 and 2016, hundreds of thousands of dead and dying Common Murres washed ashore in Alaska. In March of 2016, biologists with the National Park...

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A Marine Mystery: What’s Causing Seabird Die-Offs in Alaska?

  

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