Gary S Drew, Ph.D.
Community ecology of coastal ecosystems, remote sensing, modeling with geographic information systems, predator ecology, conservation biology.
Biography
Education
Ph.D. 1995 Utah State University, Logan, UT Wildlife Ecology
M.S. 1988 Texas A&M University College Station, TX Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
B.S. 1985 University of Nebraska, Lincoln Lincoln, NE Natural Resources/Wildlife Management
Professional Experience
1993 - Present Research Wildlife Biologist, USGS, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska
1990 - 1993 Graduate Research Assistant, Utah State University Logan, Utah
1985 - 1989 Graduate Research Assistant, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas
1985 Biological Technician University, of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
Present:
Ecological Society of America
Pacific Seabird Group
Past:
Society of Conservation Biology
The Wildlife Society
Science and Products
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.
North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database
The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) includes more than 460,000 survey transects that were designed and conducted by numerous partners primarily to census seabirds at sea.
NPPSD Sampling Effort Maps
Maps showing the sampling extent in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology
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...
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.
Aleutian Islands Ecosystem Recovery Studies
The Aleutian archipelago is a 2,000 km long chain of volcanically-derived treeless islands stretching from Unimak Island in the east to the Commander Islands in the west. These volcanic islands support a wide range of species including large numbers of seabirds and marine mammal species, some of which are threatened and endangered, leading to a high level of federal management concern.
Seabirds at Sea
Helpful links for Seabirds at Sea
NPPSD Resources and Protocols
List of resources and protocols used by the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
Biological responses of Crested and Least auklets to volcanic destruction of nesting habitat in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Crested Auklets (Aethia cristatella) and Least Auklets (A. pusilla) are crevice-nesting birds that breed in large mixed colonies at relatively few sites in the Aleutian Island archipelago, Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Sea of Okhotsk. Many of these colonies are located on active volcanic islands. The eruption of Kasatochi volcano, in the central...
Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Williams, Jeffrey C. Avian predator buffers against variability in marine habitats with flexible foraging behavior
How well seabirds compensate for variability in prey abundance and composition near their breeding colonies influences their distribution and reproductive success. We used tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) as forage fish samplers to study marine food webs from the western Aleutian Islands (53°N, 173°E) to Kodiak Island (57°N, 153°W), Alaska,...
Schoen, Sarah K.; Piatt, John F.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Heflin, Brielle; Madison, Erica N.; Drew, Gary S.; Renner, Martin; Rojek, Nora A.; Douglas, David C.; DeGange, Anthony R. Legacy or colonization? Posteruption establishment of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) on a volcanically active subarctic island.
How populations and communities reassemble following disturbances are affected by a number of factors, with the arrival order of founding populations often having a profound influence on later populations and community structure. Kasatochi Island is a small volcano located in the central Aleutian archipelago that erupted violently August 8, 2008,...
Sonsthagen, Sarah A.; Williams, J.C.; Drew, Gary S.; White, C.M.; Sage, G. Kevin; Talbot, Sandra L. Timing of ice retreat alters seabird abundances and distributions in the southeast Bering Sea
Timing of spring sea-ice retreat shapes the southeast Bering Sea food web. We compared summer seabird densities and average bathymetry depth distributions between years with early (typically warm) and late (typically cold) ice retreat. Averaged over all seabird species, densities in early-ice-retreat-years were 10.1% (95% CI: 1.1–47.9%) of that in...
Renner, Martin; Salo, Sigrid; Eisner, Lisa B.; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Santora, Jarrod A.; Ressler, Patrick; Piatt, John F.; Ladd, Carol; Drew, Gary S.; Hunt, George L.
User’s guide to the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database 2.0
The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) was created in 2005 to consolidate data on the oceanic distribution of marine bird species in the North Pacific. Most of these data were collected on surveys by counting species within defined areas and at known locations (that is, on strip transects). The NPPSD also contains observations of other...
Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Renner, Martin Identifying marine Important Bird Areas using at-sea survey data
Effective marine bird conservation requires identification of at-sea locations used by populations for foraging, staging, and migration. Using an extensive database of at-sea survey data spanning over 30 years, we developed a standardized and data-driven spatial method for identifying globally significant marine Important Bird Areas in Alaska. To...
Smith, Melanie A.; Walker, Nathan J.; Free, Christopher M.; Kirchhoff, Matthew J.; Drew, Gary S.; Warnock, Nils; Stenhouse, Iain J. Recolonization of the intertidal and shallow subtidal community following the 2008 eruption of Alaska’s Kasatochi Volcano
The intertidal and nearshore benthic communities of Kasatochi Island are described following a catastrophic volcanic eruption in 2008. Prior to the eruption, the island was surrounded by a dense bed of canopy-forming dragon kelp Eualaria fistulosa which supported a productive nearshore community. The eruption extended the coastline of the island...
Jewett, S.C.; Drew, Gary S. Effects of currents and tides on fine-scale use of marine bird habitats in a Southeast Alaska hotspot
Areas with high species richness have become focal points in the establishment of marine protected areas, but an understanding of the factors that support this diversity is still incomplete. In coastal areas, tidal currents—modulated by bathymetry and manifested in variable speeds—are a dominant physical feature of the environment. However,...
Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Hill, David J. Status and trend of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in Glacier Bay, Alaska
We conducted standardized surveys for marine birds in Glacier Bay in seven years between 1991 and 2008. From our most recent survey, a combination of line- and strip-transect methods completed in 2008, we estimated that 4981 (95% CI 1293–8670) Kittlitz’s Murrelets Brachyramphus brevirostris resided in Glacier Bay during the month of June, together...
Piatt, John F.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Drew, Gary S.; Madison, Erica N.; Bodkin, James L.; Romano, Marc D. Seabirds as indicators of marine food supplies: Cairns revisited
In his seminal paper about using seabirds as indicators of marine food supplies, Cairns (1987, Biol Oceanogr 5:261–271) predicted that (1) parameters of seabird biology and behavior would vary in curvilinear fashion with changes in food supply, (2) the threshold of prey density over which birds responded would be different for each parameter...
Piatt, John F.; Harding, Ann M.A.; Shultz, Michael T.; Speckman, Suzann G.; van Pelt, Thomas I.; Drew, Gary S.; Kettle, Arthur B. Ecology of selected marine communities in Glacier Bay: Zooplankton, forage fish, seabirds and marine mammals
We studied oceanography (including primary production), secondary production, small schooling fish (SSF), and marine bird and mammal predators in Glacier Bay during 1999 and 2000. Results from these field efforts were combined with a review of current literature relating to the Glacier Bay environment. Since the conceptual model developed by Hale...
Robards, Martin D.; Drew, Gary S.; Piatt, John F.; Anson, Jennifer Marie; Abookire, Alisa A.; Bodkin, James L.; Hooge, Philip N.; Speckman, Suzann G. Inventory of marine and estuarine fishes in southeast and central Alaska National Parks
As part of a national inventory program funded by the National Park Service, we conducted an inventory of marine and estuarine fishes in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Sitka National Historical Park, and Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in 2001 and 2002. In addition, marine fish...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Litzow, Michael A.; Piatt, John F.; Robards, Martin D.; Abookire, Alisa A.; Drew, Gary S.