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Gary S Drew, Ph.D.

Community ecology of coastal ecosystems, remote sensing, modeling with geographic information systems, predator ecology, conservation biology.

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

Education and Certifications

  • 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

Affiliations and Memberships

  • Ecological Society of America

  • Pacific Seabird Group

  • Society of Conservation Biology

  • The Wildlife Society

Science and Products

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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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Energy & Wildlife, 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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NPPSD illustration

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.
By
Ecosystems, Energy & Wildlife, Wildlife Program, Alaska Science Center
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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.
Learn More
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NPPSD V3 Map showing sum of area sampled 2013-2019

NPPSD Sampling Effort Maps

Maps showing the sampling extent in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
By
Alaska Science Center
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NPPSD Sampling Effort Maps

Maps showing the sampling extent in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
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A Tufted Puffin swimming in the sea in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska

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. The...
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Ecosystems, Wildlife Program, Alaska Science Center
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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. The...
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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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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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Kasatochi volcano as seen from 17,000 feet ASL....

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.
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Ecosystems, Wildlife Program, Alaska Science Center
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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.
Learn More
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Spatial extent of North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database samples

NPPSD Resources and Protocols

List of resources and protocols used by the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
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Alaska Science Center
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NPPSD Resources and Protocols

List of resources and protocols used by the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD).
Learn More
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Short-tailed Albatross taking off

Seabirds at Sea

Helpful links for Seabirds at Sea
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Alaska Science Center
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Seabirds at Sea

Helpful links for Seabirds at Sea
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Filter Total Items: 17

Kittlitz’s murrelet seasonal distribution and post-breeding migration from the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean

Kittlitz’s Murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris) nest during summer in glaciated or recently deglaciated (post-Wisconsin) landscapes. They forage in adjacent marine waters, especially those influenced by glacial meltwater. Little is known of their movements and distribution outside the breeding season. To identify post-breeding migrations of murrelets, we attached satellite transmitters to birds
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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 Aleutians, on August 7, 2008, completely buried al
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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, during August 2012–2014. Around each colony we obtain
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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, sterilizing the island of avian biodiversity. Prior
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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 late-ice-retreat-years. In early-ice-retreat-years
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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 bird species and marine mammals. The original NPPS
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Ecosystems, Energy & Wildlife, Alaska Science Center

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 delineate these areas we developed a six-step proce
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Ecosystems, Wildlife Program, Alaska Science Center

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 approximately 400 m offshore to roughly the 20 m iso
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Ecosystems, Fisheries Program, Alaska Science Center

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, difficulties resolving tidally affected currents and dept
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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 with 12 195 (5607–18 783) Marbled Murrelets B. mar
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Ecosystems, Fisheries Program, Wildlife Program, Alaska Science Center

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, and (3) different seabird species would respond differe
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Seabird, fisheries, marine mammal, and oceanographic investigations around Kasatochi, Koniuji, and Ulak Islands, August 1996 (SMMOCI 96-3)

Although islands in the Aleutians are known to support some of the highest densities of seabirds in the world, their remoteness has limited systematic research on the at-sea distribution of seabirds near these colonies.  Kasatochi, Koniuji, and Ulak islands, in the central Aleutian Islands, together comprise one of nine ecological sites monitored once every 5 years on an annual rotation since 1996
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

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