Forage fish, seabirds, predator-prey interactions, glacier-marine ecosystems, marine heatwaves, climate change
I lead research to identify factors influencing the status and trends of rare or threatened species on DOI lands, to understand the effects of glacier dynamics on coastal fjord ecosystems, and to document impacts of novel ocean climate patterns on the functioning of marine food webs. As the Pelagic Lead for the Gulf Watch Alaska long-term monitoring program I coordinate research integration across sampling programs for forage fish, marine birds, humpback whale, and killer whales.
Professional Experience
2009 - Present Research Ecologist, USGS Alaska Science Center, Juneau
2007 - 2009 SCEP, USGS Alaska Science Center, Juneau
2001 - 2007 Fishery Biologist USGS Alaska Science Center
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. 2016 University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, Alaska Fisheries
M.Sc. 2009 University of Alaska Fairbanks, Juneau, Alaska Fisheries
B.Sc. 1998 U.C. Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California Biology
Affiliations and Memberships*
Pacific Seabird Group
Kittlitz's Murrelet Technical Committee
American Fisheries Society
Honors and Awards
2022 American Fisheries Society invited keynote speaker
2019 Sitka Whalefest invited speaker
2009 and 2010, Best student presentation, North Pacific Research Board
2007 USGS Star Award for Exceptional Performance
2005 USFWS Award of Appreciation, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Science and Products
North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database
Seabird Die-offs in Alaska
Condition of Forage Fish in Prince William Sound During the Marine Heatwave
Cook Inlet Seabird and Forage Fish Study
Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology
Detecting Long-term Changes in Forage Fish Populations in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Terrestrial Influence on Glacial-Marine Food Webs
Gridded Seabird Density Estimates in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
Assessing the Status and Trends of Seabirds and Forage Fish in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska
Tracking Data for Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris)
Pelagic Forage Fish Distribution Abundance and Body Condition
North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD)
Inshore Catch Data for Capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the Gulf of Alaska 1996-2017
Data Associated With Algal Toxin Testing of Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Forage Fish in Alaska, 2015-2017
Data from Common Murre Die-off Surveys and Necropsies Following the North Pacific Marine Heatwave, 2015-2016
Pacific Sand Lance Energy Density, Length, and Age, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2012-2016
Influence of Glacier Runoff on Ecosystem Structure in Gulf of Alaska Fjords 2004-2011
Biogeochemical Subsidies from Glacier Runoff into Alaska Coastal Marine Food Webs, Gulf of Alaska, 2012-2013
Joint spatiotemporal models to predict seabird densities at sea
Lingering impacts of the 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave on seabird demography in Cook Inlet, Alaska (USA)
Melanism in a Common Murre Uria aalge in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
Diet analysis using generalized linear models derived from foraging processes using R package mvtweedie
Another bad year for seabirds on Gull Island
Kittlitz’s murrelet seasonal distribution and post-breeding migration from the Gulf of Alaska to the Arctic Ocean
Monitoring the recovery of seabirds and forage fish following a major ecosystem disruption in Lower Cook Inlet
Ecosystem response persists after a prolonged marine heatwave
Reduced quality and synchronous collapse of forage species disrupts trophic transfer during a prolonged marine heatwave
Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators
Forecasting community reassembly using climate-linked spatio-temporal ecosystem models
Seabird synthesis
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Science and Products
- Science
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).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.Condition of Forage Fish in Prince William Sound During the Marine Heatwave
Changes in the body condition of a key forage fish species, Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), are examined to understand how energy transfer to predators may have been disrupted during the recent marine heatwave in the North Pacific (late 2013 to mid 2016).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.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...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.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. - Data
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 distributiAssessing 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.Tracking Data for Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris)
This metadata document describes the data contained in the "rawData" folder of this data package. This data package contains all data collected by the Argos System from 47 satellite transmitters attached to Kittlitz's Murrelets captured along the north Gulf of Alaska, during May-July 2009-2015. Five data files are included in the "rawData" folder of this data package. Two data files (with identicaPelagic 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.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 SeaInshore Catch Data for Capelin (Mallotus villosus) in the Gulf of Alaska 1996-2017
These data consist of larval (less than 60 mm) and age-1+ (greater than 60 mm) Capelin CPUE (Catch per unit effort) from various catch efforts throughout the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) from 1996 - 2017. The dataset contains the following information: fishing gear type, date, time, catch location (latitude and longitude), tow distance, number of capelin caught, and CPUE for capelin greater than and lessData Associated With Algal Toxin Testing of Common Murres (Uria aalge) and Forage Fish in Alaska, 2015-2017
This data set is comprised of two tables with results of algal toxin screening for saxitoxin and domoic acid. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to screen seabirds, forage fish, and marine invertebrates from the Gulf of Alaska, 2015-2017.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 2Pacific Sand Lance Energy Density, Length, and Age, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2012-2016
This data set documents the age, length, dry mass energy density, and dry mass of age-0 and age-1 Pacific sand lance captured in Prince William Sound Alaska each July from 2012 to 2016. The analysis of this data was published in von Biela et al. 2019 (doi:10.3354/meps12891).Influence of Glacier Runoff on Ecosystem Structure in Gulf of Alaska Fjords 2004-2011
Marine ecosystems respond to a range of habitat variability in coastal zones modified by glacial freshwater outflows, biophysical data were collected in three study regions that included four major glacial fjord systems around the Gulf of Alaska. A suite of geographic, oceanographic, nutrient and biological attributes were sampled at these three study regions during peak ice-melt season in summer.Biogeochemical Subsidies from Glacier Runoff into Alaska Coastal Marine Food Webs, Gulf of Alaska, 2012-2013
To demonstrate connectivity between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, we used stable (#948;13C, #948;15N, #948;2H) and radiogenic (#8710;14C) isotopes to estimate the relative contribution of glacier runoff and terrestrial-derived organic matter (OM) to marine food webs. This dataset contains information on isotopic signatures from dissolved organic matter (DOM), dissolved inorganic matter (DIC) - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 43
Joint spatiotemporal models to predict seabird densities at sea
Introduction: Seabirds are abundant, conspicuous members of marine ecosystems worldwide. Synthesis of distribution data compiled over time is required to address regional management issues and understand ecosystem change. Major challenges when estimating seabird densities at sea arise from variability in dispersion of the birds, sampling effort over time and space, and differences in bird detectioLingering impacts of the 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave on seabird demography in Cook Inlet, Alaska (USA)
A protracted period (2014-2016) of anomalously warm water in the northeast Pacific Ocean precipitated an extensive die-off of common murres Uria aalge (hereafter ‘murres’) during 2015-2016, accompanied by reduced colony attendance and reproductive success of murres and black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla (‘kittiwakes’) starting in 2015. Most murres died of starvation following a large-scale rMelanism in a Common Murre Uria aalge in Kachemak Bay, Alaska
In accord with melanism being uncommon in birds, we could find only six published records of completely melanistic Common Murres Uria aalge, one of the most widely and intensively studied of all seabirds. We added to the record by observing a Common Murre in completely dark, melanistic alternate plumage every summer from 2017 to 2021 at Gull Island in Kachemak Bay, Alaska, USA. In 2017, the bird fDiet analysis using generalized linear models derived from foraging processes using R package mvtweedie
Diet analysis integrates a wide variety of visual, chemical, and biological identification of prey. Samples are often treated as compositional data, where each prey is analyzed as a continuous percentage of the total. However, analyzing compositional data results in analytical challenges, for example, highly parameterized models or prior transformation of data. Here, we present a novel approximatiAnother bad year for seabirds on Gull Island
The USGS monitored Black-legged Kittiwake and Common Murre populations on Gull Island from 1995-1999, and from 2016-2021, following the 2014-2016 northeast Pacific marine heatwave. USGS research, which is supported by the USGS and BOEM, includes population monitoring, and quantifying breeding success and predator disturbances. This information is preliminary or provisional and is subject to revisiKittlitz’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 birdsMonitoring the recovery of seabirds and forage fish following a major ecosystem disruption in Lower Cook Inlet
Following the North Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016 and associated extreme die-off of seabirds in the winter of 2015-2016, we repeated historical marine bird and forage fish surveys around two seabird colonies (Gull Island, Chisik Island) in lower Cook Inlet during 2016-2019 in order to document immediate and lingering impacts of the heatwave on resident fish and seabird populations. At sea,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 responseReduced quality and synchronous collapse of forage species disrupts trophic transfer during a prolonged marine heatwave
The Gulf of Alaska forage fish community includes a few key species that differ markedly in their timing of spawning, somatic growth and lipid storage, and in their migration behavior. This diversity in life history strategies facilitates resilience in marine food webs because it buffers predators against the naturally high variance in abundance of pelagic forage fish populations by decreasing theHeatwave-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 trophicForecasting 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 genSeabird synthesis
Overall, the status of seabirds was fair to good in the WGOA in 2020, with limited data available from Middleton Island, Cook Inlet, and the Kodiak Archipelago (Figure 63). Colony attendance remains low in some populations compared to historic levels, and some colonies were newly abandoned. However, when birds did arrive to breed, reproductive success generally appeared fair to good for fish-eatinNon-USGS Publications**
Arimitsu, M. L. 2016. The influence of glaciers on coastal marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska. Dissertation, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 154 p.Arimitsu, M. L. 2009. Environmental gradients and prey availability relative to glacial features in Kittlitz's murrelet foraging habitat. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks.**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
- News
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government