Schoen, S.K., Kissling, M.L., Hatch, N.R., Shanley, C.S., Stephensen, S.W., Jansen, J.K., Catterson, N.T. & Oehlers, S.A. 2013. Marine birds of Yakutat Bay, Alaska: evaluating summer distribution, abundance, and threats at sea. Marine Ornithology 41:55-61.
Sarah K Schoen
Population and community ecology, foraging biology, conservation, biogeography, animal behavior, food webs, and experiential education.
Biography
Education
M.S. 2008 Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID Biology
B.A. 2004 Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA Biology/Environmental Studies
Professional Experience
2012 - Present Wildlife Biologist - U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK
2009 - 2012 Wildlife Biologist - Ecological Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Juneau, AK
2005 - 2006 Research Technician - Zoology - Alaska Natural Heritage Program, Anchorage, AK
2004 - 2005 Environmental Scientist - HDR Alaska, Inc., Anchorage, AK
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
Member, Pacific Seabird Group
Member, Kittlitz's Murrelet Technical Committee
Member, The Wildlife Society
Science and Products
Date published: September 11, 2019
Status: Active 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.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
Date published: August 25, 2019
Status: Active 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).
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
Date published: August 2, 2019
Status: Active 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.
Date published: July 11, 2019
Status: Active 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...
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
Date published: August 3, 2018
Status: Active 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...
Date published: August 2, 2018
Status: Active 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.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
Date published: August 1, 2018
Status: Active 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.
Attribution: Region 11: Alaska, Alaska Science Center
Year Published: 2021
Reduced 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...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Hatch, Scott; Suryan, Rob; Batten, Sonia; Bishop, Mary Anne; Campbell, Rob; Coletti, Heather; Cushing, Dan; Gorman, Kristen; Haught, Stormy; Hopcroft, Russell; Kuletz, Kathy; Marsteller, Caitlin Elizabeth; McKinstry, Caitlin; McGowan, David; Moran, John; Pegau, R. Scott; Schaefer, Anne; Schoen, Sarah K.; Straley, Jan; von Biela, Vanessa R.
Year Published: 2021
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...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Hatch, Scott; Suryan, Robert M.; Batten, Sonia; Bishop, Mary Anne; Campbell, Rob W.; Coletti, Heather; Cushing, Dan; Gorman, Kristen; Hopcroft, Russell R.; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Marsteller, Caitlin Elizabeth; McKinstry, Caitlin; McGowan, David; Moran, John; Pegau, W. Scott; Schaefer, Anne; Schoen, Sarah K.; Straley, Jan; von Biela, Vanessa R.
Year Published: 2020
Seabird 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...
Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Burgess, Hillary K.; Corcoran, Robin; Hatch, Scott; Jones, Tim; Lindsey, Jackie; Marsteller, Caitlin Elizabeth; Piatt, John F.; Schoen, Sarah K.
Year Published: 2020
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....
Piatt, John F.; Parrish, Julia K.; Renner, Heather M.; Schoen, Sarah K.; Jones, Timothy; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Bodenstein, Barbara; Garcia-Reyes, Marisol; Duerr, Rebecca; Corcoran, Robin; Kaler, Robb S.A.; McChesney, Gerard J.; Golightly, Richard T.; Coletti, Heather A.; Suryan, Robert M.; Burgess, Hillary K.; Lindsey, Jackie; Lindquist, Kirsten; Warzybok, Peter; Jahncke, Jaime; Roletto, Jan; Sydeman, William J.
Year Published: 2020
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...
Van Hemert, Caroline R.; Schoen, Sarah K.; Litaker, R. Wayne; Smith, Matthew M.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Holland, William C.; Hardison, Ransom; Pearce, John M.
Year Published: 2019
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...
von Biela, Vanessa R.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Piatt, John F.; Heflin, Brielle; Schoen, Sarah K.; Trowbridge, Jannelle; Clawson, ChelseaAttribution: Alaska Science Center, Region 11: Alaska
Year Published: 2018
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.View Citation
Schoen, S. K., J. F. Piatt, M. L. Arimitsu, B. Heflin, E. N. Madison, G. S. Drew, M. Renner, N. A. Rojek, D. C. Douglas, and A. R. DeGange. 2018. Avian predator buffers against variability in marine habitats with flexible foraging behavior. Marine Biology 165:47. doi:10.1007/s00227-018-3304-4
Pre-USGS Publications
Distribution and abundance of the Kittlitz’s Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in select areas of southeastern Alaska
Kissling, M.L, Lukacs, P.M., Lewis, S.B., Gende, S.M., Kuletz, K.J., Hatch, N.R., Schoen, S.K., & Oehlers, S. 2011. Distribution and abundance of the Kittlitz’s Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in select areas of southeastern Alaska. Marine Ornithology 39:3-11.
Date published: February 23, 2021
Video on USGS Pacific Seabird Research
This video features an overview of USGS and Ecosystems research with a focus on Pacific seabirds. Our scientists at the USGS Alaska Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center and National Wildlife Health Center work on Pacific seabird research topics in collaboration with partner agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, and rehabilitation centers.
Attribution: Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center