Download or read book The Foraging Ecology of Seabirds in Relation to Contaminant Exposure and Oceanographic Habitat written by Morgan E. Gilmour and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vastness of the ocean makes it difficult to study. This is compounded by regional differences in temperature, wind patterns, underwater topography, and primary productivity that extend from the ocean's surface to depths of thousands of meters. Many organisms that inhabit the marine environment navigate many environmental changes as they move between regions in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The ability to navigate through different habitat types indicates that marine animals may be adaptable to multiple environments; however, it also suggests that they may be exposed to multiple hazards, including hazards of anthropogenic originches Rates of anthropogenic inputs of chemicals and litter to the atmosphere and the ocean are increasing. However, many effects of anthropogenic compounds on marine life are only beginning to be understood. In this dissertation, I assessed foraging ecology, contaminants, and the effects of contaminants, in seabirds, which are unique among marine animals because they hunt for fishes and squid from the air, but breed on land. Land-based breeding enables them to be easily studied, and they are good samplers of the vast ocean because they travel tens to thousands of kilometers from the breeding colony to forage. I first tested the hypothesis that seabirds' foraging behaviors are related to local oceanographic habitats, and that they exhibit behavioral plasticity to exploit the marine environment. GPS-tracking and remotely-sensed environmental data of four species of boobies ( Sula spp.) demonstrated adaptable behaviors that changed depending on the type of oceanographic habitat in which boobies foraged (e.g. based on depth, sea surface temperature and topography). Second, I measured blood-based persistent organic pollutants (POP) and mercury contaminant concentrations in boobies and two species of frigatebirds (Fregata spp.) from four colonies in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. I combined blood-based contaminant measurements with two measures of foraging ecology (blood-based stable isotopes and GPS-tracking). Boobies and frigatebirds were exposed to different contaminants depending on their foraging habitat (e.g. nearshore vs offshore). Though three of the study sites were remote and uninhabited, all birds had contaminants. Lastly, I tested the hypothesis that mercury would negatively affect seabirds' breeding. I measured breeding in Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes) and Great-winged Petrels (Pterodroma macroptera ) in the Southern Ocean (Western Australia). Though Great-winged Petrels' blood mercury concentrations were the highest among all seabirds, I did not detect relationships between mercury and breeding in either species. Overall, seabirds are adaptive to their local marine environment. They traverse many habitat types while foraging, which influences the concentrations and types of contaminants that they encounter. However, they may be adapted, or tolerant, to some contaminants like mercury. Seabirds are good samplers of the marine environment, and continue to serve as good indicators of oceanographic processes and contaminants found in the ocean.
Download or read book Foraging Ecology and Contaminant Patterns in Southern Ocean Seabird Communities written by Orea Romany Juliette Anderson and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Comparative Foraging Ecology of Five Species of Pacific Seabirds written by Robert M. Suryan and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seabirds are an integral component of marine ecosystems, however, because humans typically observe only snapshots of their lives at sea, our understanding of seabird foraging ecology is often limited. A more complete understanding of the ecological roles of seabirds and identification of critical foraging habitats requires the ability to follow individuals at-sea. I analyzed continuous tracking data from blacklegged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) and four species of Pacific albatrosses to determine if foraging time budgets and at-sea movement patterns were associated with prey type (kittiwakes) and remotely sensed environmental variables (albatrosses). Furthermore, I identified variables affecting the spatial scale of search behavior and, for kittiwakes, the effect this has on reproductive success. Black-legged kittiwakes in Prince William Sound, Alaska, increased the number of feeding attempts with increases in the consumption of young-of-year fish and the numbers of feeding flocks encountered, both leading to greater time spent searching for food. Greater search effort translated into longer foraging trip duration (i.e., less frequent nestling provisioning), which was a dominant variable affecting reproductive success. Not surprisingly, area-restricted search activity for kittiwakes occurred over spatial scales two orders of magnitude less than that of short-tailed albatrosses (Phoebastria albatrus; 0.8 km vs. 70 km, respectively). For kittiwakes, the scale of area-restricted search was most prominently associated with prey type. I adapted firstpassage time analysis to model habitat use as a continuous process along a movement path and found that area-restricted search activity of short-tailed albatrosses was greatest along the continental shelf break and slope within regions of higher gradients of depth and chlorophyll a. Wind speed also was an important variable affecting albatross movements. By capitalizing on ocean surface wind and wave energy, albatrosses efficiently travel over vast expanses of the world?s oceans. I analyzed albatross aerodynamics and satellite remote sensing data to demonstrate that the four species of albatrosses inhabiting the North and Central Pacific Ocean exhibit differences in flight morphology that are generally consistent with respect to prevailing wind and wave conditions encountered. Some individuals, however, ventured into regions of apparently suboptimal wind and wave conditions to presumably exploit preferred foraging opportunities.
Download or read book Habitat Selection and Foraging Ecology of Seabirds in the Gulf of St Lawrence written by Nils Guse and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Seabirds written by J. P. Croxall and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1987-05-14 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1986, this book is concerned with the ways in which seabirds function as predators in the marine environment; in particular about how they find and catch food and how much of it they consume. It reviews both the feeding ecology of seabirds (including adaptations for flight and diving) and also most of the leading field studies (in polar, temperate and tropical regions) that have quantitatively examined the interactions of seabird communities with their prey.
Download or read book Foraging Ecology of Seabirds in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary written by U. S. Government Printing Office (Gpo) and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-07 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) was created in June 1860, and is an agency of the the U.S. federal government based in Washington D.C. The office prints documents produced by and for the federal government, including Congress, the Supreme Court, the Executive Office of the President and other executive departments, and independent agencies. The Coastal Zone Information Center (CZIC) collection provides access to nearly 5,000 coastal related documents that the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Central Library. The collection provides almost 30 years of data and information crucial to the understanding of U.S. coastal management and NOAA's mission to sustain healthy coasts. This is one of their documents.
Download or read book Seabird Ecology written by R. W. Furness and published by Blackie Academic and Professional. This book was released on 1987 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Foraging Ecology Biogeography and Population Biology of Seabird and Toothed Whale Predators in the Anthropocene written by Trevor William Joyce and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human capacity to expand niche breadth through cultural evolution has propelled humans into keystone ecological roles in many ecosystems. In particular terrestrial animal assemblages have experienced radical reductions in diversity and size distribution. Oceanic habitats have experienced shorter histories of exploitation and typically retain faunal assemblages that more closely resemble pre-human Pleistocene assemblages. Although the direct harvest of many marine mammal and seabird species has diminished in recent decades, these assemblages now face an onslaught of novel human impacts in marine and oceanic island habitats. Stressors range from noise and chemical pollution to the introduction of invasive mammalian predators on oceanic islands. To develop a better understanding of how these disparate effects will impact the ecologies and conservation statuses of wide-ranging, dynamic, and patchy seabird and marine mammal populations, this dissertation leveraged the use of two extensive observational datasets collected by and in collaboration with the NOAA-NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center. In the first section (Chapters 1-3) I used satellite tag and biopsy sampling 1) to describe vertical habitat use and biogeographic distribution patterns, and 2) to develop a systematic framework to better understand foraging ecology trade-offs in seven species of toothed whales from the Bahamas. In the second section (Chapters 4-5) I have applied innovative modeling techniques to estimate population abundance and growth rate parameters using an extensive time series of seabird transect surveys. These parameters play critical roles in assessing population status and developing strategic management decisions.
Download or read book Variability in Foraging Ecology and Food Consumption by Seabirds at High Latitudes written by Eric J. Woehler and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Oxidative Stress and Hormesis in Evolutionary Ecology and Physiology written by David Costantini and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2014-03-27 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses oxidative stress and hormesis from the perspective of an evolutionary ecologist or physiologist. In the first of ten chapters, general historical information, definitions, and background of research on oxidative stress physiology, hormesis, and life history are provided. Chapters 2-10 highlight the different solutions that organisms have evolved to cope with the oxidative threats posed by their environments and lifestyles. The author illustrates how oxidative stress and hormesis have shaped diversity in organism life-histories, behavioral profiles, morphological phenotypes, and aging mechanisms. The book offers fascinating insights into how organisms work and how they evolve to sustain their physiological functions under a vast array of environmental conditions.
Download or read book Seabirds as Bioindicators of Southern Ocean Ecosystems written by Alice Carravieri and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Antarctic and subantarctic marine environments are reached by inorganic and organic contaminants through ocean circulation and atmospheric transport. Yet, environmental contamination is poorly known in the Southern Ocean, in particular in the Indian sector. Among environmental contaminants, mercury (Hg) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are primarily of concern, because they are toxic, highly mobile, and they bioaccumulate in the tissues of living organisms and biomagnify up the food web. Seabirds, as upper predators, are exposed to large quantities of contaminants via food intake and have widely served as biomonitors of marine contamination, notably through the non-destructive sampling of their feathers and blood. My doctoral work has focussed on the abundant and diverse seabird species (more than 40) breeding in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, southern Indian Ocean, in order to describe and explain contaminant concentrations over a large latitudinal gradient, from Antarctica to the subtropics, and to identify the best bioindicator species for contaminant biomonitoring. In a first methodological step, seabirds with synchronous moult of body feathers (adult penguins and chicks of all species) were recognised as good candidates as bioindicators, because, unlike most adult birds, they present low within-individual variation in feather contaminant concentrations. In a second explanatory step, the influence of intrinsic (individual traits) and extrinsic factors (feeding ecology inferred from the stable isotope method) driving variation in contaminant concentrations was evaluated in feathers of the large avian community of the Kerguelen Islands (27 species) and in blood of wandering albatrosses from the Crozet Islands (180 birds of known individual traits). Feeding ecology was the main factor driving variation in contaminant concentrations of blood and feathers, both at the community, population and individual levels, whereas age, sex, phylogeny and breeding status played a minor role. Age-class was however an important intrinsic factor to consider, with chicks usually having lower concentrations than adults. In a third step, spatio-temporal patterns of contamination were studied through selected bioindicator species and by taking into account their feeding habits. Results from different species (oceanic seabirds) and populations (skua chicks) showed that, contrary to predictions, Hg exposure gradually increases from Antarctic to subantarctic and subtropical waters, whereas, in accordance with the global distillation theory, POPs exposure has the opposite pattern. Comparisons between penguin feathers from museum collections and contemporary samples showed that bird exposure to Hg is overall not different today when compared to 50-70 years ago, but subantarctic species are possibly experiencing an increasing trend. Future research efforts should be focussed on the use of feathers as biomonitoring tools, in particular for POPs determination. The best recommended bioindicator species include the emperor penguin and snow petrel (Antarctic), king penguin, blue petrel and black-browed albatross (subantarctic), and northern rockhopper penguin and Indian yellow-nosed albatross (subtropical). Future biomonitoring studies on these species will give invaluable insights into the poorly-known temporal trends of environmental contamination in the Southern Ocean.
Download or read book Linking Ecology and Environmental Chemistry written by José Luis Roscales García and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exposure to contaminants, such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), is currently considered a serious anthropogenic threat to marine predators and their food webs. Exposure to contaminants by marine wildlife is mainly related to their trophic ecology, distribution and movements. However, the contribution of these biological features to pollutant levels remains poorly understood in most marine predators, including seabirds. New methodologies, including dietary and geographic tracers, such as stable isotope analyses, and a wide array of devices to track movement at different spatial and temporal scales, can provide new light into this issue. Although stable isotope signatures in marine wildlife provide valuable information about their trophic ecology, isotopic baseline levels also show geographical differences. Therefore, to understand isotopic differences among separate wildlife populations we first need to evaluate the influence of spatial variability in stable isotope signatures. In the present dissertation, some ecological factors, mainly feeding ecology, breeding locality and movements, and their influence shaping the isotopic signatures and the contaminant burdens, were examined in most Procellariiformes breeding in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In particular, the isotopic signatures of Carbon and Nitrogen ([delta]13C and [delta]15N) as well as burdens of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorinated compounds (OCs), e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and pesticides such as 01T, in seabirds were determined. In this study, firstly, we evaluate the relative influence of geographic origin, movements and trophic ecology in shaping stable isotope signatures and contaminant burdens in pelagic seabirds. Then, we show the spatial patterns in the isotopic signatures, OCs and PAHs that emerge among Mediterranean and northeast Atlantic seabirds and evaluate pollutant sources and the influence of long-range transport mechanisms on these basins. Secondly, we provide evidences that show no marked differences in the trophic ecology of the studied seabird species throughout their breeding distributions, but clearly differ among species, pointing out the marked relationship of seabird trophic ecology with their PCB, 01T and PAH burdens. Overall, this study underlines the usefulness of combining environmental chemistry methodologies with new approaches in the study of animal ecology, showing the value of pelagic seabirds in marine contamination monitoring.
Download or read book Foraging Ecology of Seabirds at Sea written by José Manuel Arcos Pros and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Landscape scale Conservation Planning written by Stephen C. Trombulak and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-09-21 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hugh P. Possingham Landscape-scale conservation planning is coming of age. In the last couple of decades, conservation practitioners, working at all levels of governance and all spatial scales, have embraced the CARE principles of conservation planning – Comprehensiveness, Adequacy, Representativeness, and Efficiency. Hundreds of papers have been written on this theme, and several different kinds of software program have been developed and used around the world, making conservation planning based on these principles global in its reach and influence. Does this mean that all the science of conservation planning is over – that the discovery phase has been replaced by an engineering phase as we move from defining the rules to implementing them in the landscape? This book and the continuing growth in the literature suggest that the answer to this question is most definitely ‘no. ’ All of applied conservation can be wrapped up into a single sentence: what should be done (the action), in what place, at what time, using what mechanism, and for what outcome (the objective). It all seems pretty simple – what, where, when, how and why. However stating a problem does not mean it is easy to solve.
Download or read book Habitat Population Dynamics and Metal Levels in Colonial Waterbirds written by Joanna Burger and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-07-06 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a result of the authors' more than 40 years of study on the behavior, populations, and heavy metals in the colonial waterbirds nesting in Barnegat Bay and the nearby estuaries and bays in the Northeastern United States. From Boston Harbor to the Chesapeake, based on longitudinal studies of colonial waterbirds, it provides a clear pictu
Download or read book Principles of Ecotoxicology Second Edition written by C.H. Walker and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decade ecotoxicology has emerged as a distinct subject of interdisciplinary character. Courses in ecotoxicology reflect this and are taught by specialists in chemistry and biochemistry through to population genetics and ecology. As the first textbook to incorporate all relevant aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, toxicology, physiology, population ecology and population genetics, the first edition of this book proved to be well received across several industries. Featuring fully revised text and new illustrations, Principles of Ecotoxicology identifies the major classes of organic and inorganic pollutants, their properties, release and environmental fate, and transport in air, water and along food chains, before considering the effects that they might have upon individual organisms and ultimately whole ecosystems. This timely second edition of Principles of Ecotoxicology incorporates data collected since the first edition on subjects of current research and media interest such as organochloride pesticides, endocrine disruptors, aquatic toxicity, industrial waste and ecotoxicity testing.
Download or read book The foraging ecology of Peruvian seabirds written by D.C. DUFFY and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
