Many ecosystems have experienced anthropogenically induced changes in biodiversity, yet predicting these patterns has been difficult. Recently, individual behavioural and physiological measures have been proposed as more rapid links between environmental variation and fitness compared to demographics. Glucocorticoid hormones have received much attention given that they mediate energetic demands, metabolism, and foraging behaviour. However, it is currently unclear whether glucocorticoids can reliably predict environmental and fitness-related traits and whether they may be useful in specific groups of taxa. In particular, seabirds are a well-studied avian group often employed as biomonitoring tools for environmental change given their wide distribution and reliance on large oceanic patterns. Despite the increase in studies attempting to link variation in baseline corticosterone (the primary avian glucocorticoid) to variation in fitness-related traits in seabirds, there has been no comprehensive review of the relationship in this taxon. We present a phylogenetically controlled systematic review and meta-analysis of correlative and experimental studies examining baseline corticosterone as a predictor of fitness-related traits relevant to predicting seabird population health. Our results suggest that, while variation in baseline corticosterone may be a useful predictor of larger-scale environmental traits such as overall food availability and fitness-related traits such as reproductive success, this hormone may not be sensitive enough to detect variation in body condition, foraging effort, and breeding effort. Overall, our results support recent work suggesting that the use of baseline glucocorticoids as conservation biomarkers is complex and highly context dependent, and we suggest caution in their use and interpretation as simplified, direct biomarkers of fitness.

Waterbirds are often used as indicators of ecosystem function across broad spatial and temporal scales. Resolving which species are declining and the ecological characteristics they have in common can offer insights into ecosystem changes and their underlying mechanisms. Using 20 years of citizen science data collected by the British Columbia Coastal Waterbird Survey, we examine species-specific trends in abundance of 50 species in the Salish Sea and 37 species along the outer Pacific Ocean coast that we considered to form the core wintering coastal bird community of British Columbia, Canada. Further, we explore whether ecological commonalities increase the likelihood of a species undergoing declines by testing the hypotheses that waterbird abundance trends are influenced by dietary specialization and migration distance to breeding grounds. Results suggest that most populations are stable (i.e., temporal trends are not significant) in both the Salish Sea (36 of 50 spp.) and Pacific coast (32 of 37 spp.) regions. Twelve species displayed significant decline trends in the Salish Sea, whereas two had significant increases. Along the Pacific coast, only three species displayed significant decline trends, and two significant increases. This result is corroborated by guild-specific trends indicating that waterbirds occupying the Salish Sea are faring significantly worse than those residing along the outer coastal regions, almost irrespective of dietary specialization or migration distance. Our results provide evidence that differential environmental pressures between the inner and outer coastal regions may be causing overall loss of wintering waterbirds within, or abundance shifts away from, the Salish Sea. Potential mechanisms responsible for these observed patterns are discussed, including environmental (e.g., climate) and human-induced (e.g., nutrient and chemical pollution) pressures. Collaborative, inter-disciplinary research priorities to help understand these mechanisms are suggested. Vingt ans de suivi d'oiseaux aquatiques côtiers montrent des tendances régionales de pressions environnementales en Colombie-Britannique, Canada RÉSUMÉ. Les oiseaux aquatiques sont souvent utilisés comme indicateurs du fonctionnement des écosystèmes à de larges échelles spatiales et temporelles. La détermination des espèces en diminution et des caractéristiques écologiques qu'elles ont en commun permet de se faire une idée des changements dans les écosystèmes et des mécanismes sous-jacents. Au moyen de 20 ans de données de science citoyenne collectées lors du Coastal Waterbird Survey de la Colombie-Britannique, nous avons examiné les tendances dans l'abondance de 50 espèces dans la mer des Salish et de 37 espèces plus au large de la côte de l'océan Pacifique que nous avons considérées comme formant le noyau de la communauté d'oiseaux côtiers hivernant de la Colombie-Britannique, au Canada. En outre, nous avons étudié si les traits communs écologiques augmentaient la probabilité qu'une espèce subisse une baisse en testant les hypoth...

The degree to which individuals adjust foraging behavior in response to environmental variability can impact foraging success, leading to downstream impacts on fitness and population dynamics. We examined the foraging flexibility, average daily energy expenditure, and foraging success of an ice-associated Arctic seabird, the thickbilled murre (Uria lomvia) in response to broad-scale environmental conditions at two different-sized, low Arctic colonies located <300 km apart. First, we compared foraging behavior (measured via GPS units), average daily energy expenditure (estimated from GPS derived activity budgets), and foraging success (nutritional state measured via nutritional biomarkers pre-and post-GPS deployment) of murres at two colonies, which differ greatly in size: 30,000 pairs breed on Coats Island, Nunavut, and 400,000 pairs breed on Digges Island, Nunavut. Second, we tested whether colony size within the same marine ecosystem altered foraging behavior in response to broad-scale environmental variability. Third, we tested whether environmentally induced foraging flexibility influenced the foraging success of murres. Murres at the larger colony foraged farther and longer but made fewer trips, resulting in a lower nutritional state and lower foraging success compared to birds at the smaller colony. Foraging behavior and foraging success varied in response to environmental variation, with murres at both colonies making longer, more distant foraging trips in high ice regimes during incubation, suggesting flexibility in responding to environmental variability. However, only birds at the larger colony showed this same flexibility during chick rearing. Foraging success at both colonies was higher during high ice regimes, suggesting greater prey availability. Overall, murres from the larger colony exhibited lower foraging success, and their foraging behavior showed stronger responses to changes in broad-scale conditions such as sea ice regime. Taken together, this suggests that larger Arctic seabird colonies have higher behavioral and demographic sensitivity to environmental change.

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) typically nests in open grass habitat, such as native grassland, hayfields, or cow pasture. In May 2019, we discovered a Long-billed Curlew nest in the dense roadside shrub stubble near Prince George, British Columbia. The shrub stubble substrate for this nest appeared to be taller and denser than adjacent hayfields, which reduced the visibility of the nest site. The eggs in this nest were the first to hatch of the 11 curlew nests we monitored in the area.