Effects of extreme climate events on adult survival of three Pacific auks

Morrison, Kyle W.; Hipfner, J. Mark; Blackburn, Gwylim S.; Green, David J.

doi:10.1525/auk.2011.10198

Cited by 32 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Although the heat event in 2008 did not affect the overall hatching success of auklets (Warzybok and Bradley ), the auklets’ ability to maintain proper incubation behavior (e.g., egg turning) could have been compromised, leading to insufficient temperature and nutrient flux through the embryo (Deeming ). If the significant warming trend on SEFI over the past 4 decades continues (Warzybok and Bradley , Morrison et al ), mortality of adults or decreased egg viability for birds breeding in artificial nests could become an increasing concern. Elevated environmental temperatures in other colonies of seabirds nesting in artificial nests have caused harmful water loss in eggs and decreases in hatching success (Lei et al , Ropert‐Coudert et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

et al. 2015

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Hatching success in birds is influenced by the temperature and turning rate of the egg, but our understanding of the environmental factors that effect incubation temperatures and egg turning rates in birds is limited. Especially little is known of these effects for species that nest in burrows or crevices, such as the Cassin's auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus). On Southeast Farallon Island, California, USA, a subset of the Cassin's auklet (hereafter auklet) population nest in artificial nest boxes. The nest boxes are above ground and made out of a single layer of plywood. Temperatures in unshaded nest boxes can increase significantly with high ambient temperatures (to >35° C). Shaded structures put on top of occupied nest boxes help mediate nest box temperatures, but the effects of elevated temperatures on auklet incubation behaviors and egg viability remain equivocal. We used egg data loggers to measure the temperatures and turning rates of auklet eggs in natural burrows, shaded nest boxes, and unshaded nest boxes on Southeast Farallon Island. Nest box (13.93 ± 1.26° C) and egg (37.43 ± 1.92° C) temperatures were highest and most variable in unshaded nest boxes. Mean hourly egg turning rate was 2.11 ± 2.02 turns/hour and turning rates were greater at night. Egg turning rates also varied with fluctuating nest and egg temperatures, being positively correlated with nest temperatures during the day and negatively correlated with egg temperatures during the night. Our results suggest that nest box design can influence incubation behaviors of breeding birds. As seasonal temperatures and the number of extreme heat events rise, understanding the impacts of temperature on auklets nesting in artificial nests can have positive implications for conservation and management of the species, such as implementing improved artificial nest box designs to prevent overheating of burrow nesting seabirds. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

et al. 2015

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“…Postbreeding, the majority of birds from this population disperse south into the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem (Ainley et al, 2009). Cassin's Auklets have previously been identified as an indicator species of the effects of ocean warming on marine ecosystems (Wolf et al, 2009(Wolf et al, , 2010, and in recent decades breeding populations have declined due to changes in prey availability and phenology associated with climate variability (Lee et al, 2007;Morrison et al, 2011).…”

Section: Citationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Massive Mortality of a Planktivorous Seabird in Response to a Marine Heatwave

Jones

Parrish

Peterson

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

228

147

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Climate change has exacerbated the occurrence of large‐scale sea surface temperature anomalies, or marine heatwaves (MHWs)—extreme phenomena often associated with mass mortality events of marine organisms. Using a combination of citizen science and federal data sets, we investigated the causal mechanisms of the 2014/2015 die‐off of Cassin's Auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), a small zooplanktivorous seabird, during the NE Pacific MHW of 2013–2015. Carcass deposition followed an effective reduction in the energy content of mesozooplankton, coincident with the loss of cold‐water foraging habitat caused by the intrusion of the NE Pacific MHW into the nearshore environment. Models examining interannual variability in effort‐controlled carcass abundance (2001–2014) identified the biomass of lipid‐poor zooplankton as the dominant predictor of increased carcass abundance. In 2014, Cassin's Auklets dispersing from colonies in British Columbia likely congregated into a nearshore band of cooler upwelled water and ultimately died from starvation following the shift in zooplankton composition associated with onshore transport of the NE Pacific MHW. For Cassin's Auklets, already in decline due to ocean warming, large‐scale and persistent MHWs might represent a global population precipice.

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“…We collected daily data on the river outflow from the hydro-meteorological stations under the responsibility of the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA) (freely available at http://www.snirh.gov.br/hidroweb/). We also analysed the sea surface temperature, since this variable is an indicator of climatic variability and seabirds are sensitive to extreme temperatures, due to thermal stress [29, 58]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Predictors of Seabird Wrecks in a Tropical Coastal Area

2016

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Beached bird surveys have been widely used to monitor the impact of oil pollution in the oceans. However, separating the combined effects of oil pollution, environmental variables and methodological aspects of beach monitoring on seabird stranding patterns is a challenging task. The effects of a comprehensive set of oceanographic and climatic variables and oil pollution on seabird strandings in a tropical area of Brazil were investigated herein, using two robust and innovative methods: Generalized Linear Mixed Models and Structural Equation Modeling. We assessed strandings of four resident seabird species along 480 km of beaches divided into 11 sampling areas, between November 2010 and September 2013. We found that increasing the distance from the nearest breeding island reduce the seabird stranding events. Storm activity and biological productivity were the most important factors affecting the stranding events of brown boobies Sula leucogaster, Cabot’s terns Thalasseus acuflavidus and kelp gulls Larus dominicanus. These species are also indirectly affected by warm tropical waters, which reduce chlorophyll-a concentrations. Beach surveys are, thus, useful to investigate the mortality rates of resident species near breeding sites, where individuals are more abundant and exposed to local factors associated with at-sea mortality. In contrast, conservation actions and monitoring programs for far-ranging seabird species are needed in more distant foraging areas. Furthermore, beach monitoring programs investigating the impact of oil pollution on seabirds need to account for the effects of environmental factors on stranding patterns. The present study also demonstrated that seabirds inhabiting tropical coastal waters are sensitive to climate conditions such as adverse weather, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity in next decades.

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Effects of extreme climate events on adult survival of three Pacific auks

Cited by 32 publications

References 63 publications

Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

Environmental temperatures, artificial nests, and incubation of Cassin's auklet

Massive Mortality of a Planktivorous Seabird in Response to a Marine Heatwave

Environmental Predictors of Seabird Wrecks in a Tropical Coastal Area

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