| Summary: | This project is a component of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Councilâs integrated, multi-project program known as âGulfwatchâ (Long-term Monitoring of Marine Conditions and Injured Resources and Services). The vast majority of seabird monitoring in areas affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill has taken place around breeding colonies during the reproductive season, a time when food is generally at its most plentiful. However, seabirds spend most of the year widely dispersed. Late fall through winter are critical periods for survival as food tends to be relatively scarce or inaccessible, the climate more extreme, light levels reduced, day length shorter and water temperatures colder. Post-spill ecosystem recovery and changing physical and biological factors all have the potential to affect Prince William Sound (PWS) seabird populations. Of the seabirds that overwinter in PWS, nine species were initially injured by the Exxon Valdez oil spill, including three species that have not yet recovered (marbled murrelet, Kittlitzâs murrelet and pigeon guillemot). From October 2011 through Decembe 2016, this project will monitor marine bird abundance, species composition, and habitat associations using multiple surveys (up to 5 surveys per season) during late fall and winter. The data will improve our predictive models of marine bird species abundance and distribution in relation to biological and physical environmental factors. In addition, by monitoring the top-down forcing by marine birds, a major source of herring predation, this project will complement the suite of PWS Herring Research & Monitoring studies, including improved mortality estimates for herring population models. This project is part of the pelagic component within the integrated Gulfwatch program. Our project uses as observing platforms the vessels associated with the Gulfwatch Humpback Whale surveys and PWS Herring Research & Monitoring Juvenile Herring Abundance Index as well as the Extended Adult Herring Biomass Surveys (year 2 onward) and integrates the marine bird observations with those studies.
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