Black Guillemots as indicators of change in the near-shore Arctic marine ecosystem

This study attempted to explain an apparent inverse relationship between pack ice proximity and breeding success of Black Guillemots (Cepphus grylle) on Cooper Island, a barrier island in the western Beaufort Sea near Barrow, AK. I elucidated the first linear relationship between energy density and...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Harter, B. Britten
Other Authors: Davoren, Gail (Biological Science), Sealy, Spencer (Biological Science) Walker, David (Geography)
Format: Master Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1993/2826
Description
Summary:This study attempted to explain an apparent inverse relationship between pack ice proximity and breeding success of Black Guillemots (Cepphus grylle) on Cooper Island, a barrier island in the western Beaufort Sea near Barrow, AK. I elucidated the first linear relationship between energy density and body size for the elusive Arctic Cod (Boreogadus saida). I discovered and ground-truthed the existence of previously unknown guillemot foraging habitat on small 50 m2 ice floes distant from the pack ice. I developed new daily metrics for quantifying the provisioning to linear (8 d – 18 d) and Post-Linear (19 d – fledge) chicks. I found daily consensus between Linear and Post-Linear chicks about the level of provisioning at the colony. Finally, I explained those daily changes with significant correlations with wind speed and direction. October 2007