Seabirds at sea in relation to oceanography

Abstract

This study investigated the macroscale distribution of seabirds in relation to oceanography in a neritic environment characterized by well-defined water masses (the northern Bering Sea) and an oceanic environment characterized by weaker differences between water masses (the northern North Pacific Ocean). In the northern Bering Sea, the total density (birds/km$\sp2)$ of all seabirds combined and densities and/or frequencies of occurrence of seven of nine species of seabirds that exhibited significant differences among water masses showed the strongest attraction to Anadyr Water. In general, attractions were second highest in Bering Shelf Water, third highest in Two-layered Water (Alaska Coastal Water overlying Bering Shelf Water), and lowest in Alaska Coastal Water. This pattern of seabird distributions reflected distributions of zooplankton biomass, which were highest in Anadyr Water and consisted of species that were large enough to be eaten directly by seabirds. Further, whereas copepods in Bering Shelf Water also are large, they are much smaller in Alaska Coastal Water and, thus, must pass through more trophic levels to fishes before the energy is directly accessible to seabirds. Consequently, zooplankton-based food webs dominated in Anadyr and Bering Shelf waters and fish-based food webs dominated in Two-layered and Alaska Coastal waters. In addition, seabirds concentrated near a strong, mesoscale thermal front between Bering Shelf and Alaska Coastal waters. In the northern North Pacific, assemblages of seabirds exhibited three main groupings, a "subarctic assemblage," a "transitional assemblage," and a "'subtropical/tropical assemblage." These assemblages matched those for zooplankton, squids, and fishes in the same vicinity, suggesting that there are geographically- and temporally-stable biological communities in the North Pacific that are associated with well-defined, persistent physical environments. The total density of all seabirds combined and densities and/or frequencies of occurrence of 13 of 16 species of seabirds that exhibited significant two-way ANOVAs exhibited primarily a water mass effect; only one species exhibited primarily a year effect, and two exhibited primarily an interaction (i.e., a change in habitat use between years).