ReFER II: Regime Forcing and Ecosystem Response

<body bgcolor="#ffffff"> </body> <p>Welcome to the the ReFER II project: Regime Forcing and Ecosystem Response. This is a three-year project assessing diet and physiology of seabirds in relation to oceanography and climate. We use quantitative fatty acid (QFASA) techniques as well as quantification of the stress hormone corticosterone to compare many species of planktivorous and piscivorous seabirds breeding on 3 very different islands in the Bering Sea of Alaska: St. Paul, St. George and Buldir. Murres, kittiwakes and auklets have different diets and foraging ecology. We sample birds three times during the breeding season to look at intra as well as inter- annual differences in food availability and stress physiology. We hope to gain insights into the interactions among climate variability, local oceanography, food availability, stress physiology (endocrinology) and reproductive success in alcids (murres and auklets) and larids (kitiwakes). This is a collaborative effort among Drs. Sara Iverson, Alexander Kitaysky, and Alan Springer. Unfortunately, this is a frames-based page and if you are viewing this text your browser does not support frames.</p>