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Foraging Habitat and Prey Taken by Least Auklets at King Island, Alaska

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Foraging Habitat and Prey Taken by Least Auklets at King Island, Alaska MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES Vol. 65: 141-150, 1990 Published August 2 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. Foraging habitat and prey taken by least auklets at King Island, Alaska George L. Hunt, Jr, Nancy M. Harrison* Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, California 92717, USA ABSTRACT: We examined the foraging distribution and prey use of least auklets Aethia pusilla breeding on King Island in the northern Bering Sea. The locat~onof the King Island colony, in Alaska Coastal Water, but within auklet flight range of the oceanic Anadyr Current and the Anadyr-influenced Bering Shelf Water, provided an opportunity to ident~fythe preferred foraging hab~tatof the least auklet. Least auklets fed on Neocalanus plumchrus, N.cnstatus, Eucalanus bungii, and shrimp larvae, all present in Anadyr Current and in Bering Shelf Water. In early June 1984 and July 1985, auklet foraging was concentrated at and just beyond a front ca 30 km west of Klng Island, separating Alaska Coastal Water from Bering Shelf Water to the west, large copepods of oceanic ongin occurred throughout Bering Shelf Water. Data from 1985 indicated varlabllity In the path of the Anadyr Current; rapid changes also took place in the distribution of the least auklets' planktonic prey. In late July 1985, we documented an intrusion of Anadyr Water from 45 km to withln 25 km of King Island. Least auklets often overflew the Alaska Coastal Water and foraged in stratified Benng Shelf Water, and in Anadyr Water beyond the front. In 1986, Alaska Coastal Current Water overlaid Bering Shelf Water in much of the area to the west of King Island and a majority of auklets foraged where Bering Shelf Water was closest to the surface. Throughout the study, foraglng least auklets were absent from the Alaska Coastal Current near King Island, even though alternative prey, Calanus rnarshallae, taken elsewhere by breeding least auklets, were present. We conclude that at King Island least auklets sought specific preferred prey in stratified water and near fronts and shifted their foraging over large distances in response to the mobile marine habitat in which their prey were abundant. INTRODUCTION birds in the vicinity of their breedlng colonies have long been of interest. Initial emphasis focused on the possi- Marine birds forage in habitats that are patchy and bility of density-dependent limitation of seabird num- dynamic. Within habitats, prey patches are ephemeral, bers due to intraspecific competition for prey near with large prey patches generally lasting longer than colonies (e.g.Ashmole 1963,Gaston et al. 1983, Furness small patches (Steele 1976, Haury et al. 1978). Addi- &Birkhead 1984, Hunt et al. 1986),and themechanisms tionally, the habitats themselves are mobile, with ani- for resource partitioning by which interspecific com- mal communities carried by currents. Thus, breeding petition might be reduced (e.g. Ashmole & Ashmole marine birds foraging from a central place not only 1967, Bedard 1969). Cody (1973) suggested that the have to locate patches of prey within a given habitat, principal means of resource partitioning in coexisting but also must respond to movements of the water mass species of alcids (e.g. auks, puffins) was the use of within which the patches of preferred prey occur. We foraging zones at different distances from their col- report here the foraging distribution of least auklets onies. Bedard (1976) showed that much of Cody's Aethia pusilla breeding on King Island, northern Be- interpretation was flawed. Bedard suggested that the ring Sea, Alaska, in relation to water masses supporting foraging distribution of alcids near their colonies was different communities of zooplankton on which these more likely to be determined by '. the general water auklets feed. circulation and oceanographic conditions. .' in the vi- Factors determining the distribution of foraging sea- cinity of the colony. Recently, Kinder et al. (1983)found that frontal systems associated with shoaling of water Present address: Nature Conservancy Council, l? Rub~slaw near the Pribilof Islands (Alaska) supported higher Terrace, Aberdeen AB1 IXE, Scotland numbers of foraglng birds than expected by chance. 0 Inter-Research/Printed in F. R. Germany 142 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 65: 141-150, 1990 To the extent that preferred prey are restricted to for the large copepod species present in the Anadyr certain water masses, the distribution of the water Current and Berning Shelf Water, as suggested by masses is likely to limit the location of seabird breed- Bedard (1969) and Drury et al. (1981). ing colonies (Hunt et al. in press). In the Bering Sea, Hunt et al. (1981) suggested that the distribution of least auklet colonies was determined by the availabil- STUDY AREA AND SPECIES ity of particular copepod prey. Later, Springer & Roseneau (1985) showed that the available biomass of The Chirikov Basin of the northern Bering Sea is '. three species of large calanoids, two characteristic dominated by 2 currents that flow northward through of the outer shelf domain and one of the middle shelf the Bering Strait: the Anadyr Current and the Alaska domain.. .' (Iverson et al. 1979, Kinder & Schumacher Coastal Current (Fig. 1). Water in the Anadyr Current 1981) account for the distribution and abundance of originates in the deep Bering Sea, mixes with cold breeding least auklets in the eastern Bering Sea. In water in the Gulf of Anadyr and sweeps northeast, into the northern Bering Sea, the Anadyr Current trans- the shallow Chirikov Basin (50 m depth), and through ports plankton from the waters over the continental the Bering Strait (Coachman et al. 1975).Anadyr Water shelf break into the shallow Chirikov Basin, where an IS cold and highly saline. The Alaska Coastal Current abundant avifauna depends on this imported food enters the Chirikov Basin from Norton Sound. It is a web (Bedard 1969, Springer & Roseneau 1985, relatively warm water mass of low salinity derived from Springer et al. 1987). the coastal domain water of the southeastern Bering In this study, we examined the foraging ecology of Sea and augmented by the outflow of the Yukon hver least auklets nesting on King Island (see below and (Coachman et al. 1975, Kinder & Schumacher 1981). Fig. 1). Birds nesting on King Island have access to 2 Sandwiched between these currents in the Chirikov communities of copepods. Large species, characteristic Basin north of St. Lawrence Island is Bering Shelf of the deep oceanic and shelf edge waters, are present Water, intermediate In salinity between Anadyr and both in Bering Shelf Water and in waters transported Alaska Coastal Water and itself a mixture of water from northward by the Anadyr Current. Smaller copepods, the deep Bering Sea and cold bottom water present on characteristic of the coastal waters, are carried through the seasonally frozen, northern Bering Sea shelf the Chirikov Basin in the Alaska Coastal Current. Our (Coachman et al. 1975). The 3 water types present research focused on whether the auklets would feed on north of St. Lawrence Island differ in density, and the these smaller copepods near IOng Island, or whether hydrographic structure of the region is marked by they would overfly the Alaska Coastal Water to forage fronts where density gradients are steep. The system is ward Peninsula Chukorsk~yPeninsul Fjg. 1. Study area, showing the relationship between King Island, the Bering Stra~t,and the major currents entering the Chirikov Ba- sin. The transects are KD trom King Island to the United States-Soviet Union Convention Line, KE, to the east of King Island, and KWSW, a line run only on 2 August 1985, while in transit to St. Lawrence Island Hunt & Harrison. Manne habitat use by least auklets 143 dynamic with strong fluctuations and an overall aver- Table 1. Aethia pusilla. Least auklet numbers on short trans- age flow into the Bering Strait in summer of about ects rad~atingfrom King Island, 1 and 2 July 1984 l Sverdrup (Coachman et al. 1975, Springer et al. 1989). Ing Island (Fig. l) is usually surrounded by Direction from Time (h) On water Flying Alaska Coastal Water. King Island km-' km-' The northern Bering Sea is the center of breedlng distribution for the least auklet, wlth colonles support- ing in excess of 2 mlllion birds in the region that includes St. Lawrence Island and the islands of the Bering Strait (Sowls et al. 1978).Throughout the Bering Sea, most least auklet colonies are located near the shelf edge, or near oceanic currents originating in deep water (Sowls et al. 1978). Studies during the breeding season indicate that least auklets feed on large calanoid copepods (Bedard 1969, Hunt et al. 1981, nary transects to the east, north and west of the island. Springer & Roseneau 1985, Roby & Brink 1986). The On 1 and 2 July 1984, we conducted a series of tran- large calanoid copepods Neocalanus cristatus (l0 mm), sects radiating out from Ing Island 30 km to the east N. plumchrus (5 mm), and Eucalanus bungii (8 mm) and 18.7 km to the north, south, southwest and west. generally occur in the oceanic waters of the Bering Sea Based on the results of these transects (Table l),and as well as in currents originating in deep water (Brod- observations of flight patterns of least auklets depart- skii 1950, Smith & Vidal 1984, Vidal & Smith 1986, ing and returning to King Island, we concentrated our Springer et al. 1989). Least auklets also take the smaller observations along a line from 30 km east of IOng Calanus marshallae (4.5mm) (e.g. at St. Matthew Island to 80 km west of the island (Fig. 1).The eastern Island; Springer & Roseneau 1985, Hunt unpubl.), extent of the line was determined by shoal water near which occurs In shelf water of the middle domain the Seward Peninsula.
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