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Effects of Human Disturbance on Breeding Least and Crested Auklets at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

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Effects of Human Disturbance on Breeding Least and Crested Auklets at St. Lawrence Island, Alaska EFFECTS OF HUMAN DISTURBANCE ON BREEDING LEAST AND CRESTED AUKLETS AT ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND, ALASKA JOHN F. PIATT, BAY D. ROBERTS,WAYNE W. LIDSTER, JOHN L. WELLS,AND SCOTTA. HATCH AlaskaFish and WildlifeResearch Center, U.S. Fish and WildlifeService, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage,Alaska 99503 USA A13STRACT.--Westudied breeding success,chick growth, and diets of Least (Aethia pusilla) and Crested (A. cristatella)auklets on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, in summer 1987. Least Auklets had higher breeding successon control plots (50-66%) than on disturbedplots (36%). Crested Auklets had a breeding successof 42% on disturbed plots. Predation by microfine rodents and weather accountedfor most natural chick mortality. Least Auklet chicks grew at a maximum rate of 4.9 g/day, and CrestedAuklet chicksat 12.8 g/day. LeastAuklet chicks were fed mostly copepods(Neocalanus plumchrus), whereas CrestedAuklet chicks were fed Thysanoessaeuphausiids. Received 13 December1988, accepted 30 November1989. LEASTAuklets (Aethia pusilla) and Crested bance. Because fewer Crested Auklets were Auklets (A. cristatella)are the most abundant found, they were studied at only one (high) planktivorousseabirds in the North Pacific,and level of disturbance. We also measured chick breeding populationscoexist at many colonies growth and collected food samples to deter- in the Bering Sea(Sowls et al. 1978).Both species mine the compositionof auklet diets. lay their eggsin natural crevicesformed in the rubble of talus slopes.There have been few de- STUDY AREA AND METHODS tailed studiesof auklet breeding biology, prob- ably becauseauklet colonies are remote, and The study was conductedfrom 28 May to 2 Sep- tember 1987at KongkokBay (63ø24'N, 171ø49'W) near breedingsites are difficult to observe.We stud- the southwesterncape of St. LawrenceIsland (Fig. 1). ied Least and Crested auklets on St. Lawrence The avifauna, climate, and seabird breeding habitats Island in summer 1987 to learn more about their of St. Lawrence Island have been describe•, elsewhere basicbreeding biology and to evaluatemethods (Fay and Cade 1959,B6dard 1969a, Sealy 1975). used to measurebreeding success. We establishedsixteen 200-m2 auklet study plots After several years of study on St. Lawrence on the southeast-facing(inland) talus slopeof Owalit Island, B6dard(1969a, b) describedthe breeding Mountain (Fig. 1). At least 20,000 auklets (2:1 Least/ habitat and diets of auklets, and Sealy (1968) Crested)breed on thoseslopes (Searing 1977,Piatt et reported on chick growth and development al. 1990).All 16 plotswere inspected 3-4 timesover (Sealy1973, 1981), factors that influencebreed- 13 daysduring the early egg-layingperiod to locate eggs,check the statusof previouslylocated eggs, and ing chronology(Sealy 1975,1984) and survival mark breeding sites. Some eggs were located after of eggs and chicks (Sealy 1982). Elsewhere, minor excavation,but mostwere locatedby a line-of- Knudtson and Byrd (1982) estimatedLeast and sight searchwith strong flashlights.All inspections Crestedauklet breeding successat Buldir Island were conducted during mid-day (1400-1800) when in the western Aleutians, and Roby and Brink attendanceby adults on the surface of talus slopes (1986) studied Least Auklet breeding biology was minimal (Piatt et al. 1990). LeastAuklet breeding during two summersat St. GeorgeIsland in the siteson one setof eight "Intensive"plots were checked Pribilofs. every day weather permitted through the hatching All previous investigators have noted the period (27 July-13 August),every 2-4 daysup to early negativeeffect of human disturbanceon auklet fledging (25 August), and every day possiblethere- after until 2 September.We recorded weights and breedingsuccess, but this factorhas never been wing-chord lengths of LeastAuklet chickson Inten- quantified. We attempted to measurethe effect sive plots only. To reducedisturbance, Least Auklet of human disturbance on auklet breeding suc- breedingsites in the other setof eight "Control" plots cessand to identify natural sourcesof egg and on Owalit Mountain were inspectedonly four times chick mortality. Selected Least Auklet study after the initial searchfor eggs (but seebelow). Least plots were subjectedto three levels of distur- Auklet chickswere not handled on Control plots. The 342 The Auk 107: 342-350. April 1990 April1990] BreedingBiology ofAuklets 343 final check of breeding sites on all plots (including thosebelow) was especiallythorough, and excavation was sometimes used to determine the status of chicks. On 23-25 July, in another set of eight control plots on the north-facingtalus slope of KongkokBasin (Fig. 1), we searchedLeast Auklet breeding sitesfor eggs. These plots were then checkedtwice before chicks fledged to determine the statusof chicks. Observer disturbancein Kongkokwas minimal comparedwith Owalit, where observerswere on the slopesdaily to checkplots and weigh chicks.Least Auklet densities were higher at Kongkok,and total numberswere far greater(ca. 1 million birds;Searing 1977,Platt et al. Kongkok 1990) than at Owalit. Becausewe located fewer Crest- Bay ed Auklet breedingsites, we studiedthem on all 16 Owalit plots with the same level of intensity as the "Intensive" LeastAuklet study plots. CrestedAuklet chicks were weighed and measuredin all 16 study plots. Although we tried to avoid disturbing Least Aukletsin their breedingcrevices, our work on Crest- ed Auklets increased disturbance to Least Auklets on the eight "Control" Owalit plots. It is difficult to monitor the breeding statusof Least and Crested auklets because neither builds a nest, and eggsor chicksare never in plain view. Detailedwrit- Fig. 1. Locationsof auklet study plots on Owalit ten instructionswith referenceto orangespray-paint- Mountain and in Kongkok Basin. ed marks and numbers on rocks were used to locate breeding sites again. When eggs and chicks disap- peared between site-checks,their fate was difficult to by native huntersin Gambellin May and from birds assess.Many reappearedon subsequentchecks, but shot near Kongkok Bay for diet studiesin June and those that never were locatedagain may have been July. To obtain samplesof chickmeals, we mist-netted taken by predators,moved permanently, or died of 56 Least Auklets and 5 Crested Auklets on Owalit other causes. Mountain between 7 August and 1 September,and Estimatesof hatchingsuccess were biasedbecause we retrieved the contentsof food regurgitated from eggs found at a late stage of incubation were more gular pouches.Food samplesfrom 18 Least and 49 likely to hatch than those found earlier (Mayfield Crestedauklets were obtainedfrom gular pouchesof 1975, Johnson 1979). To correct for that effect, we adultsshot near KongkokBay on 30 August.Collected calculatedhatching success(Mayfield 1975) as fol- meals were preserved in 5% formalin and later sub- lows: (1) we divided the total number of egg-days sampledand sortedto identify prey items. Weights observed by the total number of eggs lost, which of the various taxa identified were extrapolatedfrom yielded the egg-survivalrate per day; (2) we multi- numbersoccurring in subsamples(Springer and Ro- plied that rateby itself n times,where n is the average seneau 1985). number of incubation days, which yielded the egg- survival rate per season;and (3) we multiplied that rate by the proportion of eggssurviving to hatching RESULTS age (i.e. eggsthat actually hatched). For describingand contrastingchick growth rates, Breedingchronology.--We first observedLeast we followed Sealy (1973) and Gaston(1985) to deter- and CrestedAuklets near shore on 15 May, and mine the "instantaneous(maximum) growth rate" at at colonies near Gambell on 18 May. We in- the inflection point of the growth curve. We deter- spected breeding habitat at Owalit and Kong- mined maximumgrowth ratesfrom our own and pub- kok throughoutJune, and first eggswere found lisheddata by fitting the steepestpossible tangent to on 27 June at Owalit (4 Least and 1 Crested). compositegrowth curves(Gaston 1985). We calculat- Becausewe were rarely sure we had found an ed median chick weights for comparativepurposes as the midweight between hatching and asymptotic egg on the first day of incubation, only a few records were used to estimate auklet incubation weights (Gaston 1985). We also calculated t•0_90,the time (days)it took for chicksto grow from 10 to 90% periods(Table 1). Combinedwith hatching data of asymptoticweight (Ricklefs 1967). (Table 1, Fig. 2), we suggestthat median laying Adult body weightswere obtainedfrom birds shot occurred around 1-2 July. Only 4 of 369 eggs 344 Px^vrœt ^r. [Auk,Vol. 107 T^13Lœ1. Breedingchronology of Leastand Crestedauklets on St. LawrenceIsland in 1987. Least Auklet Crested Auklet n œ_+ SE Range n i + SE Range Incubation period (days) 31 30.1 _+ 0.51 25-39 20 33.8 + 0.63 29-40 Chick-rearingperiod (days) 34 29.3 + 0.37 25-33 6 33.2 + 0.05 27-36 Median laying date -- 1 Julya -- 2 Julya Median hatching 76 30 July 75 4 August Median fledging 38 28 August -- 6 September' Extrapolatedfrom median hatchingdates using mean incubationand chick-rearingperiods. (1.1%)were suspectedto havebeen re-lays (Ta- or abandonmentof eggson the Intensive study ble 2). plots. A higher proportion of eggsdisappeared Hatching was highly synchronous(Fig. 2). for unknown reasonson the lessdisturbed plots. Approximately80% of Leastand Crestedauklet Most CrestedAuklet egg losseswere from non- eggshatched over 7- and 10-day periods,re- hatching or abandonment. A smaller propor- spectively.Fledging of LeastAuklets was also
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