Sheffield Guy et al.: Ocean conditions, diet and productivity of auklets 227 THE INFLUENCE OF DIET AND OCEAN CONDITIONS ON PRODUCTIVITY OF AUKLETS ON ST LAWRENCE ISLAND, ALASKA LISA M. SHEFFIELD GUY1,2, DANIEL D. ROBY1, ADRIAN E. GALL1,3, DAVID B. IRONS4 & IAN C. ROSE1 1USGS–Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, 97331, USA (
[email protected]) 2Current address: 11539 Corliss Avenue N, Seattle, Washington, 98133, USA 3Current address: ABR, Inc., PO Box 80410, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99708, USA 4Migratory Bird Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska, 99503, USA Received 2 October 2008, accepted 30 September 2009 SUMMARY SHEFFIELD GUY, L.M., ROBY, D.D., GALL, A.E., IRONS, D.B. & ROSE, I.C. 2009. The influence of diet and ocean conditions on productivity of auklets on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Marine Ornithology 37: 227–236. A warming trend since the early 1990s is changing the Bering Sea ecosystem, causing increased sea surface temperatures and reduced sea ice cover. Models suggest that these changes may alter the availability of prey to a diverse array of upper trophic level consumers, including seabirds. To better understand how seabird productivity would be affected by potential changes in prey availability and ocean conditions in the Bering Sea, we studied the two most abundant species of planktivorous seabirds in the region, Least Auklets Aethia pusilla and Crested Auklets A. cristatella nesting on St Lawrence Island. We investigated the relationships between chick survival, taxonomic composition of chick diets, timing of sea ice retreat, winter sea ice cover, and flow through the Bering Strait during 2000–2004.