Farallon Institute

THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS NEW PROJECT ARE TO (I) CONTINUE TO IMPROVE DATA DISTRIBUTION AND INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES (II) INCORPORATE NEW SATELLITE DATA AND NEW ALGORITHMS FOR SST ANALYSIS AND (III) FOCUS ON IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF SATELLITE-DERIVED SSTS IN THE ARCTIC.

GLOBAL ANALYSIS OF STRATIFICATION IMPACTS ON SEABIRDS THROUGH FOOD RESOURCES -GLOBAL WARMING IS AFFECTING THE WORLD?S OCEANS BY ALTERING MARINE HABITATS, YET THE EFFECTS ON MARINE LIFE VARY BY OCEAN REGION. ONE FACTOR THAT MAY EXPLAIN THESE OBSERVATIONS IS THAT OCEAN SURFACE WATERS HAVE WARMED FASTER THAN DEEPER WATERS. TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCES MAY ACT AS A PHYSICAL BARRIER TO MIXING, THEREBY IMPEDING DEEPER NUTRIENTS FROM REACHING THE SUNLIT SURFACE WHERE THEY ARE USED BY OCEAN PLANTS IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS. WITH LESS MIXING, THE UPPER LAYERS OF THE OCEAN MAY HAVE BECOME LESS PRODUCTIVE, WHICH MAY IN TURN IMPACT MARINE FISH, BIRD, AND MAMMAL POPULATIONS OF ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL (ECOLOGICAL) VALUE TO SOCIETY. TO CONDUCT THIS STUDY, THE INVESTIGATORS ARE EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF OCEAN WARMING BY DEPTH ON THE ABUNDANCE OF PLANKTON, SMALL FISH, AND THE BREEDING SUCCESS OF MARINE BIRDS ACROSS THE WORLD USING EXISTING LONG-TERM DATA. THEY ARE DEVELOPING MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS TO UNDERSTAND HOW OCEAN WARMING AT VARIOUS DEPTHS IS LINKED TO PLANKTON, FISH, AND BIRD PRODUCTIVITY. RESULTS WILL PROVIDE KEY INFORMATION FOR SELECTING WHICH SEABIRD SPECIES MAY BE BEST SUITED AS ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF CHANGE FOR DIFFERENT ECOSYSTEMS ACROSS THE GLOBE, AND THEREFORE HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR REMOTE-OCEAN MONITORING. THE PROJECT WILL CONTRIBUTE NEW SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING FOR UPCOMING UNITED NATION ASSESSMENT REPORTS AND ENHANCE PUBLIC AWARENESS OF OCEAN HEALTH THROUGH OUTREACH MATERIALS CENTERED ON POPULAR SEABIRDS SUCH AS PUFFINS AND PENGUINS. IT WILL SUPPORT EARLY CAREER AND POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTISTS. OCEAN THERMAL STRATIFICATION IS AN IMPORTANT FACTOR DETERMINING PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY IN EPIPELAGIC ZONES OF THE WORLD?S OCEANS. A RECENT GLOBAL ANALYSIS SHOWED DECLINING TRENDS IN THE BREEDING PRODUCTIVITY OF FISH-EATING SEABIRDS THAT FORAGE IN THE EPIPELAGIC ZONE, BUT INCREASING STRATIFICATION HAS YET TO BE INVESTIGATED AS AN EXPLANATORY FACTOR. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SEABIRD SPECIES GROUPS VARY IN THEIR RESPONSES TO INCREASING THERMAL STRATIFICATION THROUGH THE INDIRECT EFFECTS OF STRATIFICATION ON EPIPELAGIC FOOD RESOURCE AVAILABILITY AND/OR PREY USE BY THE BIRDS. THE INVESTIGATORS ARE TESTING THE PREDICTION THAT THERMAL STRATIFICATION HAS THE LARGEST EFFECT ON BREEDING PRODUCTIVITY OF PISCIVOROUS, SURFACE-FORAGING SPECIES. THEY ARE INTEGRATING A NEW GLOBAL DATABASE ON SEABIRD PRODUCTIVITY WITH HIGH-RESOLUTION DATA ON THERMAL STRATIFICATION AVAILABLE FROM THE EUROPEAN GLORYS MODEL, AS WELL AS SATELLITE-BASED CHLOROPHYLL-A DATA FROM NASA. THEY ARE USING GENERALIZED LINEAR MIXED MODELS TO TEST FOR VARIATION BETWEEN SEABIRD GROUPS AND STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELS TO TEST DIRECT AND INDIRECT PATHWAYS OF RESPONSE FROM STRATIFICATION THROUGH PREY AVAILABILITY TO SEABIRD PRODUCTIVITY, FOCUSING ON MID-TO-HIGH LATITUDE ECOSYSTEMS ACROSS OCEAN BASINS IN BOTH THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES. RESULTS WILL IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW SEABIRDS RESPOND TO INCREASING THERMAL STRATIFICATION IN RELATION TO FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN SEABIRD LIFE HISTORY TRAITS. THE RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS WILL ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE OF HOW SEABIRDS THAT FEED ON DIFFERENT PREY, AND IN DIFFERENT EPIPELAGIC HABITATS OF THE WORLD?S OCEANS, HAVE RESPONDED TO RECENT INCREASES IN STRATIFICATION. MORE GENERALLY, THE STUDY WILL CONTRIBUTE INSIGHT INTO HOW PHYSICAL CHANGES IN THE UPPER OCEAN AFFECT PREDATORS THROUGH THE AVAILABILITY OF FOOD RESOURCES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

SEABIRD MONITORING AND RESEARCH COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT

THE TOTAL BUDGET OF THIS PROPOSAL FOR 2 YEARS IS $333 858 OF WHICH $133 858 WOULD GO DIRECTLY TO FI IN ORDER TO PAY FOR SALARIES TRAVEL AND PUBLICATION COSTS FOR FI TEAM MEMBERS AND $200 000 GOING TO SAILDRONE AS A SUBCONTRACTOR.

SEABIRD MONITORING AND RESEARCH ON ALCATRAZ ISLAND

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ULTRA-DATA: HARMONIZING AT-SEA SEABIRD SURVEYS AT THREE MARINE LTER SITES TO UNCOVER COMMUNITY RESPONSES FROM THE SUBARCTIC TO ANTARCTIC -USE AND REUSE OF LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL DATA IS NEEDED FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES ARE RESPONDING TO A CHANGING WORLD. IN MARINE ENVIRONMENTS, KEY DATA INCLUDES LARGE-SCALE PATTERNS SUCH AS EL NI?O, OCEAN CONDITIONS SUCH AS SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND WINDS, AND BIOLOGICAL DATA SUCH AS THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF FOOD RESOURCES AND MARINE WILDLIFE. THESE CORE DATA ARE OFTEN COLLECTED IN NON-STANDARDIZED WAYS, WHICH MAKES IT A CHALLENGE TO COMPARE PATTERNS OF BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE ACROSS DIFFERENT REGIONS OR MARINE ECOSYSTEMS. THE LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) NETWORK PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE COMPARISONS BETWEEN SITES AS THEY SHARE SIMILARITIES IN CONCEPTUAL DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES. IN THIS ULTRA-DATA PROJECT, A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS IS HARMONIZING ECOLOGICAL DATA FROM THREE DIFFERENT LTER SITES REPRESENTING TEMPERATE (CALIFORNIA CURRENT), SUBPOLAR (NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA) AND POLAR (ANTARCTIC PENINSULA) MARINE ECOSYSTEMS. THESE THREE SITES ARE INFLUENCED BY GLOBAL-SCALE PROCESSES AND EACH PROVIDES COMPARABLE LOCAL DATA ON OCEAN CONDITIONS, LOWER TROPHIC LEVEL PLANKTONIC FOOD RESOURCES (EUPHAUSIID CRUSTACEANS, ALSO KNOWN AS ?KRILL?), AND UPPER TROPHIC LEVEL CONSUMERS (SEABIRDS). THE INVESTIGATORS ARE TESTING THE IDEA THAT SEABIRD POPULATIONS AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ARE AFFECTED BY LOCAL OCEAN CONDITIONS (HABITAT QUALITY) AND FOOD RESOURCE AVAILABILITY, AFFECTED BY LARGER-SCALE PROCESSES AS OBSERVED DURING EL NI?O. RESULTS FROM THIS STUDY ARE HELPING SCIENTISTS AND MARINE STAKEHOLDERS UNDERSTAND HOW CHANGING OCEAN CONDITIONS AND FOOD AVAILABILITY AFFECT MARINE BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES. THIS STUDY IS REVEALING WHETHER LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY IS AFFECTING DISPARATE MARINE ECOSYSTEMS SIMILARLY OR IF RESPONSE MECHANISMS DIFFER BETWEEN REGIONS. THIS RESEARCH IS SUPPLYING CROSS-ECOSYSTEM KNOWLEDGE TO HELP INFORM MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION. THE SCIENTISTS ARE ALSO TRAINING YOUNGER RESEARCHERS, INCLUDING EARLY-CAREER SCIENTISTS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND AN UNDERGRADUATE INTERN. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES A GAP IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW MARINE BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES RESPOND TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE BY CONDUCTING CROSS-ECOSYSTEM SYNTHESES ON THE CLIMATE RESPONSES OF GEOGRAPHICALLY DISPARATE BUT FUNCTIONALLY ANALOGOUS PREY AND PREDATOR COMMUNITIES. SEABIRD COMMUNITIES ARE AN IDEAL METRIC FOR REGIONAL COMPARISONS, AS THEIR LOCAL DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE CAN REFLECT BOTH SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS, AND GEOGRAPHICALLY UNRELATED SEABIRD COMMUNITIES RETAIN SIMILAR FUNCTIONAL COMPOSITIONS (E.G. DIVERS VS. FLIERS, PLANKTIVORES VS. PISCIVORES, ETC.). BY LEVERAGING DATA AVAILABLE FROM THREE DIFFERENT LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (LTER) SITES, THIS PROJECT IS TESTING HOW LOCAL OCEAN CONDITIONS AFFECT SEABIRD ABUNDANCE, DIVERSITY, AND COMMUNITY COMPOSITION ACROSS THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT ECOSYSTEM (CCE), NORTHERN GULF OF ALASKA (NGA), AND ANTARCTIC PENINSULA (PAL). THESE THREE REGIONS REPRESENT TEMPERATE, SUBPOLAR AND POLAR ECOSYSTEMS, YET ARE STRUCTURALLY LINKED BY LARGE-SCALE PACIFIC CLIMATE MODES INCLUDING THE EL NI?O SOUTHERN OSCILLATION, PACIFIC DECADAL OSCILLATION, AND SOUTHERN ANNULAR MODE. THE THREE LTER SITES HAVE COLLECTED SIMILAR LONG-TERM DATASETS ON OCEANOGRAPHY (HYDROGRAPHIC CASTS), PREY (NET-SAMPLED EUPHAUSIIDS), AND SEABIRDS (AT-SEA VISUAL OBSERVATION SURVEYS). DATA ARE THUS BEING HARMONIZED INTO 30+ YEAR DATASETS TO INVESTIGATE BOTTOM-UP LINKAGES BETWEEN CLIMATE MODES, LOCAL OCEANOGRAPHIC PATTERNS, AND LOCAL PREY/PREDATOR VARIABILITY. GENERALIZED ADDITIVE MIXED MODELS (GAMMS) AND HIERARCHICAL MODELING OF SPECIES COMMUNITIES (HMSC) ARE BEING USED TO TEST BIOPHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS, INCLUDING THE EVALUATION OF TEMPORAL EFFECTS SUCH AS DIRECT AND LAGGED EFFECTS OF CLIMATE MODE VARIABILITY. THE INTEGRATIVE AND CROSS-ECOSYSTEM FRAMEWORK UTILIZES VALUABLE DATA PROVIDED BY LTER SITES, IDENTIFIES UNKNOWN DYNAMICS UNDERLYING ECOSYSTEM SYNCHRONY AND DIVERGENCE, AND PROVIDES MECHANISTIC PERSPECTIVES ON HOW REGIONAL BIOPHYSICAL PROCESSES CONTRIBUTE TO PRODUCTIVE AND GLOBALLY IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COUPLED CLIMATE STRESSORS ALONG THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA: DROUGHT, MARINE HEAT WAVES, HABS, AND HYPOXIA

ECOSYSTEM BASED MANAGEMENT AND APEX PREDATORS IN THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM

SEABIRDS, FORAGE FISH, AND MARINE CLIMATE CHANGE IN ALASKA

BEYOND THE SPRING TRANSITION: WINTER PRE-CONDITIONING OF ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SENTINEL SPECIES AND FISHERIES

SEABIRDS AS INDICATORS OF FORAGE FISH STOCKS AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS IN ALASKA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EFFECTS OF CHANGING TEMPERATURE ON THE GULF OF ALASKA ECOSYSTEM

AN EARLY-WARNING INDEX FOR ABRUPT CHANGE IN NORTHEAST PACIFIC ECOSYSTEMS

ECOSYSTEM BASED MANAGEMENT AND APEX PREDATORS IN THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM

15.944 NATURAL RESOURCE STEWARDSHIPSAM.GOV LINK: CLICK HERE FOR THE SAM.GOV ASSISTANCE LISTINGTEMPLATE: THE NATURAL RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM IS THE PRINCIPLE MEANS THROUGH WHICH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS) EVALUATES AND IMPROVES THE HEALTH OF WATERSHEDS, LANDSCAPES, AND MARINE AND COASTAL RESOURCES, SUSTAINS BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES ON THE LANDS AND WATERS IN PARKS, AND ACTIVELY ENDEAVORS TO IMPROVE THE RESILIENCY OF THESE NATURAL RESOURCES AND ADAPT THEM TO THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. TO CARRY OUT AND FURTHER THIS STEWARDSHIP RESPONSIBILITY, NPS IMPLEMENTS PROGRAMS THAT ENCOMPASS A BROAD RANGE OF RESEARCH, OPERATIONAL, AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES BY UTILIZING PARK PERSONNEL AND CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS. THIS COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT SUPPORTS A LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP TO CONDUCT RESEARCH, MONITOR, PROVIDE MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS, AND DEVELOP PUBLIC OUTREACH TO BENEFIT ALCATRAZ SEABIRDS. IN 2025, THERE WERE APPROXIMATELY 40,000 SEABIRDS ON ALCATRAZ AT THE PEAK OF THE BREEDING SEASON, AND THIS PARTNERSHIP SUPPORTS NPS IN BALANCING THE PROTECTION OF THIS REGIONALLY SIGNIFICANT SEABIRD NESTING COLONY WITH PROVIDING ACCESS FOR OVER 5,000 VISITORS TO THE ISLAND EACH DAY, AND THE MAINTENANCE AND REHABILITATION PROJECTS FOR THIS NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK DISTRICT DESIGNATED SITE. THE ALCATRAZ ISLAND SEABIRD NESTING COLONY HAS GROWN AND BECOME MORE SIGNIFICANT OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, AND IT PROVIDES ONE OF THE ONLY CLOSE UP VIEWING OPPORTUNITIES FOR VISITORS TO OBSERVE COLONIAL NESTING SEABIRDS. BENEFICIARIES INCLUDE THE GENERAL PUBLIC.

ECOSYSTEM BASED MANAGEMENT AND APEX PREDATORS IN THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM

ECOSYSTEM BASED MANAGEMENT AND APEX PREDATORS IN THE CALIFORNIA CURRENT SYSTEM

FARALLON INSTITUTE SEABIRD MONITORING AND RESEARCH COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT