Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Evaluation Salish Sea marine bird Indicators with insights from recent research by professional and citizen scientists

Marine birds are often viewed as good ecological indicators because they are relatively well studied and time-series data are often available, our understanding of their population biology is often extremely high, some species are tightly linked to their prey resources and, as upper trophic predators, they offer an integrative view of the dynamics at lower levels of the food web. In 2014, at-sea abundance and trends of the rhinoceros auklet, pigeon guillemot, marbled murrelet and scoters were collectively selected by the Puget Sound Partnership as indicators of the health of the Puget Sound marine food web. Long-term trends for these species are mixed with some species exhibiting relatively stable populations (e.g., rhinoceros auklet) and others are decreasing (e.g., marbled murrelet). In the absence of additional information, it is difficult to identify population change drivers. Fortunately, ongoing research by U.S. and Canadian academic and governmental researchers and citizen scientists (e.g., COASST, Puget Sound Seabird Survey, and Guillemot Research Group) are providing new insights into both population distributions and changes in population abundance. Specifically, these efforts have: (1) identified hotspots of species distributions, (2) evaluated the role of contamination, plastics and disease on population health, (3) evaluated the relative influence of various marine factors on population distribution and abundance, and (4) provided critical measurements of bird vital rates, measurements that are key to understanding population changes.