ACCESS NUMBER: 10-15173

STUDY TITLE: SeabirdSamplesasResourcesfor Marine Environmental Assessment

REPORT TITLE: Seabird Samples as Resources for Marine Environmental Assessment

CONTRACT NUMBER: 1435-01-98-CA 30909; TASK ORDER (TO): 15173

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Alaska

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA: Alaska

FISCAL YEAR OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1999

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: June2004

COST: FY 1999: $70,798; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $70,798

PROJECT MANAGER: Kevin Winker

AFFILIATION: University of Alaska Fairbanks

ADDRESS: University of Alaska Museum, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775-6960

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR*: Kevin Winker

KEY WORDS: specimen collections, tissues, archiving, biomonitoring, environmental samples

BACKGROUND:

Archived specimens of seabirds are playing critical roles in many studies contrasting changes in time and space in

genetics, stable isotopes, and contaminants. Seabirds are excellent marine bioindicators, representing multiple

trophic levels and being espeaally rich at higher levels. Preserving and archiving multiple sample types from these

animals caters to an increasingly broad variety of researchers. By preserving these samples, we enable present and

future analyses for questions ranging from changes in contaminant levels, to the nature of populations and genetic

stocks in affected areas, to other issues related to Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) activities. Having the samples to

address retrospective and geographic comparative analyses is important for studying the rates and characteristics of

natural and anthropogenic changes.

OBJECTIVES:

Our objectives were to preserve and make available to the research community a substantially increased number of

marine and coastal bird samples from Alaska for studies ranging from contaminants and stable isotopes to genetics

and morphology.

DESCRIPTION:

CMI supported a half-time graduate research assistantship dedicated to developing the preserved seabird specimen

resource at the University of Alaska Museum. This position was used to recruit a high-quality Ph.D. student, and the

graduate support served as a platform for Deborah Rocque (Ph.D. 2003) to complete her Ph.D. program. Working

with Curator of Birds Kevin Winker and Collections Manager Daniel Gibson, Deb coordinated the acquisition and

preparation of seabird specimens. Matching time on the project was spent by Winker and Gibson in associated

cataloguing, archiving, permitting, limited field collection, and processing loan requests and specimen queries.
ACCESS NUMBER: TO-15173

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS:

Successful pursuit of the objective has substantially enhanced the UAM bird collection for sample-based hypothesis

testing, particularly questions addressing environmental changes from events such as contaminations and other OCS

activities impacting Alaska's marine environments. The rate of use of these samples is steadily increasing. Further,

the project has created a snowball effect in the cbposition of seabird specimens to UAM and has leveraged museum

support for a graduate assistantship to continue pursuit of this important work.

STUDY RESULTS:

This project had tremendous direct and indirect effects on seabird sample archiving at the University of Alaska

Museum. It produced substantially more archived specimens than initially projected: 600 were projected in the

proposal; 872 were preserved, or 45% more than forecast. It also served as a platform of support from which

doctoral student Deborah Rocque was recruited and accepted into our program (Department of Biology & Wildlife)

and under which she completed much of her dissertation research. This graduate student training opportunity has

been continued by the museum Thirteen visitors to the collection have used seabird specimens for their research,

and ten loans have been made to researchers worldwide studying Alaska seabirds. In sum, the project has been very

successful. This success will be built upon as we continue to preserve and archive seabirds and as researchers

continue to capitalize on this important and growing research resource.

STUDY PRODUCTS:

These theses and publications are not direct products of this project, but they have each used specimens resulting

from it in their development:

Abromaitis, G.E. 2000. A retrospective assessment of primary productivity on the Bering and Chukchi sea shelves

using stable isotope ratios in seabirds. M.S. thesis, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Piatt, J.F., and A.S. Kitasky. 2002. Homed Puffin (Fratercula corniculata), p. 1-27. In A. Poole and F. Gill

[eds.], The Birds of North America, No. 611. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia.

Rocque, D.A. 2003. Intrinsic markers in avian populations: Explorations in stable isotopes, contaminants, and

genetics. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Rocque, D.A., and K. Winker. 2004. Biomonitoring of contaminants in birds from two trophic levels in the North

Pacific. Environ. Toxicol. Cheni. 23(3):759-766.

Winker, K., D.D. Gibson, A.L. Sowls, B.E. Lawhead, P.D. Martin and E.P. Hoberg. 2002. The birds of St.

Matthew Island, Bering Sea. Wilson Bull. 11 4(4):491 -509. Institute Annual Report No. 9. OCS Study M MS 2003-

003, University of Alaska Fairbanks and USD01, MMS, Alaska OCS Region.

In addition there were approximately five presentations on this project.

*pls affiliation may be different than that listed for Project Manager.
Sample are

ACCESS NUMBER: TO-15173