Foraging ecology of seabirds in the Bay of Fundy, Canada

Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica, Razorbills Alca torda, and Common guillemots Uria aalge are some of the most common seabirds breeding on islands throughout the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy (GMBF). Machias Seal Island is one of these colonies where a monitoring program of these species, which also collects breeding success and diet data, has been ongoing since 1995. Our long-term dataset shows that (1) the breeding success of these species has decreased in the past years, with Atlantic puffins reaching a new low in 2021 when breeding success was close to zero; (2) breeding success is influenced by the lack of high-quality prey, specifically herring, within the GMBF. (3) This has resulted in a diet shift of these seabirds towards less energetically dense prey, which has had subsequent effects on the growth and fitness of chicks upon fledging. (4) Although the percentage of herring in the diet of the three species has decreased, it was more pronounced on puffins.

The main goal of this project is to study the foraging areas and behaviour of Atlantic puffins, Razorbills, and Common guillemots nesting on Machias Seal Island by analysing tracking and diving data during their chick rearing season (2014, 2015, 2022, 2023) and relate them with the diet provided to their chicks. This way, we hope to understand why puffins are being more affected by the decrease in herring availability than the two other seabirds.

Requirements

The student will have the opportunity to learn more about seabird ecology as well as movement ecology by analyzing tracking and diving data collected by GPS and temperature-depth loggers, and foraging ecology by analyzing an extensive diet dataset. The student will need some knowledge of R, as it will be the main tool used for the analysis. There is the opportunity to be part of the writing and publishing process of the manuscript.

The starting date is flexible, and duration can be adjusted according to the needs of the student. The research will be done at the NIOZ Department of Coastal Systems on the island of Texel, the Netherlands. 

Contact

For more information and to apply, please contact Dr. Joana Romero-Henriques (joana.romero@nioz.nl), NIOZ. The second supervisor will be Dr. Heather Major from the University of New Brunswick in Canada.