Research about East Sand Island

USGS2017

Top-down and bottom-up interactions influence fledging success at North America’s largest colony of Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia)

Our study investigated the influence of bottom-up and top-down drivers on the declining fledging success at a once thriving breeding colony of Caspian terns ( Hydroprogne caspia ). Situated at the mouth of the Columbia River, OR, East Sand Island (ESI) is home to the largest Caspian tern breeding colony in North America. Since 2001, the decline in fledging success of Caspian terns at ESI has been associated with a significant increase in average river discharge during May and June. During the years 2001–2011, the abundance of forage fish available to terns in the estuary was inversely related to river discharge. This relationship also apparently affected the reliance of nest predators on the tern colony as a food source, resulting in increased disturbance and decreased fledging success at the tern colony in years of higher river discharge. There was a significant longitudinal increase in disturbance rates by bald eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) during June for terns nesting at the ESI colony, and eagle disturbance rates were positively associated with May river discharge. We also found a significant increase in kleptoparasitism rates of terns by hybrid glaucous-winged/western gulls ( Larus glaucescens x Larus occidentalis ) since 2001, and Caspian tern fledging success at ESI decreased with increasing average annual rates of gull kleptoparasitism. Our results support the hypothesis that the decline in Caspian tern fledging success at this large estuarine colony was primarily driven by the interaction of bottom-up and top-down factors, influencing tern fledging success through the food supply and triggering potential predators to identify the tern breeding colony as an alternative source of prey.

East Sand Island↗

USGS2011

Validating growth and development of a seabird as an indicator of food availability: Captive-reared Caspian Tern chicks fed ad libitum and restricted diets

For seabirds raising young under conditions of limited food availability, reducing chick provisioning and chick growth rates are the primary means available to avoid abandonment of a breeding effort. For most seabirds, however, baseline data characterizing chick growth and development under known feeding conditions are unavailable, so it is difficult to evaluate chick nutritional status as it relates to foraging conditions near breeding colonies. To address this need, we examined the growth and development of young Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia), a cosmopolitan, generalist piscivore, reared in captivity and fed ad libitum and restricted (ca. one-third lower caloric intake) diets. Ad libitum-fed chicks grew at similar rates and achieved a similar size at fledging as previously documented for chicks in the wild and had energetic demands that closely matched allometric predictions. We identified three general characteristics of food-restricted Caspian Tern chicks compared to ad libitum chicks: (1) lower age-specific body mass, (2) lower age-specific skeletal and feather size, such as wing chord length, and (3) heightened levels of corticosterone in blood, both for baseline levels and in response to acute stress. Effects of diet restriction on feather growth (10–11% slower growth in diet-restricted chicks) were less pronounced than effects on structural growth (37–52% slower growth) and body mass (24% lower at fledging age) apparently due to preferential allocation of food resources to maintain plumage growth. Our results suggest that measurements of chick body mass and feather development (e.g., wing chord or primary length) or measurement of corticosterone levels in the blood would allow useful evaluation of the nutritional status of chicks reared in the wild and of food availability in the foraging range of adults. Such evaluations could also inform demography studies (e.g., predict future recruitment) and assist in evaluating designated piscivorous waterbird conservation (colony) sites.

Oregon↗