Alaska - Seabird Die-Off "Much Greater" Than Prior Events; Suspicions That Warming = Starvation

[hatrack]

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Winter storms can affect murres' ability to hunt. An estimated 185,000 common murres died in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Researchers estimate that 120,000 died in a 1993 winter event. But this year is different. "The length of time we've been seeing dead birds, and the geographic scope, is much greater than before in other die-off events," said Kathy Kuletz, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "We're looking at many times that. So possibly a good chunk of the population."

In 2008, Irons was lead author on a research paper that correlated natural die-offs to climate change and rising ocean temperatures. Using data from murre colonies around the circumpolar north, researchers found murres died in years when ocean surface temperature water increased by just a few degrees.

Murre prey such as capelin, a forage fish in the smelt family, live in a narrow band of cool water, said Irons, who retired last year after 36 years with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska and California. "If the water (temperature) goes above that threshold, they're out of there," Irons said. "They either die or they move."

No one monitors forage fish off Alaska, Irons said. "So when they're gone, no one has any information on them to show that they're gone, except birds are showing us they're gone," he said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/starvation-suspected-massive-die-off-alaska-seabirds-36229541

[Judi Lynn]

1. Painful news. People need to know. Thank you. n/t