Warmer Waters Disrupt Pacific Food Chain

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/jul/22/072205575.html

FARALLON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Calif. (AP) -

On these craggy, remote islands west of San Francisco, the largest seabird colony in the contiguous United States throbs with life. Seagulls swarm so thick that visitors must yell to be heard above their cries. Pelicans glide.

But the steep decline of one bird species for the second straight year has rekindled scientists' fears that global warming could be undermining the coastal food supply, threatening not just the Farallones but entire marine ecosystems.

Tiny Cassin's auklets live much of their lives on the open ocean. But in spring, these gray-and-white relatives of the puffin venture to isolated Pacific outposts like the Farallones to dig deep burrows and lay their eggs.

Adult auklets usually feed their chicks with krill, the minuscule shrimp-like crustaceans that anchor the ocean's complex food web.

[Stargazer99]

1. Save the birds? you might have to stop worshipping mammon

Since this nation is in the grip of "those that own the means of production" and will not change their ways even if it means killing half the planet...it is going to continue until the general public gets its head out of the sand and starts THINKING FOR THEMSELVES.

[XemaSab]

2. Lot of interesting stuff happening offshore right now

HUGE pelican die-offs, Cook's petrals regular on deepwater pelagics...