Climate change, reproductive performance and diet composition of marine birds in the southern California Current system, 1969–1997

Abstract

We studied the effects of low-frequency climate change on the reproductive performance of 11 species of marine bird in the southern California Current system, 1969–1997. Reproductive performance of Brown Pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis) and Double-crested Cormorant ( Phalacrocrax auritus) in southern California demonstrated an increase in the 1970s and early 1980s, attributable to recovery from organochlorine contamination (primarily DDE). Brandt's Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax penicillatus) in central California was the only species to demonstrate a secular increase in performance through time, a pattern that remains unexplained. Ashy Storm-petrel ( Oceanodroma homochroa) and Pelagic Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax pelagicus) demonstrated curvilinear patterns of change, with decreasing reproductive performance in the past decade. All other species including Western Gull ( Larus occidentalis), Pigeon Guillemot ( Cepphus columba), Xantus's Murrelet ( Synthiloboramphus hypoleucus), Common Murre ( Uria aalge), Cassin's Auklet ( Ptychoramphus aleuticus) and Rhinoceros Auklet ( Cerorhinca monocerata) showed diminishing reproductive performance through time. Patterns of change for the murre and auklets were not significant, presumably because of a lack of reproductive variation for these species, which display a conservative breeding effort (i.e. single-egg clutches). Changes in the birds' abilities to provision young and maintain chick survival during May–July each year appeared most closely related to overall changes in reproductive performance. Dietary change indicated a decline in use of juvenile rockfish ( Sebastes spp.) by marine birds in central California. There was also significant interannual variability in consumption of juvenile rockfish and the euphausiid Thysanoessa spinifera. Patterns of change in marine bird reproductive performance were generally concordant between southern and central California after considering the period of recovery for Brown Pelican and Double-crested Cormorant. The decline in reproductive performance and changes in diet composition do not appear directly related to the polarity reversal of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation in 1976/1977. Instead, reproductive performance and dietary characteristics indicate substantial change in the late 1980s, suggesting another regime-shift at that time.