Seasonal variation in the cross-shelf distribution of seabirds in the southeastern Bering Sea

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that the distribution of seabird species' associations across the southeastern Bering Sea shelf reflects the underlying ecology of four bathymetrically-defined hydrographic domains: the Inner or Coastal Shelf Domain (depth (Z)<50m), the Middle Shelf Domain (50m<Z<100m), the Outer Shelf Domain (100m<Z<200m), and the Shelf-Slope Domain (200m<Z<3000m). The domains differ in stratification, which intensifies from winter to summer and breaks down in the fall. To examine seabird distributions with respect to these domains in multiple seasons, we quantified the cross-shelf distribution of species with respect to water depth using a 37-year database. We then used a multivariate tree analysis to group species with similar depth-use distributions, and mapped these clusters against the hydrographic domains. There were three patterns of seabird depth use: an inshore, shallow-water group in summer and fall, but not winter and spring, which conformed roughly to the Inner Shelf Domain; a group of species that were distributed widely across the Middle and Outer Shelf Domains, and a third group of species that occupied the outer portion of the Outer Shelf Domain and the Shelf-Slope Domain. The multivariate tree analysis revealed close correspondence between the seabird-derived domains and the bathymetrically-defined Outer Shelf and Shelf-Slope domains in spring and to a lesser extent in summer. In summer and fall, and to a lesser extent in spring, the seabird groupings showed a differentiation between the Inner Shelf Domain and the Middle Shelf Domain. Seabird-derived differentiation between the Shelf-Slope Domain and the Outer Shelf Domain was strongest in spring and summer. These seasonal patterns likely reflected the seasonal variation in the hydrographic differentiation of the bathymetrically-defined domains. Cross-validation of the multivariate tree analysis showed that the portion of seabird distribution patterns explained by the tree analysis was smallest in winter (when there is no stratification on the middle and inner shelves) and greatest in summer (when stratified water columns result in hydrographically defined domains), as would be expected under our hypothesis. We also examined hypotheses predicting why pursuit diving seabirds most often forage in shallow water whereas surface-foraging (surface-seizing) seabirds are more common over deep offshore waters. The hypothesis for regionally enhanced primary production as a driving factor was not supported for the inshore foraging seabirds but was supported for those foraging over shelf-slope waters.