Sooty Shearwaters in the California Current: 2006

A project of Pacific Procellariid Research Consortium in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Introduction

The California Current System (CCS) is one of four eastern boundary current systems characterized by coastal upwelling and greatest rates of marine primary productivity. These ecosystems are globally important and account for more than 21% of the world's fisheries landings. Seabirds have often been proposed to be excellent indicators of habitats that support areas of high productivity and high biodiversity, such as the west coast National Marine Sanctuaries in the CCS. The dispersion of sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus, Family Procellariidae) provides a unique perspective into the dynamics of ocean productivity and marine ecosystem structure. Because of their large foraging range and their reliance on productive oceanic habitats, including frontal systems, areas of coastal upwelling, and subpolar gyres, we propose that the sooty shearwater is an ideal bio-indicator of meso- to large-scale primary and secondary productivity in the coastal-shelf portion of the CCS. Using sooty shearwaters as model predators, we examine how these animals interact with dynamic habitats throughout a large portion of the CCS. The sooty shearwater is a dominant predator within a CCS foraging guild that includes Common Murre, humpback whale, California sea lion, salmon, and Pacific hake. As with many commercially important fish species harvested off the west coast of North America, this assemblage depends on five principal upwelling-system prey species: euphausiids, market squid, northern anchovy, Pacific sardine, and juvenile rockfishes. The shearwater’s extraordinary consumption of these prey species highlights its important relationship with coastal upwelling ecosystems in the CCS.