Channel Islands, Calif.

Seabird Monitoring

I am working with Channel Islands National Park to develop population trends for priority seabird taxa identified by the park, including the Ashy Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma homochroa), Cassin’s Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), California Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus), and Scripps’s Murrelet (Synthliboramphus scrippsi). Using the long-term seabird monitoring datasets, I am estimating relative abundance and reproductive success over time as a function of environmental covariates such as sea-surface temperature and forage fish abundance. Population trends will be combined with an assessment of current and emerging anthropogenic threats, such as sea-level rise and light pollution. This information will be used to update the park’s seabird monitoring program and inform and prioritize management actions to conserve these species.

Habitat Restoration

A century of habitat loss from ranching and military operations has led to degraded landscapes and ecosystem processes on the Channel Islands, negatively affecting both the biodiversity of these islands. Since 2007, the California Institute of Environmental Studies (CIES) has worked with the park and other partners to restore native seabird habitat and plant communities on the Channel Islands, with a majority of the funding from the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program. The project aims to increase the amount of suitable nesting habitat for murrelets, petrels, gulls, and auklets on the islands. To do so, invasive non-native plants are removed and replaced with native plants grown on-island; a process that sounds simple but takes years of dedicated work. The project initially focused on Santa Barbara Island and Scorpion Rock, a small isle offshore Santa Cruz Island. In 2016, the scope of the project was expanded to include Anacapa Island.

Artificial Habitat

In addition to restoring native habitat, the park uses artificial modules for auklets, murrelets, and storm-petrels to provide immediate access to protected nesting habitat for these priority taxa. Modules have been installed and used successfully for all three of these taxa on Santa Barbara Island, Santa Cruz Island, and Prince Island off San Miguel Island. Project partners include CIES, Montrose Settlements Restoration Program, Matthew Passmore at MoreLab, Nathan Lynch at the California College of the Arts, Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, and USGS Western Ecological Research Center.