LTREB: Evolutionary Ecology of Seabird Reproductive Life Histories

Wake Forest University, Winston Salem NC

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed work will continue a long-term project studying a number of aspects of reproductive life histories of long-lived birds. Nineteen years of leg banding and (under LTREB support) 10 years of intensive monitoring have produced a substantial scientific resource in terms of a database of individual histories of known birds, and an extensive age structure. Funding is requested capitalize on this resource by conducting studies of newly discovered connections between breeding ecology in our focal population and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation; an integrative and comprehensive study of the causes and consequences of bias hatching rates, including investigation of causation of unexpectedly high rates of unusual behavior; and a longitudinal study of aging and immune function in our population of several thousand known-age birds. The project has a record of demonstrated scientific productivity, conservation impacts, and extensive training of new scientists, and this record will be continued under further LTREB support.