Habitat connectivity: terrestrial and marine hotspots for seabirds, chemical biotransport, and the role of seabirds in coastal ecosystems

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In Arctic and Atlantic Canada, coastal regions perform important ecological functions and provide critical wildlife habitat, but they are subject to increasing and novel anthropogenic stressors such as development, contamination, marine traffic, and climate change. A key question for scientists, managers and politicians is “how can we predict the effects of anthropogenic stressors on coastal wildlife populations and their habitats in these areas when so few data are available on their ecology and habitat needs?” My research program will build on my lab's experience and success in remote field work to test the overall hypothesis that key coastal and marine habitats for migratory birds are predictable, and are connected through bird behaviour and ecology, which ultimately leads to chemical connectivity across different spatial scales. Specifically, during the next 5 years, my lab will: (1) identify spatio-temporal variability of important coastal and marine wildlife habitats in Arctic and Atlantic Canada through the use of colony-based ecological research, telemetry devices and paleoenvironmental approaches; and (2) examine migratory birds as biovectors of contaminants to terrestrial environments from marine foraging areas through ecosystem-wide chemical analyses. To achieve these objectives, we will undertake telemetry studies on 3 species that are virtually unstudied in these regions (terns, kittiwakes, guillemots) to identify species-, sex- and colony-specific seasonal and annual habitat use. Additionally, we will merge these data with our previously gathered telemetry information on other Arctic marine birds to identify multi-species hotspots, and assess environmental factors that might influence the spatio-temporal occurrence of these key locations. We will also examine the biotransport of nutrients and contaminants from ocean to land, and specifically we will test for spatial, species-specific and temporal variation in types and concentrations of contamination in environmental archives at bird colonies (collaborating with international leaders in paleoenvironmental and contaminant research). My research program will result in a significant advancement in locating and defining key habitats for wildlife in Arctic and Atlantic Canada and how those habitats have changed through time. This unique information is vital for environmental assessment, marine protected area and land use planning projects, and for predictive modeling of future environmental conditions in key coastal habitats. As well, the environmental data on contaminants will be critical for assessing stores of contaminants at various locations, determining how and when birds moved these contaminants at different colonies, and modelling releases of those pollutants with changing climate and concomitant processes of melt and erosion.