Meeting Abstract

P1-128  Sunday, Jan. 4 15:30  Travelling for food: linking foraging patterns with energetic physiology in an Arctic seabird SORENSON, G/H*; DESCAMPS, S; GILCHRIST, H/G; JANSSEN, M; WHITE, T; LOVE, O/P; University of Windsor, Windsor, ON; Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromso, NO; Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON; Environment Canada, Ottawa, ON; Carleton University, Ottawa, ON; University of Windsor, Windsor, ON sorensog@uwindsor.ca

Polar ecosystems (Arctic/Antarctic) are currently facing some of the most rapidly-emerging environmental stressors worldwide. Ironically, since polar systems tend to exhibit extreme, but highly stable, environments, their associated species may not have the physiological or behavioral flexibility to respond to rapid environmental change. Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about the underlying mechanisms (e.g., physiology, behavior) that govern the relative ability of individuals or populations to respond and succeed to this degree of change. We are combining the measurement of energetic physiology (baseline corticosterone, plasma triglycerides) during multiple stages of reproduction and the tracking of foraging trips using cutting-edge light-weight GPS units in Arctic thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) from a low-Arctic Canadian and high-Arctic Norwegian population. Our goal is to take an integrative approach to examining within-individual, within-population and among-population physiological responses to environmental variation. We will examine relationships between changes in foraging behavior, energetic/stress physiology and colony productivity to determine the interactive effects of environmental stress on individual and population success.