Record Number of Deaths for West Coast Sea Birds this Year

Along the Pacific coast from California to British Columbia animals dependent on the ocean for food are suffering. Surveys of salmon are showing a 20% to 30% drop in population compared with surveys conducted in recent years. Record numbers of dead seabirds are washing up on Pacific shores this year. No one is certain why this is happening, but scientists suspect that unusually warm water temperatures along the coast are affecting the food chain.

In normal years an upwelling of deeper water brings cooler nutrient-rich water to the surface. Numbers of phytoplankton, microscopic ocean plants, are boosted by the increase in nutrients brought by the upwelling. Phytoplankton provide the foundation for oceanic life.

Dead birds found by researchers along the Pacific coast appeared malnourished. Scientists believe the lack of nutrient-rich upwelling may have depleted the normal food chain.

Ocean temperature readings this year were 2 to 5 degrees (Fahrenheit) above normal, temperatures usually found in an El Niño year. This is not an El Niño year, but unusual wind patterns may be causing the cooler surface temperatures.

Links:

• Warmer Oceans May Be Killing West Coast Marine Life from the Natural Resources Defense Council, originally published in the Seattle Times


• What are Phytoplankton? from NASA's Earth Observatory

Posted by Eric La Fountaine at 6:05 PM on July 18, 2005

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