David Hyrenbach

Hawaii Pacific University · College of Natural and Computational Sciences

ABSTRACT 1. All reserve designs must,be guided,by an understanding,of natural,history and,habitat variability. 2. Differences in scale and predictability set aside highly dynamic,pelagic systems from terrestrial and nearshore ecosystems, where wildlife reserves were first implemented. Yet, as in static systems, many,pelagic species use predictable...

We characterized the movements and oceanographic habitats of black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan (P. immutabilis) albatrosses during the brooding and the rearing periods of the breeding cycle. Analyses of satellite telemetry data in conjunction with remotely sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentrations revealed substanti...

Pelagic ecosystems are dynamic ocean regions whose immense natural capital is affected by climate change, pollution, and commercial fisheries. Trophic level–based indicators derived from fishery catch data may reveal the food web status of these systems, but the utility of these metrics has been debated because of targeting bias in fisheries catch....

Attraction to artificial light at night (ALAN) poses a threat to many fledgling seabirds leaving their nests for the first time. In Hawaiʻi, fledgling wedge-tailed shearwaters disoriented by lights may become grounded due to exhaustion or collision, exposing them to additional threats from road traffic and predation. While the timing and magnitude...

Marine debris is now a ubiquitous component of the Anthropocene global ocean. Plastic ingestion by marine wildlife was first reported in the 1960s and since that time, roughly one thousand marine species have been reported to consume this debris. This study focuses on plastic ingestion by marine invertebrates and vertebrates in the North Pacific Oc...

Mesophotic reefs (30–150 m) occur in the tropics and subtropics at depths beyond most scientific diving, thereby making conventional surveys challenging. Towed cameras, submersibles, and mixed-gas divers were used to survey the mesophotic reef fish assemblages and benthic substrates of the Au‘au Channel, between the Hawaiian Islands of Maui and Lān...

Morphological identification of digested prey remains from a generalist predator can be challenging, especially when attempting to match degraded remains to taxonomic keys. DNA techniques, whereby prey is sequenced and matched to large public nucleotide sequence databases, are increasingly being used to augment morphological identification. We used...

Copies of this report are available from: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building #176, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 Or online at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.25923/nb95-gs31

Copies of this report are available from: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building #176, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 Or online at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.25923/nb95-gs31

Copies of this report are available from: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building #176, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 Or online at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.25923/nb95-gs31

Copies of this report are available from: Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building #176, Honolulu, Hawaii 96818 Or online at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.25923/nb95-gs31

The Christmas Shearwater Puffinus nativitatis is an aquatic, tropical shearwater. While individuals of this species are known to forage by pursuit plunging and diving, there are no published reports quantifying their sub-surface foraging behavior. We obtained diving information from eight chick-rearing Christmas Shearwaters on Kure Atoll during Jun...

We describe the diet of Red-footed Boobies Sula sula nesting at Ulupaʻu Crater, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi based on 106 regurgitations collected during 2014 and 2015. We also compare our results to a diet study at this colony five decades earlier. Both studies indicate that flying squid (Ommastrephidae) and flyingfish (Exocoetidae) are important prey for this...

Plastic pollution, and its associated impacts on marine fauna due to chemical contamination, is an area of growing global concern. We analyzed 145 preen gland oil samples from 32 seabird species belonging to 8 families with different foraging habits and life history strategies from around the world for plastic additives and legacy persistent organi...

'Elepaio - Journal of the Hawaii Audubon Society. Volume 80, Number 6, pages 41-46. Available online at: http://www.pelagicos.net/Reprints/2020/ Hyrenbach_et_al._2020_Elepaio_Entanglement.pdf

Mesophotic (30–150 m) reef fish assemblages in the Au‘au Channel, between the Hawaiian Islands of Maui and Lāna‘i, were compared visually with neighboring shallow (<30 m depth) reef fish assemblages for differences in structure. Between 2007 and 2011, approximately 7000 mesophotic and 4000 shallow reef fishes were identified, sized (standard length...

• Although the frequency of occurrence of plastic ingestion in the large‐sized dolphinfish and tunas taken by the Hawai'i longline fishery is very low (frequency of occurrence < 5% of sampled individuals), the ingestion of plastic in smaller‐sized specimens caught with pole‐and‐line gear by commercial and recreational fishers has not been investiga...

• The diet of red‐footed boobies (Sula sula) provisioning chicks was quantified using 106 regurgitations collected from 81 adults over two study years with contrasting oceanographic conditions: 2014 and 2015. • A total of 1,049 prey items were sorted into three broad categories (fish, squid, and other, consisting of highly‐digested ‘mush’ and paras...

This study evaluated temporal trends and spatial factors, such as fallout clustering near lights and proximity to colonies, to inform targeted management actions. Standardized surveys were conducted from 2002 to 2010 for Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica (WTSH) fallout on the island of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, USA. First, yearly fallout counts along...

Seabird distributions are determined by physical and biological factors operating at variable scales and levels of ecological organization. Accordingly, changes in the composition of the marine avifauna often correspond to large-scale (macro-mega) shifts in water mass properties. Yet, few studies have addressed biogeographical patterns across multi...

Plastic debris is ubiquitous and increasing in the marine environment [1]. A wide range of marine organisms ingest plastic, and its impacts are of growing concern [2]. Seabirds are particularly susceptible to plastic pollution because of high rates of ingestion [3]. Because marine plastics contain an array of hazardous compounds, the chemical impac...

Wildlife contaminant loads are often used to indicate ecosystem health, but their interpretation is complicated by the dynamics affecting the trophic transfer of toxins. Yet, coupled analyses of trophic position and contaminants may provide insights that help resolve the underlying signal of contaminants in ecosystems. Here, we analyze heavy metal...

Situated at high positions on marine food webs, seabirds accumulate high concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and its metabolites (DDTs), and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs). Our previous studies proposed the usefulness of seabirds preen gland oil as a nondes...

Pelagic Pacific sea turtles eat relatively large quantities of plastic (median 5 g in gut). Using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, we identified the polymers ingested by 37 olive ridley, 9 green, and 4 loggerhead turtles caught as bycatch in Hawaii- and American Samoa-based longline fisheries. Unidentifiable samples were analyzed using high...

We analyze recently-collected feather tissues from two species of seabirds, the sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) and brown noddy (Anous stolidus), in three ocean regions (North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific) with different human impacts. The species are similar morphologically and are similar in the trophic levels from which they feed wit...

We investigated the sex, age, body condition, and ingested plastics in six Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus, bycaught or opportunistically salvaged in US North Pacific groundfish fisheries. Necropsies revealed a 1:1 sex ratio, and a 2:1 juvenile (≤4 years of age) to adult (≥5 years of age) ratio, with five birds in healthy body condition...

This study provides the first quantification of plastic ingestion in the Tristram's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami) in over 20 years. We found 100% plastic incidence in 57 chicks collected opportunistically over four breeding seasons (2007, 2010, 2011, 2012), with the mass of ingested plastic per individual ranging from 0.1 to 2.8 g (≤3.3% adu...

Polymer identification of plastic marine debris can help identify its sources, degradation, and fate. We optimized and validated a fast, simple, and accessible technique, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), to identify polymers contained in plastic ingested by sea turtles. Spectra of consumer good items...

Between 2006 and 2013, we salvaged and necropsied 362 seabird specimens from Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Plastic ingestion occurred in 11 of the 16 species sampled (68.75%), representing four orders, seven families, and five foraging guilds: four plunge-divers, two albatrosses, two nocturnal-foraging petrels,...

We quantified the incidence (percentage of samples with plastic) and loads (mass, volume) of four plastic types (fragments, line, sheet, foam) ingested by Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes chicks raised on Kure Atoll, the westernmost Hawaiian colony. All 25 samples contained plastic, mostly in the form of foam and line. On average (± SD),...

At-sea surveys facilitate the study of the distribution and abundance of marine birds along standardized transects, in relation to changes in the local environmental conditions and large-scale oceanographic forcing. We analyzed the form and the intensity of black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes: BFAL) spatial dispersion off central Californi...

The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna (Puffinus) pacificus, 'Ua'u kani) is a medium-sized shearwater species prevalent throughout the tropical and subtropical Pacific and Indian oceans. Native to Hawaiʻi, wedgies, as individuals of the species are commonly called, were originally documented during Captain James Cook's first voyage. This study addres...

INTRODUCTION The Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna (Puffinus) pacificus, 'Ua'u kani) is a medium-sized shearwater species prevalent throughout the tropical and subtropical Pacific and Indian oceans (Whittow 1997). Native to Hawaiʻi, wedgies, as individuals of the species are commonly called, were originally documented during Captain James Cook's fir...

Place-based management in the open ocean faces unique challenges in delineating boundaries around temporally and spatially dynamic systems that span broad geographic scales and multiple management jurisdictions, especially in the 'high seas'. Geospatial technologies are critical for the successful design of pelagic conservation areas, because they...

Geographic variation in the levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was as - sessed in the serum of Hawaiian monk seals Monachus schauinslandi from the main Hawaiian Islands. Twenty seals were outfitted with tracking devices to map their home ranges, which were then compared with the POP levels in their serum. Seals with similar ranges were...

Effective conservation of highly mobile species requires an understanding of the factors that influence their habitat use patterns, locally and within a large-scale oceanographic context. We characterized the seasonal (chick-rearing, post-breeding) and inter-annual (2004–2008) distribution and abundance of black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigrip...

Seabirds are facing a growing number of threats in both terrestrial and marine habitats, and many populations have experienced dramatic changes over past decades. Years of seabird research have improved our understanding of seabird populations and provided a broader understanding of marine ecological processes. In an effort to encourage future rese...

Suites of criteria specifying ecological, biological, social, economic, and governance properties enable the systematic identification of sites and networks of high biodiversity value, and can support balancing ecological and socioeconomic objectives of biodiversity conservation in terrestrial and marine spatial planning. We describe designs of sui...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) provide an important tool for conservation of marine ecosystems. To be most effective, these areas should be strategically located in a manner that supports ecosystem function. To inform marine spatial planning and support strategic establishment of MPAs within the California Current System, we identified areas predict...

The understanding of a species' niche is fundamental to the concept of ecology, yet rela-tively little work has been done on niches in pelagic marine mammal communities. Data collection on the distribution and abundance of marine mammals is costly, time consuming and complicated by logis-tical difficulties. Here we take advantage of a data archive...

To characterize the environmental factors affecting seabird population trends in the central portion of the California current system (CCS), we analyzed standardized vessel-based surveys collected during the late spring (May–June) upwelling season over 22 yr (1985–2006). We tested the working hypothesis that population trends are related to species...

Marine protected areas are increasingly being used as tools for protecting valuable and sensitive ecological, cultural, and fishery resources throughout the world. Within this context, MPAs designed to conserve biodiversity can provide a wide range of protections for species, habitats, and ecosystems. For instance, no-take marine reserves, a type o...

We live in an age defined by global access to information. This has rapidly increased the scale of our ecological and social awareness (e.g., fair trade movement) and helped us to identify ecological problems and conservation solutions beyond the typical scale of traditional knowledge (i.e., the foraging range of a human group) or political jurisdi...

The science needed to understand highly migratory marine mammal, sea bird and sea turtle species is not adequately addressed by individual data collections developed for a single region or single time period. These data must to be brought together into a common, global map based on a coherent, interoperable and openly accessible information system....

Wildlife telemetry research has expanded greatly in the last 2 decades, with the application of satellite tracking and archival logging technologies to study the ecology and conservation of marine mammals, birds, fishes, and turtles. Widespread and expanding use of satellite tracking to study movements and habitats of marine megavertebrates warrant...

An understanding of the distribution and habitat associations of far-ranging marine predators is being increasingly applied to protect these species from anthropogenic threats at sea (e.g. oil spills and fisheries bycatch). Within this framework, this research on Cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea integrates vessel-based survey and tracking dat...

Seabirds and plastic debris: global perspective As far-ranging and upper-trophic predators, seabirds are valuable biologi-cal indicators of climatic and human-related perturbations of marine food webs, including the incidence of pollutants (e.g., Furness and Camphuysen 1997, Burger and Gochfeld 2004). In particular, seabirds have proven sensi-tive...

Many species of tropical seabirds rely on subsurface predators such as tuna and dol- phins to drive prey close to the ocean's surface. We observed seabird foraging events from fishing vessels around the island of Oahu, Hawaii, to determine the prevalence and relative importance of different subsurface predators to seabird foraging. Sixty-nine seabi...

The state of the California Current system (CCS) between Oregon and Baja California is summarized in this report, covering spring of 2007 to winter/spring 2008. The 2006-07 period began with moderate El Niño conditions which decayed rapidly in early 2007. By summer 2007, a moderate-to-strong La Niña had developed. The North Pacific sea surface temp...

Abdulla, A., Gomei, M., Hyrenbach, D., Notarbartolo-di-Sciara, G., and Agardy, T. 2009. Challenges facing a network of representative marine protected areas in the Mediterranean: prioritizing the protection of underrepresented habitats. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 22–28. The high endemism of the Mediterranean Sea provides strong motivatio...

In February 2002, France, Italy and Monaco agreed to establish an international sanctuary for Mediterranean marine mammals. The resulting Pelagos Sanctuary encompasses over 87500 km ² of the north‐western Mediterranean Sea, extending between south‐eastern France, Monaco, north‐western Italy and northern Sardinia, and surrounding Corsica and the Tus...

Synopsis: A technical overview promoting integrated and wide-ranging management tools, including marine protected areas and other regulations, to achieve optimum albatross protection across entire ocean basins.

Letter to the Editor

Our objective was to understand how marine birds respond to oceanographic variability across the Southern Indian Ocean using data collected during an 16-day cruise (4–21 January 2003). We quantified concurrent water mass distributions, ocean productivity patterns, and seabird distributions across a heterogeneous pelagic ecosystem from subtropical t...

SUMMARY We present a study to determine the most appropriate strip width for conducting at-sea surveys of marine bird populations from novel platforms of opportunity. We surveyed seabirds during two seasonal (spring, fall) cruises across the North Pacific in 2002. We used these observations to quantify potential biases associated with varying the s...