Egg production in a coastal seabird, the glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), declines during the last century.

ABSTRACT: Seabirds integrate information about oceanic ecosystems across time and space, and are considered sensitive indicators of marine conditions. To assess whether hypothesized long-term foodweb changes such as forage fish declines may be reflected in a consumer's life history traits over time, I used meta-regression to evaluate multi-decadal changes in aspects of egg production in the glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), a common coastal bird. Study data were derived from literature searches of published papers and unpublished historical accounts, museum egg collections, and modern field studies, with inclusion criteria based on data quality and geographic area of the original study. Combined historical and modern data showed that gull egg size declined at an average of 0.04 cc y(-1) from

SUBMITTER: Blight LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3138773 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature