Responses of Island Terrestrial Communities to Nutrient Subsidies from Seabirds
Starting as an undergraduate, and later as a research technician at Stanford, I helped Hillary S. Young study the importance of marine nutrient subsidies from seabirds on island terrestrial ecosystems. We particularly focused on the role that coconut palm trees play in shaping island communities by interrupting seabird subsidy inputs. Because the palms provide non-ideal habitat for seabirds to roost and nest in, this discourages the seabirds from using areas where palms are present, leading to decreased nutrient inputs in those areas from the seabirds' guano. This in turn leads to changes in species composition, decreased diversity, and altered food web dynamics in forests dominated by the coconut palm.
By comparing atolls with and without human populations (Palmyra and Tabuaeran), we are studying the consequences of declines in seabird abundances, and how the ecosystem consequences of those decreases change when there are spatial differences in the nutrient interruption (specifically, when birds are eliminated mostly from the coast due to hunting, or eliminated more evenly due to the presence of an introduced plant, the coconut palm).
By comparing atolls with and without human populations (Palmyra and Tabuaeran), we are studying the consequences of declines in seabird abundances, and how the ecosystem consequences of those decreases change when there are spatial differences in the nutrient interruption (specifically, when birds are eliminated mostly from the coast due to hunting, or eliminated more evenly due to the presence of an introduced plant, the coconut palm).
© Amy A. Briggs, 2014
