Belted Kingfishers (Megaceryle alcyon) are widely distributed across freshwater and marine environments of North America, but the species’ feeding ecology remains poorly studied in marine habitats. In summer 2017, we investigated the behavior and feeding ecology of Belted Kingfishers in the nearshore marine waters of San Juan Island. Our objectives were to assess differences in feeding strategy and success among birds of different ages, to calculate time budgets, and to examine the effects of dynamic environmental factors such as tide and current speed on kingfisher feeding. We conducted focal behavioral observations of adult and juvenile birds at two locations on San Juan Island. Observations on individual feeding success were collected opportunistically during study periods. Overall, adult birds showed a higher success rate and longer average prey length than was observed for juveniles. Feeding success for all age categories was higher at Jackson Beach than at Friday Harbor Labs, suggesting that prey abundance or accessibility may be site specific. Feeding success was fairly consistent over all current speeds but was highest during low tides. Feeding success also showed a diel pattern (highest from 1200 to 1400), differing from prior research in freshwater habitats. Our results are intriguing and demonstrate the need for continued research on how life stage, currents and tidal stage influence marine based Belted Kingfishers and their role in coastal ecosystems and food webs.

Within the complex San Juan Channel (SJC) ecosystem, marine birds play a fundamental and dynamic role. Due to their interactions with several trophic levels and climatic factors, seabirds are important indicators of environmental health. Their necessity to be monitored is further compounded by the fact that the SJC has recently experienced abnormal sea surface temperatures and conditions due to the Marine Heat Wave in 2013 – 2016. Thus, our goal was to monitor how the marine bird communities have been impacted by these climatic changes. We first characterized the Fall of 2017 by collecting survey data on community composition and temporal and spatial densities. Then, we contextualized 2017 within the past 10 years of survey data. In order to highlight the specific species that have large influences on the overall bird density, we focused on 5 main species: the Glaucous-winged Gull, Brandt's + Pelagic Cormorant, Common Murre, Surf + White winged Scoter, and Pacific Loon. We found that 2017 had the lowest total bird density in the past decade, as well as a complex mixture of temporal and spatial trends from previous study years. Additionally, we were able to highlight the significant connections between marine birds and three climatic indices - North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), Oceanic Niño Index (ONI), and Sea Surface Temperature (SST). Our findings indicate that these communities are impacted by both local and global water and air conditions. However, many of the migratory birds, such as Common Murres, are perhaps impacted greater by changes in their remote habitats, such as their breeding grounds and migratory routes. Additionally, Common Murres proved to be a main driving species behind annual density trends, even frequently masking other more minute density trends in less abundant birds. Further research is needed to understand the relationships between species-specific densities and other climatic patterns.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a lipophilic toxin and an endocrine disruptor that has been shown to interrupt normal hormonal functions in invertebrates. BPA can bioaccumulate in filter feeders like marine mussels, which are both economically and environmentally important species. Previous studies have shown that mussels are sentinel organisms because they can detect toxin contamination in their aquatic environment by producing fewer byssal threads. Byssal threads are necessary for their survival in tidal zones as well as in suspension-culture mussel farming. It was hypothesized that when exposed to high concentrations of BPA, the mussel Mytilus trossulus would produce fewer byssal threads and have higher concentrations of BPA in their tissues. Using a single-subject design, 32 mussels were placed in seawater microcosms for 24 hours and exposed to different BPA concentrations (control and 1-9 ppm BPA). Their byssal threads were counted afterwards. High performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array (HPLC-PDA) analysis was used to determine the BPA concentrations in both the mussel tissue samples and the microcosm seawater. Mussels exposed to high concentrations of BPA produced significantly fewer byssal threads and had higher concentrations of BPA in their tissues compared to the controls. BPA’s lipophilicity allows it to bind to food particulates and mussel gills, resulting in the compound to bioaccumulate in the organism. Without byssal threads, mussels exposed to BPA would experience high mortality in tidal zones as they are more easily dislodged by waves and predators. There would also be massive economic losses in the shellfish aquaculture industry that use suspension-culture farming.

The Neotropics hold the greatest diversity of fishes, with South America alone hosting around 25% of global fish biodiversity. Despite presumably fierce competition with entrenched primary freshwater fishes like otophysans, South America is also home to a conspicuously high number of marine-derived lineages (MDLs), freshwater taxa which have evolved from marine ancestors. Transitions from marine to freshwater may have catalyzed ecological opportunity and are apt systems for examining whether habitat transitions prompt ecomorphological diversification. Body-shape and size correlate with many aspects of ecology and life history: foraging through locomotion and feeding morphology, reproduction by predicting offspring size and number, and more generally, larger fishes generally occupy higher trophic niches. We examined how such an ecological transition has affected the body-shape diversity of tropical needlefishes and sauries (Beloniformes). Using micro-computed tomographic (µCT) scanning, geometric morphometrics, and phylogenetic comparative methods we examined body-shape evolution in 33 species of belonids and two scomberesocids. We examined the evolutionary pattern and tempo of body-shape evolution in Asian and South American beloniforms using a published molecular phylogeny,. The primary axis of body shape variation is elongation/truncation, driven by lengthening/shortening of either the rostral or trunk regions. We also find that freshwater taxa are generally smaller than their marine counterparts, and become reduced in size either through miniaturization (skeletal reduction) or dwarfism (skeletal loss). Despite morphological novelty in freshwater belonids, our results show similar levels of body shape diversity between marine and freshwater taxa. Despite similar disparity between marine and freshwater taxa, freshwater belonids occupy a surprisingly large region of morphospace considering their relatively low species richness.