Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Diving Behavior And Identification Of Sex Of Breeding Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula Arctica), And Nest-Site Characteristics Of Alcids On Petit Manan Island, Maine, Sarah M. Spencer

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

During 2008 – 2009, we quantified foraging behavior of adult Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) by deploying time-depth recorders (TDRs) on 18 adults and collected morphological measurements from 40 adults nesting on Petit Manan Island, Maine. Dive data were successfully retrieved from 5 birds foraging for 14 days in 2008, and 8 birds foraging for 18 days in 2009. Pooling across all birds, a total of 8,097 dives were recorded, with peaks in activity during 0400-0800 and 1600-2000, and no diving between 2100 and 0400. Mean (± SD) dives/bird/day was 276.4 (± 84.7), with dives grouped into bouts lasting …

Managing Vegetation To Restore Tern Nesting Habitat In The Gulf Of Maine, Juliet S. Lamb

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Following catastrophic exploitation throughout the North Atlantic, breeding seabird populations have begun to recover thanks to regulatory protection and restoration and management efforts. As bird populations increase, new challenges emerge, including overgrowth of vegetation that limits the open nesting habitat favored by most tern species. Though managers have used a variety of measures to reduce vegetation cover, these techniques have rarely been quantified or compared experimentally.

During the summers of 2009 and 2010, I applied two different techniques, controlled burning and artificial weed barriers (muslin fabric and artificial turf) to experimental plots on Eastern Egg Rock and Outer Green Island, …