Seabirds — Mr. Van Arsdale

For Mr Van Arsdale's students, please take the following Quiz on Seabirds

Before you begin, type in your full name

Which of the following is the least threatening to sea bird populations

longline (a type of commercial fishing)

rats, cats, and foxes

plastic pollution

human egg hunters

Common murres will dive to almost 250 feet in pursuit of schools of small fish. They would be classified as

surface feeder

pursuit divers

Kleptoparasites

plungers

Seabird die offs, like the one reported in the Bering sea in 2019, are not unheard of. However, this one was concerning because it involved several species and was the fifth die off reported in the Bering Sea in Five years. The most likely cause of this die off was

abnormally warm sea surface temperatures

plastic pollution

harmful algae blooms

introduced foxes

Penguins are

birds, with beaks, claws, and very small wings and small feathers

not birds, they have no wings and no feathers

Seabirds have hearts with ________ chambers

Gannets feed by diving from a great height into the water in order to catch their prey. This strategy is known as…

surface feeding

pursuit diving

Kleptoparasitism

plunging

Seabirds are able to drink salt water thanks to

their high metabolism

salt removal glands just over the eyes

a tolerance they build up starting right after birth

their high blood to body volume

Which of the following feathers are primarily used for flying

downy

powder

round

contour

Don Croll says of the Aleutian Islands where foxes are introduced species. "The terrestrial ecosystem was being subsidized by marine-derived nutrients, and the foxes basically cut off the subsidies by interrupting the flow of nutrients coming from offshore, It transformed the plant community from one that does well in nutrient-rich conditions to one that does well in nutrient-depleted conditions."

This means that

introduced foxes means no seabirds, and no seabirds means fewer nutrients for plants

introduced foxes have less nutrients in their feces than seabirds

islands with introduced foxes have more diverse plant communities

foxes helped the island's plant communities grow with less nutrients

Common murres will often nest along steep cliffs. They do this

so that their chicks can have a good place to take off in their first flight

to avoid nest predators

because all of the "good nesting habitat" is taken by other birds

to take advantage of natural caves and burrows in the cliffs

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