Dynamic oceanography determines fine scale foraging behavior of Masked Boobies in the Gulf of Mexico.

During breeding, foraging marine birds are under biological, geographic, and temporal constraints. These contraints require foraging birds to efficiently process environmental cues derived from physical habitat features that occur at nested spatial scales. Mesoscale oceanography in particular may change rapidly within and between breeding seasons, and findings from well-studied systems that relate oceanography to seabird foraging may transfer poorly to regions with substantially different oceanographic conditions.

Comparison of organochlorine and PAHs residues in terns eggs from two natural protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are dispersed all over the world while polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are released into the environment from pyrogenic and petrogenic sources and are not very mobile or persistent. The aim of this study was to identify POPs and PAHs from eggs of Least and Sooty Terns nesting in two protected marine areas with different anthropogenic impacts in the southern Gulf of Mexico. ΣHCHs were higher in Terminos in 2010 and higher in Alacranes in 2011.