ABSTRACT OPP-9617236 WHITLEDGE, TERRY UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN This project is designed to test the hypothesis that elevated primary production at the inner front continues longer than in the upper mixed layer of non-frontal waters in the Bering Sea, and that this production provides an energy source throughout the summer for a food web that supports shearwaters, salmon, and their zooplankton prey. To test this hypothesis, the proposed collaborative research will collect and interpret observations on physical and biological features in the vicinity of the inner front to determine the availability of nutrients in the euphotic zone, the physical processes responsible for enhanced vertical flux of nutrients, primary production, the distribution, abundance and trophic ecology of near-surface swarms of euphausiids and other zooplankton, the distribution, abundance, and foraging ecology of shearwaters, and by stable isotope enrichment in trophic pathways from phytoplankton to shearwaters at and away from the front. The proposed research is important because it will be the first examination of the physical processes of the inner front in post-bloom primary production, focus on the ecological role of this extended production, and relate the evolution of transequatorial migration patterns of seabirds to biophysical processes that create predictable sources of prey.
