The Seabird Oceanography Lab (SOL) at Oregon State University is involved in research focusing on seabird ecology, movement ecology, oceanography, and integrated ecosystem studies while providing research and educational opportunities for students. Our academic home is in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences.
Research applications range from colony- and vessel-based observational studies to deploying state of the art electronics to study individual foraging, dispersal, migration, and behavior patterns of seabirds. These biologging data are often integrated with in-situ and remotely-sensed measures of prey resources or their proxies or related to human activities (e.g., fishing) or threats. In addition to environmental "bottom-up" studies, we also study the "top-down" effects of predators on seabird population dynamics and life histories.
Conservation aspects of the research include species restoration, population assessment and monitoring, seabird-fishery interactions, identification of important marine bird areas, and marine spatial planning.
Visit the Seabird Oceanography Lab or the lab's blog.
