%0 Journal Article %A Renner, Martin %A Salo, Sigrid %A Eisner, Lisa B. %A Ressler, Patrick %A Ladd, Carol %A J. Kuletz, Kathy %A A. Santora, Jarrod %A Piatt, John F. %A Drew, Gary S. %A Hunt, George L. %D 2016 %T Map of study area from Timing of ice retreat alters seabird abundances and distributions in the southeast Bering Sea %U https://rs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Map_of_study_area_from_Timing_of_ice_retreat_alters_seabird_abundances_and_distributions_in_the_southeast_Bering_Sea/3823629 %R 10.6084/m9.figshare.3823629.v1 %2 https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/5960580 %K climate change %K sea-ice %K seabirds at-sea %K fisheries %K zooplankton %K walleye pollock %X Timing of spring sea-ice retreat shapes the southeast Bering Sea food web. We compared summer seabird densities and average bathymetry depth-distributions between years with early (typically warm) and late (typically cold) ice-retreat. Averaged over all seabird species, densities in early-ice-retreat-years were 10.1% (95%CI: 1.1–47.9%) of that in late-ice-retreat-years. In early-ice-retreat-years, surface-foraging species had increased numbers over the middle shelf (50–150 m) and reduced numbers over the shelf slope (200–500 m). Pursuit-diving seabirds showed a less clear trend. Euphausiids and the copepod Calanus marshallae/glacialis were 2.4 and 18.1 times less abundant in early-ice-retreat-years, respectively, whereas age-0 walleye pollock Gadus chalcogrammus near-surface densities were 51× higher in early-ice-retreat-years. Our results suggest a mechanistic understanding of how present and future changes in sea-ice-retreat timing may affect top predators like seabirds in the southeastern Bering Sea. %I The Royal Society