9/20/2011 – A revised and expanded NPPSD Species List ver. 2.0 is now available on our Products page. The current version of the NPPSD code list contains 329 unique 4-letter codes and common names for all marine birds and mammals encountered on surveys found in the NPPSD dataset and a few species known to occur, but not yet reported on surveys. This list is provided to further the goal of standardizing pelagic seabird data. Researchers are encouraged to use this list for marine bird and mammal surveys in the North Pacific.

New maps have been added to the North Pacific and Alaska pages!

Data on the pelagic distribution and abundance of seabirds are critical for understanding the basic ecology of marine birds, monitoring population trends, assessing impacts of human activities, identifying critical marine habitats, and educating the public about seabird conservation. To address these needs, the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have undertaken the task of consolidating and providing comprehensive geographic data on the pelagic distribution of seabirds in Alaska and the North Pacific.

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) project has collected data from researchers in Canada, Russia, and the U.S. (1972-2003). Currently we are working on integrating these different datasets into a single database that will be available over the internet through an ARC/IMS interface. The NPPSD will be an ongoing project that will serve as a repository and server for future pelagic survey data from the North Pacific.

If you have or know of data you would like to incorporate into this database please contact Gary Drew at gdrew@usgs.gov.

Marine Ecoregion GIS shapefile based on Piatt and Springer 2007, now available

Contacts

John Piatt (USGS), jpiatt@usgs.gov

Gary Drew (USGS), gdrew@usgs.gov