CHANGING HABITAT AND HABITAT USE BY BIRDS AFTER THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL, 1989–2001

Evaluations of the ecological consequences of environmental accidents can benefit from a long-term perspective. To assess the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on habitat use and occupancy during midsummer by marine-oriented birds over a 12-yr period following the spill in 1989, we conducted surveys in 10 study bays in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA. These bays varied from completely unoiled to some of the most heavily oiled locations in the spill zone. We used oiling as a quantitative variable with and without habitat measures as covariates to assess spill effects and their changes over time. We also used oiling as a categorical variable (“oiled” vs. “unoiled” bays) to conduct between-year, repeated-measures analyses that used 1984 data as a baseline and to plot abundance trends by oiling category. We combined the results of these analyses in a “weight-of-evidence” approach to determine overall impacts and recovery for each species. To assess changes in habitat condition following the oil spill, w...

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