John Bower (Fairhaven) has articles published in 'Marine Ornithology'

John Bower (Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies) had his paper "Changes in marine bird abundance the Salish Sea: 1975 to 2007" published in "Marine Ornithology," Vol. 37, pp. 9-17. Western alumna (and bird censuser) Marci Durocher did the painting of the western grebe on the cover (third bird down) of the journal, and Fairhaven alumnus and current Huxley Geographic Information Systems specialist Stefan Freelan made the map.

From the abstract:

"Despite worldwide examples of marine bird declines there has been relatively little study of marine bird population changes in the Salish Sea…Comparison of WWU data from 2003-2005 with 1970s MESA data from the same locations show significant declines in 14 of the 37 most common over-wintering Salish Sea species, including 10 species which declined >50%, while seven species showed significant increases over that time period…"

Bower also had his paper "Changes in avifaunal abundance in a heavily-used wintering and migration site in Puget Sound, Washington during 1966–2007," which he co-wrote with E. M. Anderson, D. R. Nysewander, J. R. Evenson and J. R. Lovvorn, published in "Marine Ornithology," Vol. 37, pp. 19-27.

From the abstract:

"A critical first step in guiding protection efforts for marine birds is comprehensive evaluation of monitoring results.  In a preliminary study designed to facilitate such a synthesis in Puget Sound, Washington, we identified five survey programs that spanned large fractions of this region during 1966–2007…Causes of decline are unclear for most species, but appear to be widespread.  Padilla Bay habitats and the many thousands of birds that depend on them face multiple threats."