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Alexander (Sasha) Kitaysky

Research Interests: 

The main focus of my current research program is on the fundamental question:
Can we predict population responses (range shift, adaptation or extinction) to an environmental change based on current phenotypic and biological age structures of natural populations of marine top-predators?

Specifically, I am interested in (A) how climate- and human induced environmental changes affect physiology, reproduction and survival of different phenotypes in wild seabird populations; and (B) the consequences of such differential selection pressure on individuals for the spatial and temporal dynamics of their populations.

Sasha Kitaysky
Professor of Integrative Physiology
Office: 
413 Irving 1
907-474-5179
Lab: 
110 Irving 1
907-474-5753
Postal Address: 
Institute of Arctic Biology
PO Box 757000
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000
  • 1992-1996 Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, USA
  • 1986 MS, Irkutsk State University, Russia
  • 2013-current Professor of Integrative Physiology, Department of Biology and Wildlife, IAB, UAF
  • 2007-2013 Associate Professor of Integrative Physiology, Department of Biology and Wildlife, IAB, UAF
  • 2003-2007 Assistant Professor of Integrative Physiology, Department of Biology and Wildlife, IAB, UAF
  • 2000-2003 Research Assistant Professor, Department of Zoology, UW
  • 1997-2000 Research Associate, Department of Zoology, UW, Seattle

2012

Barger, C.P. & Kitaysky, A.S., 2012. Isotopic segregation between sympatric seabird species increases with nutritional stress. Biology Letters, 8, pp.442–445.
Dietrich, M. et al., 2012. Inter-oceanic variation in patterns of host-associated divergence in a seabird ectoparasite. Journal of Biogeography, 39, pp.545–555.
Satterthwaite, W.H., Kitaysky, A.S. & Mangel, M., 2012. Linking climate variability, productivity and stress to demography in a long-lived seabird. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 454, pp.221–235.
Sydeman, W.J., Thompson, S.Ann & Kitaysky, A., 2012. Seabirds and climate change: roadmap for the future. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 454, pp.107–117.

2011

Harding, A.M.A. et al., 2011. Adverse foraging conditions may impact body mass and survival of a high Arctic seabird. Oecologia, 167, pp.49–59.
Karnovsky, N.J. et al., 2011. Inter-colony comparison of diving behavior of an Arctic top predator: implications for warming in the Greenland Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 440, pp.229–240.
Lobato, E. et al., 2011. Seabirds and the Circulation of Lyme Borreliosis Bacteria in the North Pacific. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 11.

2010

Ito, M. et al., 2010. Foraging behavior of incubating and chick-rearing thick-billed murres Uria lomvia. Aquatic Biology, 8, pp.279–287.
Satterthwaite, W.H. et al., 2010. Unifying quantitative life-history theory and field endocrinology to assess prudent parenthood in a long-lived seabird. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 12, pp.779–792.

2009

Harding, A.M.A. et al., 2009. Impacts of experimentally increased foraging effort on the family: Offspring sex matters. Animal Behavior, 78, pp.321–328.
Harding, A.M.A. et al., 2009. Flexibility in the parental effort of an Arctic-breeding seabird. Functional Ecology, 23, pp.348–358.

2008

Addison, B.A., Kitaysky, A.S. & J. Hipfner, M., 2008. Sex allocation in a monomorphic seabird with a single-egg clutch: test of the environment, mate quality, and female condition hypotheses. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63, pp.135–141.
Addison, B.A. et al., 2008. Are yolk androgens adjusted to environmental conditions? A test in two seabirds that lay single-egg clutches. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 158, pp.5–9.
Z. Benowitz-Fredericks, M., Shultz, M.T. & Kitaysky, A.S., 2008. Stress hormones suggest opposite trends of food availability for planktivorous and piscivorous seabirds in 2 years. Deep-Sea Research II, 55, pp.1868–1876.
Bentzen, R.L. et al., 2008. Characterizing the nutritional strategy of incubating king eiders Somateria spectabilis in northern Alaska. Journal of Avian Biology, 39, pp.683–690.
III, H.D.Douglas, Kitaysky, A.S. & Kitaiskaia, E.V., 2008. Seasonal covariation in progesterone and odorant emissions among breeding crested auklets (Aethia cristatella). Hormones and Behavior, 54, pp.325–329.
Shultz, M.Todd & Kitaysky, A.Stanislav, 2008. Spatial and temporal dynamics of corticosterone and corticosterone binding globulin are driven by environmental heterogeneity. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 155, pp.717–728.
Takahashi, A. et al., 2008. Thick-billed murres use different diving behaviors in mixed and stratified waters. Deep-Sea Research II, 55, pp.1837–1845.
Williams, C.T. et al., 2008. Corticosterone levels of tufted puffins vary with breeding stage, body condition index, and reproductive performance. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 158, pp.29–35.

2006

Benowitz-Fredericks, M.Z., Kitaysky, A.S. & Springer, A.M., 2006. Long-term Ecological Change in the Northern Gulf of Alaska. In R. B. Spies Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 94–112.
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z.M., Kitaysky, A.S. & Thompson, C.W., 2006. Growth and allocation in captive common murre (uria aalge) chicks. The Auk, 123, pp.1–13.
Kitaysky, A.S. et al., 2006. A mechanistic link between chick diet and decline in seabirds?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 273, pp.445–450.
Pravosudov, V.V. & Kitaysky, A.S., 2006. Effects of nutritional restrictions during post-hatching development on adrenocortical function in western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica). General and Comparative Endocrinology, 145, pp.25–31.
Pravosudov, V.V., Kitaysky, A.S. & Omanska, A., 2006. The relationship between migratory behaviour memory and the hippocampus: an intraspecific comparison. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 273, pp.2641–2649.

2005

Benoqitz-Fredericks, Z.M. & Kitaysky, A.S., 2005. Benefits and costs of rapid growth in common murre (Uria aalge) chicks. Journal of Avian Biology, 36, pp.287–294.
Benowitz-Fredericks, Z.M., Kitaysky, A.S. & Wingfield, J.C., 2005. Steroids in allantoic waste: An integrated measure of steroids in ovo. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 1046, pp.204–213.
Kitaysky, A.S. et al., 2005. The adrenocortical response of tufted puffin chicks to nutritional deficits. Hormones and Behavior, 47, pp.606–619.

2004

Thompson, C.W. & Kitaysky, A.S., 2004. Polumorphic flight-feather molt sequence in tufted puffins-a rare phenomenon in birds. The Auk, 121, pp.35–45.

2003

Kitaysky, A.S., Springer, A.M. & Wingfield, J.C., 2003. When, where and why Steller Sea lions experience physiological stress-evidence from stress hormones and diet quality. Final Report to the Marine Mammal Research Consortium.
Kitaysky, A.S. et al., 2003. Benefits and costs of increased corticosterone secretion in seabird chicks. Hormones and Behavior, 43, pp.140–149.
  • The Bering Sea’s Regime Shifts: Using a century of data to examine dynamics of nutritional stress and trophic linkages in fish-eating seabirds. - NPRB 1410
  • Early breeding season responses of red-legged kittiwakes to changes of prey availability and linkages to the non-breeding stage - NPRB 1409
  • Forage Patch Dynamics I - NPRB, NSF
  • Forage Patch Dynamics II - NPRB, NSF
  • Effects of Physical Forcing in the Bering Sea Ecosystem - NPRB
  • BIOL 441 Animal Behavior
Past Graduate Students

Advised

  • Rebecca Young (Ph.D.)
  • Chris Barger (M.S.)
  • Ine Dorresteijn (M.S.)
  • T. Morgan (M.S.)
  • J. Sears (M.S.)
  • Michael Shultz (M.S.)
  • Tom Dempsey (M.S.)

Co-Advised

  • Jannik Schultner (Ph.D.)
  • Morgan Benowitz-Fredericks (Ph.D.)