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

askitaysky@alaska.edu

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.

Dorresteijn, I. et al., 2012. Climate affects food availability to planktivorous least auklets Aethia pusilla through physical processes in the southeastern Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 454, pp.207–220.

Drovetski, S.V. et al., 2012. mtDNA haplotypes differ in their probability of being eliminated by a mass die-off in an abundant seabird. Heredity, 109, pp.29–33.

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.

Schultner, J. et al., 2012. The ecology of stress: Fat or lean: adjustment of endogenous energy stores to predictable and unpredictable changes in allostatic load. Functional Ecology.

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.

Harding, A.M.A. et al., 2009. Flexibility in the parental effort of an Arctic-breeding seabird. Functional Ecology, 23, pp.348–358.

III, H.D.Douglas et al., 2009. Size of ornament is negatively correlated with baseline corticosterone in males of a socially monogamous colonial seabird. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 179.

Welcker, J. et al., 2009. Daily energy expenditure increases in response to low nutritional stress in an Arctic-breeding seabird with no effect on mortality. Functional Ecology, 23, pp.1081–1090.

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., Kitaysky, A.S. & Buck, L.C., 2008. Food restricted Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) nestlings increase vocal activity during handling without modulating total or free corticosterone. Journal of Ornithology, 149, pp.277–283.

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.

Williams, T.D. et al., 2004. Individual variation in plasma estradiol-17B and androgen levels during egg formation in the Euopean starling Sturnis vulgaris: implications for regulation of yolk steriods. General and Comparative Endocrinology, pp.136346-352.

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.)

Institute of Arctic Biology

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