Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge - Oregon

More than 1,800 rocks, reefs and islands with names such as Haystack Rock and Face Rock form the personality of the famed Oregon Coast and the entirety of the refuge's habitat. These islands scattered along the coast provide a sanctuary of nesting grounds for 13 species of seabirds including rhinoceros auklets, cormorants, storm-petrels and puffins. About 700,000 common murres nest here, nearly two-thirds of the total nesting population south of Alaska.

On the protected islands, the threatened Steller sea lion congregates to give birth in the safety of refuge confines. An estimated 800 Steller pups are born here each year, more than any other site south of Alaska. They share these rocky islands with thousands of harbor seals and California sea lions and a small population of northern elephant seals.

The Threat

From shore you can see them amassing at the nearby islands, jostling, debating, diving. An estimated 1.2 million seabirds nest on the Oregon Islands, more than on the Washington and California coasts combined. The rocky islands on which these birds breed and rest are protected from disturbance and human footfall, but the global human footprint may be catching up with them. Last year a radically different weather pattern during the breeding season resulted in the largest ever die-off of the common murre, the refuge's most populous seabird resident.

The health of the murre and indeed an entire community of species along the coast can hinge on the tiniest of creatures. In this case, the minute but crucial player is oceanic phytoplankton. Populations of these microscopic plants boom when a seasonal upwelling thrusts colder, deeper waters toward the surface in a narrow band along the coastline. And everything from the tiny shrimp-like krill to the largest living creature-the blue whale-fattens with the resulting food-chain of events.

But the complex dance of wind and ocean currents that results in upwelling has been inconsistent in the past 10 years, a trend that some researchers have tied to global warming. If so, the suppression of upwellings may be a long-term trend, and seabirds would not be the only victims. The refuge's population of seals and sea lions and an array of other marine species also depend on the food chain that begins with phytoplankton made plentiful by the vital infusion of cold, nutrient- rich waters from the deep.