Lovett E. Williams (Recovery Team Leader) 

 Florida Game and Freshwater Fish 



Commission 

 4005 South Main Street 

 GainesvUle, FL 32601 



Cjilifomia subspecies 



Daniel W. Anderson 



U.S. Fish £ind Wildlife Service 



P.O. BoxC 



Davis, California 91616 



Alan Baldridge 

 Hopkins Marine Station 

 Pacific Grove, California 93950 



Monte N. Kirven 



Natural History Museum 



P.O. Box 1390 



San Diego, Cahfornia 12112 



Robert DeLong 

 Department of Biology 

 University of California, Santa Cruz 

 Santa Cruz, California 95064 



Fred C. Sibley 



Peabody Museum 



Yale University 



New Haven, Connecticut 06520 



Ralph W. Schreiber 



Los Angeles County Museum 



Exposition Park 



Los Angeles, California 90007 



Robert W. Risebrough 

 University of California 

 Berkeley, California 94720 



Franklin Gress 

 University of California 

 Berkeley, California 94720 



PREPARER'S COMMENTS 



Eastern subspecies 



None. 



California subspecies 



The California brown pelican is probably the 

 most obvious and clearcut example of the effect 

 of pesticide chemicals in the environment on the 

 reproduction of birds. It is also probably the most 

 thoroughly studied and documented example of 

 those effects. The brown pelican, like other spe- 

 cies that are members of oceanic current ecosys- 

 tems, normally fluctuate widely in abundance 



with the primary prey species (Anderson and 

 Anderson 1976; Anderson et al. 1975). This is 

 natural and the population dynamics of affected 

 species is adapted to compensate for the periodic 

 failures of food. However, the additional lowered 

 reproduction caused by pesticide chemicals in the 

 food, augmented by reduction in food from over- 

 fishing (Keith 1978), could easily tip the balance 

 of survival toward extinction. Although the 

 amount of DDE, the most important of chemicals 

 affecting California brown pelican reproduction, 

 has been reduced somewhat and reproduction has 

 improved, the number of fledged young per nest- 

 ing pair is still too low to maintain the pelican 

 population. If chemical level is not further 

 improved, and if overfishing of anchovies does go 

 too far, it would appear that this subspecies of 

 brown pelican is doomed to extinction.— John W. 

 Aldrich. 



LITERATURE CITED/SELECTED 

 REFERENCES 



Addor, E. E.,J. K. Stoll and V. E. LaGarde. 1973. 

 Eastern brown pelican. In A user-accessed 

 computer information system for environ- 

 mentally sensitive wildlife. U.S. Army Eng. 

 Waterways Exp. Stn. Tech. Rep. M-74-6. 

 Rep. M-74-6. 



Anderson, D. W., and J. J. Hickey. 1970. Oologi- 

 cal data on egg and breeding characteristics 

 of brown pehcans. Wilson Bull. 82:14-28. 



Anderson, D. W., J. O. Keith, K. A. King and L. 

 R. DeWeese. 1972. Field ecology investiga- 

 tions of effects of selected pesticides on wild- 

 life populations. Post-breeding dispersal of 

 brown pelicans and other waterbirds into the 

 southwestern United States. U.S. Bureau of 

 Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Denver Wildhfe 

 Research Center Administrative Report, 4 

 Dec. 1972. 



1972a. Post-breeding disperal of brown 



pelicans and other waterbirds into south- 

 western United States. U.S. Bureau of Sport 

 Fisheries and Wildlife, Denver Wildlife Re- 

 search Center, Ann. Prog. Rep. No. 3, 4 Dec. 

 1972. Prepared by D. W. Anderson and L. R. 

 DeWeese. 



Anderson, D. W., J. O. Keith, R. E. White, K. A. 

 King, and L. R. DeWeese. 1972. Brown Peli- 

 C2ms— status of P. o. californicus. U.S. Bur. 

 Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Denver Wildlife 

 Res. Center Ann. Progress Report No. 2, 030 

 April 1972. Prepared by D. W. Anderson. 



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