Pete Warzybok

Senior Marine Ecologist

As a Senior Marine Ecologist and Farallon Program Leader, my work focuses on the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems, overseeing research activities at our long-term research station on Southeast Farallon Island and maintaining our long-term monitoring data on the populations, breeding success, phenology, and diet of marine birds and mammals.

I grew up in New York and earned my Bachelor’s of Science degree in biology from the State University of New York at Purchase. After graduating I worked for several seasons on a waterfowl management project in suburban New York, as well as seabird monitoring projects with USGS in Alaska and USFWS in Maine.

I first joined the Farallon Program as a volunteer seabird research assistant in the spring of 2000 and was hired as a program biologist the following year. After having worked on the Farallones for several years, I returned to graduate school at Humboldt State University where I studied the diet and energy requirements of Common Murres by modeling prey consumption and examining the effects of environmental conditions on prey availability.

To date, I have spent over 1,700 days living and working on the Farallon Islands. When not on the Farallones, I work out of our Petaluma headquarters doing data management, analysis, report and manuscript preparation, fundraising, outreach and logistical support for the Farallon staff. My current research interests include diet, foraging ecology and ecosystem variability in relation to the breeding success and population dynamics of Farallon seabirds.

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