Future for polar bears in a declining sea ice environment: What do we know?
Steven C. Amstrup
2006, Conference Paper
During an April 22, 2006, interview on the CBC radio program “The House,” Tim Flannery, author of the recent book “The Weathermakers,” stated, “Projections of the polar bear specialists are that by about 2030, around that date, the species will be extinct because of global warming induced changes in the...
A model for autumn pelagic distribution of adult female polar bears in the Chukchi Seas, 1987-1994
George M. Durner, David C. Douglas, R. M. Nielson, Steven C. Amstrup
2006, Report
We made predictions of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) autumn distribution in the Chukchi Sea with a Resource Selection Function (RSF) developed from 1198 satellite radio-collar locations on 124 adult female polar bears, 1987 – 1994. The RSF was created to assist in an aerial survey design for polar bears proposed...
Population dynamics of Greater Scaup breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska
Paul L. Flint, J. Barry Grand, Thomas F. Fondell, Julie A. Morse
2006, Wildlife Monographs (162) 1-22
Populations of greater scaup (Aythya marila) remained relatively stable during a period when populations of lesser scaup (A. affinis) have declined from historic levels. To assist in describing these differences in population trends, from 1991 through 2000, we studied the survival, nesting ecology, and productivity of greater scaup on the...
Populations estimates of North American shorebirds, 2006
R.I. Guy Morrison, Brian J. McCaffery, Robert E. Gill Jr., Susan K. Skagen, Stephanie L. Jones, Gary W. Page, Cheri L. Gratto-Trevor, Brad A. Andres
2006, Wader Study Group Bulletin (111) 67-85
This paper provides updates on population estimates for 52 species of shorebirds, involving 75 taxa, occurring in North America. New information resulting in a changed estimate is available for 39 of the 75 taxa (52%), involving 24 increases and 15 decreases. The preponderance of increased estimates is likely the result...
Use of buccal swabs for sampling DNA from nestling and adult birds
Colleen M. Handel, Lisa M. Pajot, Sandra L. Talbot, George K. Sage
2006, Wildlife Society Bulletin (34) 1094-1100
We evaluated the feasibility and efficiency of using swabs to collect buccal epithelial cells fromsmall (2‐ to 13‐g) birds as a source of DNA for genetic studies. We used commercially available buccal swab kits to collect samples from 42 adult and 39 nestling (4‐ to 8‐day‐old) black‐capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and from6 4‐day‐old nestling boreal chickadees (P. hudsonica)....
Steelhead of the south-central/southern California coast: Population characterization for recovery planning
David A. Boughton, P.B. Adams, E. Anderson, Craig Fusaro, E. Keller, Elsie Kelley, Leo Lentsch, J. L. Nielsen, Katie Perry, Helen Regan, C. Swift, Fred Watson
2006, Report
This report by the National Marine Fisheries Service applies a formal evaluation framework to the problem of delineating Oncorhynchus mykiss populations in the South-Central/Southern California Coast recovery domain, in support of recovery planning under the Endangered Species Act....
Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Salmon Research and Restoration Plan
2006, Report
The Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Sustainable Salmon Initiative (AYK SSI) is an innovative partnership between public and private institutions which provides a forum for non-governmental organizations and state and federal agencies to cooperatively identify and address salmon research and restoration needs. The affected region encompasses over 40% of the State of Alaska; the...
A robust design mark-resight abundance estimator allowing heterogeneity in resighting probabilities
B.T. McClintock, Gary C. White, K.P. Burnham
2006, Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics (11) 231-248
This article introduces the beta-binomial estimator (BBE), a closed-population abundance mark-resight model combining the favorable qualities of maximum likelihood theory and the allowance of individual heterogeneity in sighting probability (p). The model may be parameterized for a robust sampling design consisting of multiple primary sampling occasions where closure need not...
Post-Eocene igneous and tectonic effects of spreading center subduction under southeast Alaska: Far-field effects of early Tertiary ridge subduction in Alaska
2006, Conference Paper, Proceedings of Conference on BackBone of the Americas - Patagonia to Alaska
No abstract available. ...
Far-field effects of early Tertiary ridge subduction in Alaska
D. C. Bradley, R.M. Friedman, P.W. Layer, Peter J. Haeussler, A.B. Till, S. M. Roeske, Marti L. Miller
2006, Conference Paper, Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs Specialty Meeting No 2:91
No abstract available. ...
Kittiwakes strategically reduce investment in replacement clutches
J. Gasparini, A. Roulin, V.A. Gill, Scott A. Hatch, T. Boulinier
2006, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (273) 1551-1554
Many life-history traits are expressed interactively in life, but to a varying extent on different occasions. Changes in trait expression can be accounted for by differences in the quality of the environment (‘environmental constraint’ hypothesis) or by strategic adjustments, if the relative contribution of the trait to fitness varies with...
A 16-year time series of 1 km AVHRR satellite data of the conterminous United States and Alaska
Jeff Eidenshink
2006, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (72) 1027-1035
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a 16-year time series of vegetation condition information for the conterminous United States and Alaska using 1 km Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. The AVHRR data have been processed using consistent methods that account for radiometric variability due to calibration uncertainty,...
Simulating the influences of various fire regimes on caribou winter habitat
T. Scott Rupp, Mark Olson, Layne G. Adams, Bruce W. Dale, Kyle Joly, Jonathan Henkelman, William B. Collins, Anthony M. Starfield
2006, Ecological Applications (16) 1730-1743
Caribou are an integral component of high‐latitude ecosystems and represent a major subsistence food source for many northern people. The availability and quality of winter habitat is critical to sustain these caribou populations. Caribou commonly use older spruce woodlands with adequate terrestrial lichen, a preferred winter forage, in the understory....
Genetic characterization of Zostera asiatica on the Pacific Coast of North America
Sandra L. Talbot, S. Wyllie-Echeverria, David H. Ward, Jolene R. Rearick, George K. Sage, B. Chesney, R. C. Phillips
2006, Aquatic Botany (85) 169-176
We gathered sequence information from the nuclear 5.8S rDNA gene and associated internal transcribed spacers, ITS-1 and ITS-2 (5.8S rDNA/ITS), and the chloroplast maturase K (matK) gene, from Zostera samples collected from subtidal habitats in Monterey and Santa Barbara (Isla Vista) bays, California, to test the hypothesis that these plants are conspecific...
Persistence of 10-year old Exxon Valdez oil on Gulf of Alaska beaches: The importance of boulder-armoring
Gail V. Irvine, Daniel H. Mann, Jeffrey W. Short
2006, Marine Pollution Bulletin (52) 1011-1022
Oil stranded as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill has persisted for >10 years at study sites on Gulf of Alaska shores distant from the spill's origin. These sites were contaminated by "oil mousse", which persists in these settings due to armoring of underlying sediments and their included...
In kittiwakes food availability partially explains the seasonal decline in humoral immunocompetence
J. Gasparini, A. Roulin, V.A. Gill, Scott A. Hatch, T. Boulinier
2006, Functional Ecology (20) 457-463
The immune system plays an important role in fitness, and interindividual variation in immunocompetence is due to several factors including food supply.Seasonal variation in food resources may therefore explain why immunocompetence in bird nestlings usually declines throughout the breeding season, with chicks born early in the season receiving...
Nutritional condition of Pacific Black Brant wintering at the extremes of their range
D.D. Mason, P.S. Barboza, David H. Ward
2006, Condor (108) 678-690
Endogenous stores of energy allow birds to survive periods of severe weather and food shortage during winter. We documented changes in lipid, protein, moisture, and ash in body tissues of adult female Pacific Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) and modeled the energetic costs of wintering. Birds were collected at the...
Effects of permafrost melting on CO2 and CH4 exchange of a poorly drained black spruce lowland
K.P. Wickland, Robert G. Striegl, J. C. Neff, T. Sachs
2006, Journal of Geophysical Research G: Biogeosciences (111)
[1] Permafrost melting is occurring in areas of the boreal forest region where large amounts of carbon (C) are stored in organic soils. We measured soil respiration, net CO2 flux, and net CH4 flux during May–September 2003 and March 2004 in a black spruce lowland in interior Alaska to...
The conservation and population status of the world's waders at the turn of the millennium
David A. Stroud, Andy Baker, D.E. Blanco, Nick C. Davidson, B. Ganter, Robert E. Gill Jr., P.M. Gonzalez, L. Haanstra, R. I. G. Morrison, Theunis Piersma, D. Scott, O. Thorup, R. West, J.L. Wilson, Christoph Zockler
Gerard C. Boere, Colin A. Galbraith, David A. Stroud, editor(s)
2006, Conference Paper, Waterbirds around the world: A global overview of the conservation, management, and research of the world's waterbird flyways
Using information from many sources, but especially data collated for the third edition of Wetlands International’s Waterbird Population Estimates, we review the status of the world’s waders in the late 1990s. There are widespread declines in most regions and biotopes caused principally by loss and degradation of wetland (and other)...
Comparison of remotely deployed satellite radio transmitters on walruses
C.V. Jay, M. P. Heide-Jorgensen, Anthony S. Fischbach, M.V. Jensen, D.F. Tessler, A.V. Jensen
2006, Marine Mammal Science (22) 226-236
No abstract available....
Genetic characterization of brown bears of the Kodiak Archipelago
Sandra L. Talbot, Judy R. Gust, George K. Sage, Anthony S. Fischbach, Kristin S. Amstrup, William Leacock, Larry Van Daele
2006, Report
Here we examine genetic characteristics of brown bears of Kodiak and Afognak islands, using 14 variable nuclear microsatellite loci and nucleotide sequence information including the hypervariable domain I of the mtDNA control region (Wakely 1993). Because these markers, or a subset of them, have been used to characterize brown bears...
Are you prepared for the next big earthquake in Alaska?
2006, Book
Scientists have long recognized that Alaska has more earthquakes than any other region of the United States and is, in fact, one of the most seismically active areas of the world. The second-largest earthquake ever recorded shook the heart of southern Alaska on March 27th, 1964. The largest strike-slip slip...
Ground-nesting marine bird distribution and potential for human disturbance in Glacier Bay National Park
Mayumi L. Arimitsu, Marc D. Romano, John F. Piatt
2005, Book chapter, Pp 196-200 in J. F. Piatt and S. M. Gende (eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth Glacier Bay Science Symposium. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5047, 246 p.
Nomenclature of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes for Oncorhynchus mykiss
Sara L. Graziano, K. H. Brown, Jennifer L. Nielsen
2005, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (134) 1271-1273
Congruence of genetic data is critical for comparative and collaborative studies on natural fish populations. A comprehensive list of reported mitochrondrial DNA haplotypes for Oncorhynchus mykiss generated using the S‐Phe/P2 primer set is presented as a resource for future investigations of this species....
Marine mammals
Lloyd L. Lowry, James L. Bodkin
Phillip R. Mundy, editor(s)
2005, Book chapter, The Gulf of Alaska: Biology and oceanography
No abstract available....
