Revising supraglacial rock avalanche magnitudes and frequencies in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
William Smith, Stuart A. Dunning, Neil Ross, Jon Telling, Erin K. Bessette-Kirton, Dan H. Shugar, Jeffrey A. Coe, M. Geertsema
2023, Geomorphology (425)
The frequency of large supraglacial landslides (rock avalanches) occurring in glacial environments is thought to be increasing due to feedbacks with climate warming and permafrost degradation. However, it is difficult to (i) test this; (ii) establish cause–effect relationships; and (iii) determine...
Fecal DNA metabarcoding shows credible short-term prey detections and explains variation in the gut microbiome of two polar bear subpopulations
Megan Franz, L Whyte, Todd C. Atwood, Damian M. Menning, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Sandra Talbot, Kristin L. Laidre, Emmanuel Gonzalez, Melissa McKinney
2023, Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) (704) 131-147
This study developed and evaluated DNA metabarcoding to identify the presence of pinniped and cetacean prey DNA in fecal samples of East Greenland (EG) and Southern Beaufort Sea (SB) polar bears Ursus maritimus sampled in the spring of 2015-2019. Prey DNA was detected in half (49/92) of all samples, and when...
Adult spawners: A critical period for subarctic Chinook salmon in a changing climate
Kathrine G. Howard, Vanessa R. von Biela
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 1759-1773
Concurrent, distribution-wide abundance declines of some Pacific salmon species, including Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), highlights the need to understand how vulnerability at different life stages to climate stressors affects population dynamics and fisheries sustainability. Yukon River Chinook salmon stocks are among the largest subarctic populations, near...
Moving Aircraft River Velocimetry (MARV): Framework and proof-of-concept on the Tanana River
Carl J. Legleiter, Paul J. Kinzel, Mark Laker, Jeff Conaway
2023, Water Resources Research (59)
Information on velocity fields in rivers is critical for designing infrastructure, modeling contaminant transport, and assessing habitat. Although non-contact approaches to measuring flow velocity are well established, these methods assume a stationary imaging platform. This study eliminates this constraint by introducing a framework for moving aircraft river...
Recent history of glacial lake outburst floods, analysis of channel changes, and development of a two-dimensional flow and sediment transport model of the Snow River near Seward, Alaska
Robin A. Beebee
2023, Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5099
Snow Lake, a glacially dammed lake on the Snow Glacier near Seward, Alaska, drains rapidly every 14 months–3 years, causing flooding along the Snow River. Highway, railroad, and utility infrastructure on the lower Snow River floodplain is vulnerable to flood damage. Historical hydrology, geomorphology, and two-dimensional hydraulic and sediment transport...
Territories within groups: The dynamic competition of drift-feeding juvenile Chinook salmon in 3-dimensional space
Jason R. Neuswanger, Amanda E. Rosenberger, M. S. Wipfli, Nicholas F. Hughes
2023, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (80) 346-359
Salmonid populations are often regulated by territorial competition among juveniles for food and space. In the canonical view, salmonid territories are spaced horizontally across the river bottom in a 2-D mosaic. However, some juveniles instead feed in tight, three-dimensional (3-D) social groups. To investigate whether territoriality is possible within such...
Geologic map of Okmok Volcano
Jessica Larsen, Christina A. Neal, Janet Schaefer, Christopher J. Nye
2023, Report of Investigations of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys 2023-1
The geologic map and description of map units presented here cover approximately 880 km2 of northeastern Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska. This report focuses on Okmok Volcano and its eruptive products and updates the mid-20th-century geologic map of Byers (1959). Mapped deposits reflect the state of the volcano just prior...
Trace elements in blood of sea ducks from Dutch Harbor and Izembek Lagoon, Alaska
J. Christian Franson, Tuula E. Hollmen, Paul L. Flint, Angela C. Matz
2023, Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (14) 41-50
In 2001, we collected whole blood from sea ducks (Steller’s eider Polysticta stelleri, harlequin duck Histrionicus histrionicus, black scoter Melanitta nigra, and long-tailed duck Clangula hyemalis) wintering at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and from Steller’s eiders molting at Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula....
Borealization of nearshore fishes on an interior Arctic shelf over multiple decades
Vanessa R. von Biela, Sarah M. Laske, Ashley E. Stanek, Randy J Brown, Kenneth H. Dunton
2023, Global Change Biology (29) 1822-1838
Borealization is a type of community reorganization where Arctic specialists are replaced by species with more boreal distributions in response to climatic warming. The process of borealization is often exemplified by the northward range expansions and subsequent proliferation of boreal species on the Pacific and Atlantic...
Investigating effects of climate-induced changes in water temperature and diet on mercury concentrations in an Arctic freshwater forage fish
Sarah M. Laske, Samantha M. Burke, Michael P. Carey, Heidi K. Swanson, Christian E. Zimmerman
2023, Environmental Research (218)
The amount of mercury (Hg) in Arctic lake food webs is, and will continue to be, affected by rapid, ongoing climate change. At warmer temperatures, fish require more energy to sustain growth; changes in their metabolic rates and consuming prey with potentially higher Hg concentrations could result in increased Hg...
Hydrologic and landscape controls on dissolved organic matter composition across western North American Arctic lakes
Martin R. Kurek, Fenix Garcia-Tigreros, Kimberly Wickland, Karen E. Frey, Mark Dornblaser, Robert G. Striegl, Sydney F. Niles, Amy M. McKenna, Pieter J.K Aukes, Ethan D. Kyzivat, Chao Wang, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Laurence C. Smith, Sherry L. Schiff, David Butman, Robert G.M. Spencer
2023, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (37)
Northern high-latitude lakes are hotspots for cycling dissolved organic carbon (DOC) inputs from allochthonous sources to the atmosphere. However, the spatial distribution of lake dissolved organic matter (DOM) is largely unknown across Arctic-boreal regions with respect to the surrounding landscape. We expand on regional studies of northern...
Lava-ice interactions during historical eruptions of Veniaminof Volcano, Alaska and the potential for meltwater floods and lahars
Christopher F. Waythomas, Benjamin R Edwards, Thomas P Miller, Robert G. McGimsey
2023, Natural Hazards (115) 73-106
Veniaminof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula of southwest Alaska is one of a small group of ice-clad volcanoes globally that erupts lava flows in the presence of glacier ice. Here, we describe the nature of lava-ice-snow interactions that have occurred during historical eruptions of the volcano since 1944. Lava flows...
Efficacy of bear spray as a deterrent against polar bears
James Wilder, Lindsey Mangipane, Todd C. Atwood, Anatoly A. Kochnev, Tom Smith, Dag Vongraven
2023, Wildlife Society Bulletin (47)
Although there have been few attempts to systematically analyze information on the use of deterrents on polar bears (Ursus maritimus), understanding their effectiveness in mitigating human-polar bear conflicts is critical to ensuring both human safety and polar bear conservation. To fill this knowledge gap, we analyzed...
Optimizing surveys of fall-staging geese using aerial imagery and automated counting
Emily L. Weiser, Paul L. Flint, Dennis K Marks, Brad S Shults, Heather M. Wilson, Sarah J. Thompson, Julian B. Fischer
2023, Wildlife Society Bulletin (47)
Ocular aerial surveys allow efficient coverage of large areas and can be used to monitor abundance and distribution of wild populations. However, uncertainty around resulting population estimates can be large due to difficulty in visually identifying and counting animals from aircraft, as well as logistical challenges in estimating detection probabilities....
Partnering in search of answers: Seabird die-offs in the Bering and Chukchi Seas
Robb A. S. Kaler, Gay Sheffield, S Backensto, Jackie Lindsey, T. Jones, J. Parrish, B Ahmasuk, Barbara Bodenstein, Robert J. Dusek, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Matthew M. Smith, P Schwalenberg
2023, Report, Arctic Report Card 2022 (NOAA Technical Report)
Prior to 2015, seabird die-offs in Alaskan waters were rare; they typically occurred in mid-winter, linked to epizootic disease events or above-average ocean temperatures associated with strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation events (Bodenstein et al. 2015, Jones et al. 2019, Romano et al. 2020). Since 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife...
Point count offsets for estimating population sizes of north American landbirds
B.P.M. Edwards, A.C. Smith, T.D.S. Docherety, M.A. Gahbauer, C.R. Gillespie, A.R. Grinde, T. Harmer, D. Iles, Steven M. Matsuoka, N.L. Michel, N.L. Murray, G. Niemi, J. Pasher, D. Pavlacky, B. Robinson, B. Ryder, P. Solymos, D. Stralberg, E.J. Zlonis
2023, Ibis (165) 482-503
Bird monitoring in North America over several decades has generated many open databases, housing millions of structured and semi-structured bird observations. These provide the opportunity to estimate bird densities and population sizes, once variation in factors such as underlying field methods, timing, land cover, proximity to...
Estimating reproductive and juvenile survival rates when offspring ages are uncertain: A novel multievent mark-resight model with beluga whale case study
Gina K Himes Boor, Tamara L McGuire, Amanda J. Warlick, Rebecca L. Taylor, Sarah J. Converse, John R McClung, Amber D Stephens
2023, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (14) 631-642
Understanding the survival and reproductive rates of a population is critical to determining its long-term dynamics and viability. Mark-resight models are often used to estimate these demographic rates, but estimation of survival and reproductive rates is challenging, especially for wide-ranging, patchily distributed, or cryptic species. In particular, existing mark-resight...
Landscape characteristics influence projected growth rates of stream-resident juvenile salmon in the face of climate change in the Kenai River watershed, south-central Alaska
B. E. Meyer, M. S. Wipfli, E. R. Schoen, D. J. Rinella, Jeffrey A. Falke
2023, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (152) 169-186
ObjectiveClimate change is affecting the distribution and productivity of Pacific salmon throughout their range. At high latitudes, warmer temperatures have been associated with increased freshwater growth of juvenile salmon, but it is not clear how long this trend will continue before further warming leads to reduced growth....
Geochemistry and fluxes of gases from hydrothermal features at Newberry Volcano, Oregon, USA
Jennifer L. Lewicki, William C. Evans, Steven E. Ingebritsen, Laura E. Clor, Peter J. Kelly, Sara Peek, Robert A. Jensen, Andrew G. Hunt
2023, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (433)
We present the chemical and isotopic compositions of gases and fluxes of CO2 from the hydrothermal features of Newberry Volcano, a large composite volcano located in Oregon's Cascade Range with a summit caldera that hosts two lakes, Paulina and East Lakes. Gas samples were collected from 1982 to 2021 from Paulina...
Effects of mass capture on survival of greater white-fronted geese in Alaska
Josh Dooley, Joel Schmutz, Julian B. Fischer, Dennis Marks
2023, Journal of Wildlife Management (87)
Mass capture of flightless geese during the summer is a common trapping technique to obtain large numbers of individuals for research and marking, but few studies have assessed the impacts of this method on the survival of after-hatch-year geese. We evaluated the effects of holding time...
The mysterious case of the missing razor clams
Heather Coletti, Lizabeth Bowen, Brenda Ballachey, Tammy L. Wilson, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, Michael Booz, Katrina Counihan, Tuula E. Hollmen, Benjamin Pister
2023, Frontiers for Young Minds (10) 715425
Oceans are changing and these changes are affecting animals that live there. Animals respond differently to changes in water temperature, food availability, or contaminants. Those responses can be seen in their genes. Gene transcription is a tool that allows scientists to see the response of an animal’s genes to its...
Diet energy density estimated from isotopes in predator hair associated with survival, habitat, and population dynamics
Karyn D. Rode, Brian D. Taras, Craig A. Stricker, Todd C. Atwood, Nicole P Boucher, George M. Durner, Andrew E. Derocher, Evan S. Richardson, Seth Cherry, Lori T. Quakenbush, Lara Horstmann, Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2023, Ecological Applications (33)
Sea ice loss is fundamentally altering the Arctic marine environment. Yet there is a paucity of data on the adaptability of food webs to ecosystem change, including predator-prey interactions. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are an important subsistence resource for Indigenous people and an apex predator that...
Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) otoliths indicate effects of climate and lake morphology on growth patterns in Arctic lakes
Eric Torvinen, Jeffrey A. Falke, Christopher D. Arp, Benjamin M. Jones, Matthew S. Whitman, Christian E. Zimmerman
2023, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (32) 166-180
Climate change is occurring rapidly in the Arctic, and an improved understanding of the response of aquatic biota and ecosystems will be important for this data-limited region. Here, we applied biochronology techniques and mixed-effects modelling to assess relationships among growth increments found on lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) otoliths (N = 49) captured...
Beyond glacier-wide mass balances: Parsing seasonal elevation change into spatially resolved patterns of accumulation and ablation at Wolverine Glacier, Alaska
Lucas Zeller, Daniel J McGrath, Louis C. Sass, Shad O'Neel, Christopher J. McNeil, Emily Baker
2023, Journal of Glaciology (69) 87-102
We present spatially distributed seasonal and annual surface mass balances of Wolverine Glacier, Alaska, from 2016 to 2020. Our approach accounts for the effects of ice emergence and firn compaction on surface elevation changes to resolve the spatial patterns in mass balance at 10 m scale. We...
Alaskan Yelloweye Rockfish fecundity revealed through an automated egg count and digital imagery method
Donald E. Arthur, Jeffrey A. Falke, Brittany J. Blain-Roth, Trent M. Sutton
2023, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (42) 828-838
Spawning stock biomass (SSB) is often used as an index for reproductive potential (RP) in fisheries stock assessments. This method assumes that mature female biomass is proportional to total egg production and implies that (1) the fecundity–length relationship follows a cubic function or (2)...
