Regional variations in provenance and abundance of ice-rafted clasts in Arctic Ocean sediments: Implications for the configuration of late Quaternary oceanic and atmospheric circulation in the Arctic
R. L. Phillips, A. Grantz
2001, Marine Geology (172) 91-115
The composition and distribution of ice-rafted glacial erratics in late Quaternary sediments define the major current systems of the Arctic Ocean and identify two distinct continental sources for the erratics. In the southern Amerasia basin up to 70% of the erratics are dolostones and limestones (the Amerasia suite) that originated...
Sex-biased gene flow in spectacled eiders (Anatidae): Inferences from molecular markers with contrasting modes of inheritance
Kim T. Scribner, Margaret R. Petersen, Raymond L. Fields, Sandra L. Talbot, John M. Pearce, Ronald K. Chesser
2001, Evolution (55) 2105-2115
Genetic markers that differ in mode of inheritance and rate of evolution (a sex-linked Z-specific microsatellite locus, five biparentally inherited microsatellite loci, and maternally inherited mitochondrial [mtDNA] sequences) were used to evaluate the degree of spatial genetic structuring at macro- and microgeographic scales, among breeding regions and local nesting populations...
Estimating repeatability of egg size
Paul L. Flint, R.F. Rockwell, J.S. Sedinger
2001, The Auk (118) 500-503
Measures of repeatability have long been used to assess patterns of variation in egg size within and among females. We compared different analytical approaches for estimating repeatability of egg size of Black Brant. Separate estimates of repeatability for eggs of each clutch size and laying sequence number varied from 0.49...
Corticosterone facilitates begging and affects resource allocation in the black-legged kittiwake
Alexander S Kitaysky, John C. Wingfield, John F. Piatt
2001, Behavioral Ecology (12) 619-625
Parent black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) and their dependent chicks respond to food shortages by increasing circulating levels of corticosterone. To examine the behavioral significance of corticosterone release, we experimentally increased levels of circulating corticosterone in parents and chicks up to the levels observed during food shortages. We found that corticosterone-implanted...
Lichens from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska
Stephen S. Talbot, Sandra Looman Talbot, John W. Thomson, Wilfred B. Schofield
2001, The Bryologist (104) 47-58
One hundred thirty-nine taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from St. Matthew and St. Paul Islands in the Bering Sea. Caloplaca lithophila is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging arctic-alpine and boreal species dominate the lichens; a coastal element is moderately represented, while amphi-Beringian species form a minor element....
Comparing movement patterns of satellite-tagged male and female polar bears
Steven C. Amstrup, George M. Durner, T. L. McDonald, D.M. Mulcahy, G.W. Garner
2001, Canadian Journal of Zoology (79) 2147-2158
Satellite radiotelemetry has provided great insights into the movements and behaviors of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). The diameter of the neck of adult male polar bears exceeds that of their head, however, and radio collars slip off. This has limited collection of movement information to that from radio-collared females. To...
Effects of migratory geese on plant communities of an Alaskan salt marsh
Amy B. Zacheis, Jerry W. Hupp, Roger W. Ruess
2001, Journal of Ecology (89) 57-71
1. We studied the effects of lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) on two salt marsh plant communities in Cook Inlet, Alaska, a stopover area used during spring migration. From 1995 to 1997 we compared plant species composition and biomass on plots where geese were...
The role of hybridization in the distribution, conservation and management of aquatic species: Symposium review
John Epifanio, Jennifer L. Nielsen
2001, Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (10) 245-251
This issue of Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries contains six papers addressing several critical aspects of hybridization in fishes and aquatic organisms. Hybridization is a phenomenon long recognized in fishes (Hubbs, 1920, 1955; Schwarz, 1981), as well as in other plant and vertebrate taxa, despite some rather dogmatic proclamations...
Effects of gull predation and weather on survival of emperor goose goslings
Joel A. Schmutz, Bryan F.J. Manly, Christian P. Dau
2001, Journal of Wildlife Management (65) 248-257
Numbers of emperor geese (Chen canagica) have remained depressed since the mid-1980s. Despite increases in glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus), a primary predator of goslings, little information existed to assess whether recent patterns of gosling survival have been a major factor affecting population dynamics. We used observations of known families of...
Rooted Brooks Range ophiolite: Implications for Cordilleran terranes
R. W. Saltus, R. L. Morin, T. L. Hudson
2001, Geology (29) 1151-1154
Modeling of gravity and magnetic data shows that areally extensive mafic and ultramafic rocks of the western Brooks Range, Alaska, are at least 8 km thick, and that gabbro and ultramafic rocks underlie basalt in several places. The basalt, gabbro, and ultramafic rocks have been considered parts of a far-traveled...
Stock structure of sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) in Alaska
C.S. Gorbics, James L. Bodkin
2001, Marine Mammal Science (17) 632-647
Sea otters in Alaska are recognized as a single subspecies (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) and currently managed as a single, interbreeding population. However, geographic and behavioral mechanisms undoubrably constrain sea otter movements on much smaller scales. This paper applies the phylogeographic method (Dizon et al. 1992) and considers distribution, population response, phenotype...
Topography and flooding of coastal ecosystems on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska: Implications for sea level rise
Torre Jorgenson, Craig R. Ely
2001, Journal of Coastal Research (17) 124-136
We measured surface elevations, stage of annual peak flooding, and sedimentation along 10 toposequences across coastal ecosystems on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta in western Alaska during 1994-1998 to assess some of the physical processes affecting ecosystem distribution. An ecotype was assigned to each of 566 points, and differences in elevations...
Shallow-storage conditions for the rhyolite of the 1912 eruption at Novarupta, Alaska
Michelle L. Coombs, James E. Gardner
2001, Geology (29) 775-778
Recent studies have proposed contrasting models for the plumbing system that fed the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, Alaska. Here, we investigate the conditions under which the rhyolitic part of the erupted magma last resided in the crust prior to eruption. Geothermometry suggests that the rhyolite was held at ∼800-850 °C,...
Effects of recent climate warming on caribou habitat and calf survival
Brad Griffith, David C. Douglas, Donald E. Russell, Robert G. White, Thomas R. McCabe, Kenneth R. Whitten
Rhys E. Green, Mike Harley, Mark Spalding, Christoph Zockler, editor(s)
2001, Book chapter, Impacts of climate change on wildlife
Migratory Barren-Ground Caribou Rangifer tarandus granti are the most important subsistence resource for northern indigenous peoples. They are likely to respond to global climatic changes that affect the distribution of their forage resources and the availability of forage through the year. The Porcupine Caribou herd is a large, internationally migratory...
Lithologies of the basement complex (Devonian and older) in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska
Julie A. Dumoulin
David W. Houseknecht, editor(s)
2001, SEPM Core Workshop Notes (21) 201-214
Rocks of the basement complex (Devonian and older) were encountered in at least 30 exploratory wells in the northern part of the NPRA. Fine-grained, variably deformed sedimentary rocks deposited in a slope or basinal setting predominate and include varicolored (mainly red and green) argillite in the Simpson area, dark argillite...
Critical habitat for ovigerous Dungeness crabs
Karen Scheding, Thomas C. Shirley, Charles E. O’Clair, S. James Taggart
Gordon H. Kruse, Nicolas Bez, Anthony Booth, Martin W. Dorn, Susan Hills, Romuald N. Lipcius, Dominique Pelletier, Claude Roy, Stephen J. Smith, David B. Witherell, editor(s)
2001, Conference Paper, Spatial processes and management of marine populations
The Dungeness crab, Cancer magister, supports an important fishery in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, yet there is limited knowledge of ovigerous female brooding locations and brooding behavior. Our earlier research suggests that ovigerous crabs aggregate at the same brooding locations for many years. Within these locations, ovigerous females occur in...
Alaska: A twenty-first-century petroleum province
Kenneth J. Bird
2001, AAPG Memoir (74) 137-165
Alaska, the least explored of all United States regions, is estimated to contain approximately 40% of total U.S. undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural-gas resources, based on the most recent U.S. Department of the Interior (U.S. Geological Survey and Minerals Management Service) estimates. Northern Alaska, including the North Slope and...
El Niño and its impact on fire weather conditions in Alaska
Jason C. Hess, Carven A. Scott, Gary L. Hufford, Michael D. Fleming
2001, International Journal of Wildland Fire (10) 1-13
Examining the relationship of El Niño to weather patterns in Alaska shows wide climate variances that depend on the teleconnection between the tropics and the northern latitudes. However, the weather patterns exhibited in Alaska during and just after moderate to strong El Niño episodes are generally consistent: above normal temperature...
Seismic response of the katmai volcanoes to the 6 December 1999 magnitude 7.0 Karluk Lake earthquake, Alaska
J.A. Power, S.C. Moran, S.R. McNutt, S.D. Stihler, J.J. Sanchez
2001, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (91) 57-63
A sudden increase in earthquake activity was observed beneath volcanoes in the Katmai area on the Alaska Peninsula immediately following the 6 December 1999 magnitude (Mw) 7.0 Karluk Lake earthquake beneath southern Kodiak Island, Alaska. The observed increase in earthquake activity consisted of small (ML < 1.3), shallow (Z <...
Vegetation and paleoclimate of the last interglacial period, central Alaska
D.R. Muhs, T. A. Ager, J. E. Beget
2001, Quaternary Science Reviews (20) 41-61
The last interglacial period is thought to be the last time global climate was significantly warmer than present. New stratigraphic studies at Eva Creek, near Fairbanks, Alaska indicate a complex last interglacial record wherein periods of loess deposition alternated with periods of soil formation. The Eva Forest Bed appears to...
Evolution of the December 14, 1989 precursory long-period event swarm at Redoubt volcano, Alaska
C.D. Stephens, B. A. Chouet
2001, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (109) 133-148
The intermittency pattern and evolution in waveforms of long-period (LP) seismic events during the intense, 23-h swarm that preceded the December 14, 1989 eruption of Redoubt volcano are investigated. Utilizing cross correlation to exploit the high degree of similarity among waveforms, a substantially more complete event catalog is generated than...
Apatite fission-track evidence of widespread Eocene heating and exhumation in the Yukon-Tanana Upland, interior Alaska
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon, J.M. Murphy
2001, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (38) 1191-1204
We present an apatite fission-track (AFT) study of five plutonic rocks and seven metamorphic rocks across 310 km of the YukonTanana Upland in east-central Alaska. Samples yielding ~40 Ma AFT ages and mean confined track lengths > 14 µm with low standard...
Marine Mammals: Sea otters
James L. Bodkin
J. Steele, S. Thorpe, K. Turekian, editor(s)
2001, Book chapter, Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences
No abstract available....
Persistence of oiling in mussel beds after the Exxon Valdez oil spill
M.G. Carls, M.M. Babcock, P.M. Harris, G.V. Irvine, J.A. Cusick, S.D. Rice
2001, Marine Environmental Research (51) 167-190
Persistence and weathering of Exxon Valdez oil in intertidal mussel (Mytilus trossulus) beds in Prince William Sound (PWS) and along the Gulf of Alaska was monitored from 1992 to 1995. Beds with significant contamination included most previously oiled areas in PWS, particularly within the Knight Island group and the Kenai Peninsula. In...
Biogeochemistry of a treeline watershed, northwestern Alaska
R. Stottlemyer
2001, Journal of Environmental Quality (30) 1990-1998
Since 1950, mean annual temperatures in northwestern Alaska have increased. Change in forest floor and soil temperature or moisture could alter N mineralization rates, production of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and organic nitrogen (DON), and their export to the aquatic ecosystem. In 1990, we began study of nutrient cycles in...
