Limited effects of a keystone species: Trends of sea otters and kelp forests at the Semichi Islands, Alaska
Brenda Konar
2000, Marine Ecology Progress Series (199) 271-280
Sea otters are well known as a keystone species because of their ability to transform sea urchin-dominated communities into kelp-dominated communities by preying on sea urchins and thus reducing the intensity of herbivory. After being locally extinct for more than a century, sea otters re-colonized the Semichi Islands in the...
Potential seismic hazards and tectonics of the upper Cook Inlet basin, Alaska, based on analysis of Pliocene and younger deformation
Peter J. Haeussler, Ronald L. Bruhn, Thomas L. Pratt
2000, Geological Society of America Bulletin (112) 1414-1429
The Cook Inlet basin is a northeast-trending forearc basin above the Aleutian subduction zone in southern Alaska. Folds in Cook Inlet are complex, discontinuous structures with variable shape and vergence that probably developed by right-transpressional deformation on oblique-slip faults extending downward into Mesozoic basement beneath the Tertiary basin. The most...
Recovery of tall cotton-grass following real and simulated feeding by snow geese
Jerry W. Hupp, Donna G. Robertson, Joel A. Schmutz
2000, Ecography (23) 367-373
Lesser snow geese Anser caerulescens caeruteseens from the western Canadian Arctic feed on underground parts of tall cotton–grass Eriophorum angustifolium during autumn staging on the coastal plain of the Beaufort Sea in Canada and Alaska. We studied revegetation of sites where cotton–grass had been removed either by human–imprinted snow geese or by hand to...
Age-specific breeding in Emperor Geese
Joel A. Schmutz
2000, The Wilson Bulletin (112) 261-263
I studied the frequency with which Emperor Geese (Chen canagica) of known age were observed breeding on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. No one- or two-year old geese were observed on nests. Three-year old geese bred at a lower rate than four-year old geese. These data suggest that patterns...
Testing assumptions for unbiased estimation of survival of radiomarked harlequin ducks
Daniel Esler, Daniel M. Mulcahy, Robert L. Jarvis
2000, Journal of Wildlife Management (64) 591-598
Unbiased estimates of survival based on individuals outfitted with radiotransmitters require meeting the assumptions that radios do not affect survival, and animals for which the radio signal is lost have the same survival probability as those for which fate is known. In most survival studies, researchers have made these assumptions...
Biogeochemical effects of global change on U.S. National Parks
R. Herrmann, R. Stottlemyer, J.C. Zak, R.L. Edmonds, H. Van Miegroet
2000, Journal of the American Water Resources Association (36) 337-346
Federal parks and other public lands have unique mandates and rules regulating their use and conservation. Because of variation in their response to local, regional, and global-scale disturbance, development of mitigation strategies requires substantial research in the context of long-term inventory and monitoring. In 1982, the National Park Service began...
Molecular analysis of population genetic structure and recolonization of rainbow trout following the Cantara spill
J.L. Nielsen, Erika L. Heine, Christina A. Gan, Monique C. Fountain
2000, California Fish and Game (86) 21-40
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence and allelic frequency data for 12 microsatellite loci were used to analyze population genetic structure and recolonization by rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, following the 1991 Cantara spill on the upper Sacramento River, California. Genetic analyses were performed on 1,016 wild rainbow trout collected between...
Cryptic genetic variation and paraphyly in ravens
K.E. Omland, C.L. Tarr, W.I. Boarman, J.M. Marzluff, R.C. Fleischer
2000, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (267) 2475-2482
Widespread species that are morphologically uniform may be likely to harbour cryptic genetic variation. Common ravens (Corvus corax) have an extensive range covering nearly the entire Northern Hemisphere, but show little discrete phenotypic variation. We obtained tissue samples from throughout much of this range and collected mitochondrial sequence and nuclear...
Genetic diversity and epidemiology of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in Alaska
E.G Emmenegger, T.R. Meyers, T.O. Burton, Gael Kurath
2000, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (40) 163-176
Forty-two infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) isolates from Alaska were analyzed using the ribonuclease protection assay (RPA) and nucleotide sequencing. RPA analyses, utilizing 4 probes, N5, N3 (N gene), GF (G gene), and NV (NV gene), determined that the haplotypes of all 3 genes demonstrated a consistent spatial pattern. Virus...
Lichens of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, westernmost Alaska Peninsula
Stephen S. Talbot, Sandra Looman Talbot, John W. Thomson, Wilfred B. Schofield
2000, Bryologist (103) 379-389
One hundred eighty-two taxa of lichens including two lichen parasites are reported from Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. Metasphaeria tartarina is new to North America; Scoliciosporum umbrinum is new to Alaska. Wide-ranging, arctic-alpine, and boreal species dominate the lichen flora; a coastal element is...
The 2000 revision of the joint UK/US geomagnetic field models and an IGRF 2000 candidate model
S. Macmillan, J.M. Quinn
2000, Earth, Planets and Space (52) 1149-1162
The method of derivation of the joint UK/US spherical harmonic geomagnetic main-field and secular-variation models is presented. Early versions of these models, with the main field truncated at degree 10, are the UK/US candidates for the IGRF 2000 model. The main-field model describes the Earth’s magnetic field at the 2000.0...
Aseismic inflation of Westdahl volcano, Alaska, revealed by satellite radar interferometry
Z. Lu, Charles Wicks, D. Dzurisin, W. Thatcher, J.T. Freymueller, S.R. McNutt, Dorte Mann
2000, Geophysical Research Letters (27) 1567-1570
Westdahl volcano, located at the west end of Unimak Island in the central Aleutian volcanic arc, Alaska, is a broad shield that produced moderate-sized eruptions in 1964, 1978-79, and 1991-92. Satellite radar interferometry detected about 17 cm of volcano-wide inflation from September 1993 to October 1998. Multiple independent interferograms reveal...
Nearshore fish distributions in an Alaskan estuary in relation to stratification, temperature, and salinity
Alisa A. Abookire, John F. Piatt, Martin D. Robards
2000, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science (51) 45-59
Fish were sampled with beach seines and small-meshed beam trawls in nearshore ( < 1 km) and shallow ( < 25 m) habitats on the southern coast of Kachemak Bay, Cook Inlet, Alaska, from June to August, 1996-1998. Fish distributions among habitats were analysed for species composition, catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) and...
Orphan caribou, Rangifer tarandus, calves: A re-evaluation of overwinter survival data
Kyle Joly
2000, Canadian Field-Naturalist (114) 322-323
Low sample size and high variation within populations reduce power of statistical tests. These aspects of statistical power appear to have affected an analysis comparing overwinter survival rates of non-orphan and orphan Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) calves by an earlier study for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. A re-evaluation of the data...
Survival and brood rearing ecology of emperor geese
Joel A. Schmutz
2000, Thesis
Emperor Geese (Chen canagica) breed on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in an area inhabited by three other goose species. Whereas populations of other geese increased since the mid 1980s, Emperor Goose numbers remained low. Because survival and habitat selection by broods of Emeperor Geese had not been studied previously and numbers...
Molecular genetic status of Aleutian Canada Geese from Buldir and the Semidi Islands, Alaska
Barbara J. Pierson, John M. Pearce, Sandra L. Talbot, Gerald F. Shields, Kim T. Scribner
2000, The Condor (102) 172-180
We conducted genetic analyses of Aleutian Canada Geese (Branta canadensis leucopareia) from Buldir Island in the western Aleutians and the Semidi Islands in the eastern portion of their breeding range. We compared data from seven microsatellite DNA loci and 143 base pairs of the control region of mitochondrial DNA from...
Microsatellites: Evolutionary and methodological background and empirical applications at individual, population, and phylogenetic levels
Kim T. Scribner, John M. Pearce
Allan J. Baker, editor(s)
2000, Book chapter, Molecular methods in ecology
The recent proliferation and greater accessibility of molecular genetic markers has led to a growing appreciation of the ecological and evolutionary inferences that can be drawn from molecular characterizations of individuals and populations (Burke et al. 1992, Avise 1994). Different techniques have the ability to target DNA sequences which have...
Historic and current use of Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, by Belugas, Delphinapterus leucas
Suzann G. Speckman, John F. Piatt
2000, Marine Fisheries Review (63) 22-26
Dedicated at-sea surveys for marine birds and mammals conducted in lower Cook Inlet in late July and early August from 1995–99 failed to locate any belugas, Delphinapterus leucas. Surveys covered a total of 6,249 linear km and were conducted in both nearshore and offshore habitats. Sightings included 791 individual marine...
Monitoring seabird populations in areas of oil and gas development on the Alaskan Continental Shelf: A computerized pelagic seabird atlas for Alaska
John F. Piatt, R. Glenn Ford
2000, Report
Seabirds are the most visible and vulnerable victims of oil pollution in marine waters. As demonstrated by the "Exxon Valdez" spill (Piatt et al. 1990), we cannot predict when or where an accident leading to pollution might occur in Alaska, or where oil will eventually end up traveling from a...
Proceedings of a workshop concerning walrus survey methods
Joel L. Garlich-Miller, Chadwick V. Jay
2000, Fish and Wildlife Technical Report MMM 00-2
In March 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey hosted a workshop to evaluate various techniques and approaches to estimate the size and trend of the Pacific walrus population. Workshop participants included American and Russian experts in walrus biology and survey design, subsistence hunters, and resource...
Temporal variation in phenotypic and genotypic traits in two sockeye salmon populations, Tustumena Lake, Alaska
Carol Ann Woody, Jeffrey B. Olsen, Joel H. Reynolds, Paul Bentzen
2000, Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (129) 1031-1043
Sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka in two tributary streams (about 20 km apart) of the same lake were compared for temporal variation in phenotypic (length, depth adjusted for length) and genotypic (six microsatellite loci) traits. Peak run time (July 16 versus 11 August) and run duration (43 versus 26 d) differed...
Are North Slope surface alluvial fans pre-Holocene relicts?
Erk Reimnitz, Stephen C. Wolf
2000, Professional Paper 1605
The surface morphology of the northern slope of the Brooks Range (North Slope) from the Canning River, Alaska, eastward is dominated by a series of large alluvial fans and braided streams floored by coarse alluvium. On the basis of our studies, we conclude that the fans are not prograding now...
The Tintina Gold Belt - A global perspective
Richard J. Goldfarb, Craig J. R. Hart, Marti L. Miller, Lance D. Miller, G. Lang Farmer, David I. Groves
Terry L. Tucker, Moira T. Smith, editor(s)
2000, Book chapter, The Tintina Gold Belt: Concepts, exploration, and discoveries: Special volume 2
The so-called Tintina Gold Belt extends for more than 1000 km along the length of the northern North American Cordillera. Middle to Late Cretaceous Au deposits within the belt have various similar characteristics, among which are a spatial and temporal association with magmatism; Bi-W-Te signatures in deposits hosted by granitod...
Breeding Bird Habitat Associations on the Alaska Breeding Bird Survey
Paul A. Cotter, Brad A. Andres
2000, Information and Technology Report 2000-0010
Water resources data, Alaska, water year 1999
C.M. Bertrand, D.L. Hess, R.T. Kemnitz, D. F. Meyer, W.C. Swanner
2000, Water Data Report AK-99-1
The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with State and other agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the water resources of Alaska each water year. These data, accumulated during many water years, constitute a valuable data base for developing an improved understanding of...
