Holocene thermokarst lake dynamics in northern Interior Alaska: The interplay of climate, fire, and subsurface hydrology
Lesleigh Anderson, Mary E. Edwards, Mark D. Shapley, Bruce P. Finney, Catherine Langdon
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7) 1-22
The current state of permafrost in Alaska and meaningful expectations for its future evolution are informed by long-term perspectives of previous permafrost degradation. Thermokarst processes in permafrost landscapes often lead to widespread lake formation and the spatial and temporal evolution of thermokarst lake landscapes reflects the combined effects of climate,...
Energetic costs of aquatic locomotion in a subadult polar bear
Anthony M. Pagano, Amy Cutting, Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey, Amy Hash, Terrie M. Williams
2019, Marine Mammal Science (35) 649-659
Most marine mammals rely on swimming as their primary form of locomotion. These animals have evolved specialized morphologies, physiologies, and behaviors that have enabled them to efficiently move through an aquatic environment (Williams 1999). Such adaptations include body streamlining, modified plantar surfaces for propulsion, and abilities...
AVO-G2S: A modified, open-source Ground-to-Space atmospheric specification for infrasound modeling
Hans Schwaiger, Alexandra M. Iezzi, David Fee
2019, Computers & Geosciences (125) 90-97
To facilitate infrasound propagation studies, we present AVO-G2S, an open-source, Ground-to-Space model which provides temperature and wind specifications from the surface to an altitude of 225 km. This model provides a means of smoothly characterizing atmospheric conditions using multiple numerical weather prediction forecast and reanalysis products, along with upper-atmospheric...
Serologic evidence for influenza A virus exposure in three loon species (Gavia spp.) breeding in Alaska
Brian D. Uher-Koch, Timothy J. Spivey, Caroline R. Van Hemert, Joel A. Schmutz, Kaijun Jiang, Xiu-Feng Wan, Andrew M. Ramey
2019, Journal of Wildlife Diseases (55) 862-867
Limited information exists about exposure to influenza A viruses (IAVs) in many wild waterbird species, including loons. We analyzed serum samples from breeding adult Pacific (Gavia pacifica), Red-throated (Gavia stellata), and Yellow-billed (Gavia adamsii) loons sampled at three locations along the coast of Alaska, US from 2008 to 2017 to...
Assessing patterns of annual change to permafrost bluffs along the North Slope coast of Alaska using high-resolution imagery and elevation models
Ann E. Gibbs, Matt Nolan, Bruce M. Richmond, Alexander G. Snyder, Li Erikson
2019, Geomorphology (336) 152-164
Coastal permafrost bluffs at Barter Island, on the North Slope, Beaufort Sea Coast of Alaska are among the most rapidly eroding along Alaska’s coast, having retreated up to 132 m between 1955 and 2015. Here we quantify rates and patterns of change over a single year using very-high resolution orthophotomosaics...
Energy allocation and feeding ecology of juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) during transition from freshwater to saltwater
Sean E. Burril, Vanessa R. von Biela, Nicola Hillbruber, Christian E. Zimmerman
2019, Polar Biology (41) 1447-1461
Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) populations near their northern range extent in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region of Alaska have undergone major changes in population trajectory and illuminated the lack of basic information on juvenile ecology. This study fills information gaps on the early life history of chum salmon at northern latitudes. Energy...
Measurement of long-term channel change through repeated cross-section surveys at bridge crossings in Alaska
Karenth L. Dworsky, Jeffrey S. Conaway
2019, Open-File Report 2019-1028
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been working with Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) since 1993 to provide hydraulic assessments of scour for bridges throughout Alaska. The purpose of the program is to evaluate, monitor, and study streambed scour at bridges in Alaska; this includes surveying...
Parallel signatures of selection at genomic islands of divergence and the major histocompatibility complex in ecotypes of sockeye salmon across Alaska
Wesley Larson, Tyler H. Dann, Morten T. Limborg, Garrett J. McKinney, James E. Seeb, Lisa W. Seeb
2019, Molecular Ecology (28) 2254-2271
Understanding the genetic mechanisms that facilitate adaptive radiation is an important component of evolutionary biology. Here, we genotyped 82 neutral SNPs, seven SNPs in islands of divergence identified in a previous study (island SNPs), and a region of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in 32 populations of sockeye salmon to...
Survival outcome patterns revealed by deploying advanced tags in quantity: Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) survivals after release from trawl catches through expedited sorting
Craig S. Rose, Julie K. Nielsen, John Gauvin, Tim Loher, Suresh Sethi, Andrew C. Seitz, Michael B. Courtney, Paige Drobny
2019, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (76) 2215-2224
Bycatch of Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) limits many trawl fisheries in Alaska and greatly concerns stakeholders from local communities and fisheries that rely on Pacific halibut. To reduce Pacific halibut mortality, trawlers in the Bering Sea that target flatfish have been developing expedited release procedures to sort Pacific halibut from...
Plasticity in elk migration timing is a response to changing environmental conditions
Gregory J.M. Rickbeil, Jerod A. Merkle, Greg Anderson, M. Paul Atwood, Jon P. Beckmann, Eric K Cole, Alyson B. Courtemanch, Sarah Dewey, David D. Gustine, Matthew J. Kauffman, Douglas E. McWhirter, Tony W. Mong, Kelly Proffitt, Patrick J. White, Arthur D. Middleton
2019, Global Change Biology (25) 2368-2381
Migration is an effective behavioral strategy for prolonging access to seasonal resources and may be a resilient strategy for ungulates experiencing changing climatic conditions. In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), elk are the primary ungulate, with approximately 20,000 individuals migrating to exploit seasonal gradients in forage...
Tsunamigenic splay faults imply a long-term asperity in southern Prince William Sound, Alaska
Lee Liberty, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter J. Haeussler
2019, Geophysical Research Letters (46) 3764-3772
Coseismic slip partitioning and uplift over multiple earthquake cycles is critical to understanding upper‐plate fault development. Bathymetric and seismic reflection data from the 1964 Mw9.2 Great Alaska earthquake rupture area reveal sea floor scarps along the tsunamigenic Patton Bay/Cape Cleare/Middleton Island fault system. The faults splay from...
Extreme reduction in nutritional value of a key forage fish during the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014–2016
Vanessa R. von Biela, Mayumi L. Arimitsu, John F. Piatt, Brielle Heflin, Sarah K. Schoen, Jannelle Trowbridge, Chelsea Clawson
2019, Marine Ecology Progress Series (613) 171-182
Pacific sand lance Ammodytes personatus are a key forage fish in the North Pacific for many species of salmon, groundfish, seabirds, and marine mammals and have historically been important to predators in relatively warm years. However, extreme declines in the nutritional value of sand lance in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA,...
Estimating the energy expenditure of free‐ranging polar bears using tri‐axial accelerometers: A validation with doubly labeled water
Anthony M. Pagano, Terrie M. Williams
2019, Ecology and Evolution (9) 4210-4219
Measures of energy expenditure can be used to inform animal conservation and management, but methods for measuring the energy expenditure of free‐ranging animals have a variety of limitations. Advancements in biologging technologies have enabled the use of dynamic body acceleration derived from accelerometers as a proxy for energy expenditure. Although...
Migratory goose arrival time plays a larger role in influencing forage quality than advancing springs in an Arctic coastal wetland
Karen H. Beard, Ryan T. Choi, A. Joshua Leffer, Lindsay Carlson, Katharine C. Kelsey, Joel A. Schmutz, Jeffrey Welker
2019, PLoS ONE (14)
With warmer springs, herbivores migrating to Arctic breeding grounds may experience phenological mismatches between their energy demands and the availability of high quality forage. However, the timing of high quality forage relative to the timing of grazing is often unknown. In coastal western Alaska, approximately one million migratory geese arrive...
Towards determining spatial methane distribution on Arctic permafrost bluffs with an unmanned aerial system
Ferdinand K. J. Oberle, Ann E. Gibbs, Bruce M. Richmond, Li H. Erikson, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter W. Swarzenski
2019, SN Applied Sciences (1) 1-9
Arctic permafrost stores vast amounts of methane (CH4) in subsurface reservoirs. Thawing permafrost creates areas for this potent greenhouse gas to be released to the atmosphere. Identifying ‘hot spots’ of methane flux on a local scale has been limited by the spatial scales of traditional ground-based or satellite-based methane-sampling methods....
Current trends and future directions in swan research: Insights from the 6th International Swan Symposium
Kevin Wood, Lei Cao, P. Clausen, Craig R. Ely, L. Luigujoe, Eileen Rees, Jeffrey Snyder, D. Solovyeva, R. Wlodarczyk
2019, Wildfowl
Given their popularity with researchers and public alike, together with their welldocumented importance in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, fundamental and applied research on swans continues to develop in the 21st century. The 6th International Swan Symposium (6th ISS), was held at the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu, Estonia,...
Late-Glacial paleoecology of the Middle Susitna Valley, Alaska: Environmental context for human dispersal
Nancy H. Bigelow, Joshua D. Reuther, Kristi L. Wallace, Émilie Saulnier-Talbot, Katherine Mullikey, Matthew J. Wooller
2019, Frontiers Earth Science Journal (7)
We present here the results of multi-proxy analyses (sediment geochemistry, diatoms, and pollen) from sediment cores collected at four lakes in the middle Susitna Valley, Alaska. These lakes form a transect from the tundra to the boreal forest. The retrieved cores span from ~12,000 cal yr BP to the present,...
An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: Implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions
Miriam Jones, Lesleigh Anderson, Katherine Keller, Bailey Nash, Virginia Littell, Matthew J. Wooller, Chelsea Jolley
2019, Frontiers in Earth Science (7)
Peat cores are valuable archives of past environmental change because they accumulate plant organic matter over millennia. While studies have primarily focused on physical, ecological, and some biogeochemical proxies, cores from peatlands have increasingly been used to interpret hydroclimatic change using stable isotope analyses of cellulose preserved in plant remains....
Influenza A prevalence and subtype diversity in migrating teal sampled along the United States Gulf Coast
Deborah Carter, Paul T. Link, Patrick Walther, Andrew M. Ramey, David E. Stallknecht, Rebecca L. Poulson
2019, Avian Diseases (63) 165-171
Wild birds in the order Anseriformes are important reservoirs for influenza A viruses (IAV); however, IAV prevalence and subtype diversity may vary by season, even at the same location. To better understand the ecology of IAV during waterfowl migration through the Gulf Coast of the United States (Louisiana and Texas),...
Spatiotemporal remote sensing of ecosystem change and causation across Alaska
Neal J. Pastick, M. Torre Jorgenson, Scott J. Goetz, Benjamin M. Jones, Bruce K. Wylie, Burke J. Minsley, Hélène Genet, Joseph F. Knight, David K. Swanson, Janet C. Jorgenson
2019, Global Change Biology (25) 1171-1189
Contemporary climate change in Alaska has resulted in amplified rates of press and pulse disturbances that drive ecosystem change with significant consequences for socio‐environmental systems. Despite the vulnerability of Arctic and boreal landscapes to change, little has been done to characterize landscape change and associated drivers across northern high‐latitude ecosystems....
Dropstones in lacustrine sediments as a record of snow avalanches - A validation of the proxy by combining satellite imagery and varve chronology at Kenai Lake (south-central Alaska)
Sien Thys, Maarten Van Daele, Nore Praet, Britta J.L. Jensen, Thomas Van Dyck, Peter J. Haeussler, Elke Vandekerkhove, Veerle Cnudde, Marc De Batist
2019, Quaternary Geochronology (2)
Snow avalanches cause many fatalities every year and damage local economies worldwide. The present-day climate change affects the snowpack and, thus, the properties and frequency of snow avalanches. Reconstructing snow avalanche records can help us understand past variations in avalanche frequency and their relationship to climate change. Previous avalanche records...
The black brant population is declining based on mark recapture
James S. Sedinger, Thomas V. Riecke, Alan G. Leach, David H. Ward
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (83) 627-637
Annual survival and recruitment in black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) have declined since the 1990s, yet aerial surveys of the global population have been stable or even increasing over the past decade. We used a combination of a Lincoln estimator based on harvest information and band recoveries, and marked‐unmarked ratios...
Flexible timing of annual movements across consistently used sites by Marbled Godwits breeding in Alaska
Daniel R. Ruthrauff, T. Lee Tibbitts, Robert E. Gill Jr.
2019, The Auk (136) 1-11
The study of avian movement has detailed a spectrum of strategies for the timing and use of sites throughout the annual cycle, from near randomness to complete consistency. New tracking devices now permit the repeated tracking of individual animals throughout the annual cycle, detailing previously unappreciated levels of variation within...
Spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant
Alan G. Leach, David H. Ward, James S. Sedinger, Thomas V. Riecke, Jerry W. Hupp, Robert J. Ritchie
2019, Journal of Wildlife Management (83) 304-311
On average, band recovery rates of adult black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) more than doubled between the 2000s and 2010s. However, the spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant has not been reported. Our objective was to describe the spatial distribution of band recoveries of black brant since 1990....
On the eruption age and provenance of the Old Crow tephra
Seth D. Burgess, Matthew Coble, Jorge A. Vazquez, Michelle L. Coombs, Kristi L. Wallace
2019, Quaternary Science Reviews (207) 64-79
Tephrochronology is used to correlate and reconstruct geographically disparate sedimentary records of changing environment, climate, and landscape throughout geologic time. Single tephra layers represent isochronous markers across broad regions, thus accurate and precise radiometric constraints on the timing of eruption are critical to their...
