A multi-species synthesis of satellite telemetry data in the Pacific Arctic (1987–2015): Overlap of marine mammal distributions and core use areas
John J. Citta, Lloyd F. Lowry, Lori T. Quakenbush, Brendan P. Kelly, Anthony S. Fischbach, Josh M. London, Chadwick V. Jay, Kathryn J. Frost, Gregory O’Corry Crowe, Justin A. Crawford, Peter L. Boveng, Michael Cameron, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Mark Nelson, Lois A. Harwood, Pierre Richard, Robert Suydam, Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen, Roderick C. Hobbs, Dennis I. Litovka, Marianne Marcoux, Alex Whiting, Amy S. Kennedy, John C. George, Jack Orr, Tom Gray
2018, Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (152) 132-153
We collated available satellite telemetry data for six species of ice-associated marine mammals in the Pacific Arctic: ringed seals (Pusa hispida; n = 118), bearded seals(Erignathus barbatus, n = 51), spotted seals (Phoca largha, n = 72), Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens, n = 389); bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus, n = 46), and five Arctic and sub-arctic stocks of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas, n = 103). We also included...
Whole-genome analysis of Mustela erminea finds that pulsed hybridization impacts evolution at high latitudes
Jocelyn P. Colella, Tianying Lan, Stephen C. Schuster, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook, Charlotte Lindqvist
2018, Communications Biology (1) 1-10
At high latitudes, climatic shifts hypothetically initiate recurrent episodes of divergence by isolating populations in glacial refugia—ice-free regions that enable terrestrial species persistence. Upon glacial recession, populations subsequently expand and often come into contact with other independently diverging populations, resulting in gene flow. To understand how recurrent periods of isolation...
Remotely sensing the morphometrics and dynamics of a cold region dune field using historical aerial photography and airborne LiDAR data
Carson Baughman, Benjamin M. Jones, Karin L. Bodony, Daniel H. Mann, Christopher F. Larsen, Emily A. Himmelstoss, Jeremy Smith
2018, Remote Sensing (10) 1-19
This study uses an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey, historical aerial photography and historical climate data to describe the character and dynamics of the Nogahabara Sand Dunes, a sub-Arctic dune field in interior Alaska’s discontinuous permafrost zone. The Nogahabara Sand Dunes consist of a 43-km2 area of active transverse...
The Mystic subterrane (partly) demystified: New data from the Farewell terrane and adjacent rocks, interior Alaska
Julie A. Dumoulin, James V. Jones III, Stephen E. Box, Dwight Bradley, Robert A. Ayuso, Paul B. O’Sullivan
2018, Geosphere (14) 1501-1543
The youngest part of the Farewell terrane in interior Alaska (USA) is the enigmatic Devonian–Cretaceous Mystic subterrane. New U-Pb detrital zircon, fossil, geochemical, neodymium isotopic, and petrographic data illuminate the origin of the rocks of this subterrane. The Devonian–Permian Sheep Creek Formation yielded youngest detrital zircons of Devonian age, major...
Tundra be dammed: Beaver colonization of the Arctic
Ken D. Tape, Benjamin M. Jones, Christopher D. Arp, Ingemar Nitze, Guido Grosse
2018, Global Change Biology (24) 4478-4488
Increasing air temperatures are changing the arctic tundra biome. Permafrost is thawing, snow duration is decreasing, shrub vegetation is proliferating, and boreal wildlife is encroaching. Here we present evidence of the recent range expansion of North American beaver (Castor canadensis) into the Arctic, and consider how this ecosystem engineer might...
The role of environmental driving factors in historical and projected carbon dynamics of wetland ecosystems in Alaska
Zhou Lyu, Helene Genet, Yujie He, Qianlai Zhuang, A. David McGuire, Alec Bennett, Amy Breen, Joy Clein, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Kristofer Johnson, Tom Kurkowski, Neal J. Pastick, T. Scott Rupp, Bruce K. Wylie, Zhiliang Zhu
2018, Ecological Applications (28) 1377-1395
Wetlands are critical terrestrial ecosystems in Alaska, covering ~177,000 km2, an area greater than all the wetlands in the remainder of the United States. To assess the relative influence of changing climate, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, and fire regime on carbon balance in wetland ecosystems of Alaska, a modeling framework...
Origin of last-glacial loess in the western Yukon-Tanana Upland, central Alaska, USA
Daniel R. Muhs, Jeffrey S. Pigati, James R. Budahn, Gary L. Skipp, E. Arthur Bettis III, Britta Jensen
2018, Quaternary Research (89) 797-819
Loess is widespread over Alaska, and its accumulation has traditionally been associated with glacial periods. Surprisingly, loess deposits securely dated to the last glacial period are rare in Alaska, and paleowind reconstructions for this time period are limited to inferences from dune orientations. We report a rare occurrence of loess...
Enhancement of a parsimonious water balance model to simulate surface hydrology in a glacierized watershed
Melissa M. Valentin, Roland J. Viger, Ashley E. Van Beusekom, Lauren E. Hay, Terri S. Hogue, Nathan Leon Foks
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface (123) 1116-1132
The U.S. Geological Survey monthly water balance model (MWBM) was enhanced with the capability to simulate glaciers in order to make it more suitable for simulating cold region hydrology. The new model, MWBMglacier, is demonstrated in the heavily glacierized and ecologically important Copper River watershed in Southcentral Alaska. Simulated water...
Alaska snowpack response to climate change: Statewide snowfall equivalent and snowpack water scenarios
Jeremy Littell, Stephanie A. McAfee, Gregory D. Hayward
2018, Water (10) 1-16
Climatically driven changes in snow characteristics (snowfall, snowpack, and snowmelt) will affect hydrologic and ecological systems in Alaska over the coming century, yet there exist no projections of downscaled future snow pack metrics for the state of Alaska. We updated historical and projected snow day fraction (PSF, the fraction of...
A rapid assessment method to estimate the distribution of juvenile Chinook Salmon in tributary habitats using eDNA and occupancy estimation
A. Matter, Jeffrey A. Falke, J. Andres Lopez, James W. Savereide
2018, North American Journal of Fisheries Management (38) 223-236
Identification and protection of water bodies used by anadromous species are critical in light of increasing threats to fish populations, yet often challenging given budgetary and logistical limitations. Noninvasive, rapid‐assessment, sampling techniques may reduce costs and effort while increasing species detection efficiencies. We used an intrinsic potential (IP) habitat model...
Body size and lean mass of brown bears across and within four diverse ecosystems
Grant V. Hilderbrand, David Gustine, Buck A. Mangipane, Kyle Joly, William Leacock, Lindsey S. Mangipane, Joy Erlenbach, Mathew Sorum, Matthew Cameron, Jerrold L. Belant, Troy Cambier
2018, Journal of Zoology (305) 53-62
Variation in body size across populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos) is largely a function of the availability and quality of nutritional resources while plasticity within populations reflects utilized niche width with implications for population resiliency. We assessed skull size, body length, and lean mass of adult female and...
Generalist feeding strategies in Arctic freshwater fish: A mechanism for dealing with extreme environments
Sarah M. Laske, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Mark S. Wipfli, Christian E. Zimmerman
2018, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (27) 767-784
Generalist feeding strategies are favoured in stressful or variable environments where flexibility in ecological traits is beneficial. Species that feed across multiple habitat types and trophic levels may impart stability on food webs through the use of readily available, alternative energy pools. In lakes, generalist fish species may take advantage...
Design considerations for estimating survival rates with standing age structures
Rebecca L. Taylor, Mark S. Udevitz
2018, Wildlife Society Bulletin (42) 32-39
Survival rate estimates are critical to understanding the dynamics and status of a population, and they are often inferred from samples of the population’s age structure. A recently developed method uses time series of standing age-structure data with information about population growth rate or fecundity to provide explicit maximum likelihood estimators of age-specific...
Biological responses of Crested and Least auklets to volcanic destruction of nesting habitat in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska
Gary S. Drew, John F. Piatt, Jeffrey C. Williams
2018, The Auk (135) 477-485
Crested Auklets (Aethia cristatella) and Least Auklets (A. pusilla) are crevice-nesting birds that breed in large mixed colonies at relatively few sites in the Aleutian Island archipelago, Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska, and Sea of Okhotsk. Many of these colonies are located on active volcanic islands. The eruption of Kasatochi...
Surficial geologic map of the Dillingham quadrangle, southwestern Alaska
Frederic H. Wilson
2018, Scientific Investigations Map 3388
The geologic map of the Dillingham quadrangle in southwestern Alaska shows surficial unconsolidated deposits, many of which are alluvial or glacial in nature. The map area, part of Alaska that was largely not glaciated during the late Wisconsin glaciation, has a long history reflecting local and more distant glaciations. Late Wisconsin...
Development and characterization of 12 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the sea sandwort, Honckenya peploides
Megan C. Gravley, George K. Sage, Sandra L. Talbot, Matthew L. Carlson
2018, Journal of Plant Research (131) 879-885
Codominant marker systems are better suited to analyze population structure and assess the source of an individual in admixture analyses. Currently, there is no codominant marker system using microsatellites developed for the sea sandwort, Honckenya peploides (L.) Ehrh., an early colonizer in island systems. We developed and characterized...
A comparison of photograph-interpreted and IfSAR-derived maps of polar bear denning habitat for the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1083
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Alaska use the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for maternal denning. Pregnant bears den in snow banks for more than 3 months in winter during which they give birth to and nurture young. Denning is one of the most vulnerable times in polar bear...
Use of non-invasive genetics to generate core-area population estimates of a threatened predator in the Superior National Forest, USA
Shannon Barber-Meyer, Daniel Ryan, David Grosshuesch, Timothy Catton, Sarah Malick-Wahls
2018, Canadian Wildlife Biology and Management (7) 46-55
Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) are found in boreal forests of Canada and Alaska and range southward into the contiguous United States. Much less is understood about lynx in their southern range compared to northern populations. Because lynx are currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act but have...
Acquisition and dissemination of cephalosporin-resistant E. coli in migratory birds sampled at an Alaska landfill as inferred through genomic analysis
Christina Ann Ahlstrom, Jonas Bonnedahl, Hanna Woksepp, Jorge Hernandez, Olsen Bjorn, Andrew M. Ramey
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial pathogens threatens global health, though the spread of AMR bacteria and AMR genes between humans, animals, and the environment is still largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role of wild birds in the epidemiology of AMR Escherichia coli. Using next-generation sequencing, we characterized cephalosporin-resistant E....
A snow density dataset for improving surface boundary conditions in Greenland ice sheet firn modeling
Robert Fausto, Jason E. Box, Baptiste Vandecrux, Dirk van As, Konrad Steffen, Michael J. MacFerrin, Horst Machguth, William Colgan, Daniel Mcgrath, Lora S. Koenig, Charalampos Charalampidis, Roger J. Braithwaite
2018, Frontiers in Earth Science (6)
The surface snow density of glaciers and ice sheets is of fundamental importance in converting volume to mass in both altimetry and surface mass balance studies, yet it is often poorly constrained. Site-specific surface snow densities are typically derived from empirical relations based on temperature and wind speed. These parameterizations...
Deformation of the Pacific/North America plate boundary at Queen Charlotte Fault: The possible role of rheology
Uri S. ten Brink, Nathaniel C. Miller, Brian D. Andrews, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter J. Haeussler
2018, Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth (123) 4223-4242
The Pacific/North America (PA/NA) plate boundary between Vancouver Island and Alaska is similar to the PA/NA boundary in California in its kinematic history and the rate and azimuth of current relative motion, yet their deformation styles are distinct. The California plate boundary shows a broad zone of parallel strike slip...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Susitna Basin, southern Alaska, 2017
Richard G. Stanley, Christopher J. Potter, Kristen A. Lewis, Paul G. Lillis, Anjana K. Shah, Peter J. Haeussler, Jeffrey D. Phillips, Zenon C. Valin, Christopher J. Schenk, Timothy R. Klett, Michael E. Brownfield, Ronald M. Drake II, Thomas M. Finn, Seth S. Haines, Debra K. Higley, David W. Houseknecht, Phuong A. Le, Kristen R. Marra, Tracey J. Mercier, Heidi M. Leathers-Miller, Stanley T. Paxton, Ofori N. Pearson, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Cheryl A. Woodall, Margarita V. Zyrianova
2018, Fact Sheet 2018-3017
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an assessment of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Susitna Basin of southern Alaska. Using a geology-based methodology, the USGS estimates that mean undiscovered volumes of about 2 million barrels of oil and nearly 1.7 trillion cubic feet of gas...
Reduced arctic tundra productivity linked with landform and climate change interactions
Mark J. Lara, Ingmar Nitze, Guido Grosse, Philip Martin, A. David McGuire
2018, Scientific Reports (8)
Arctic tundra ecosystems have experienced unprecedented change associated with climate warming over recent decades. Across the Pan-Arctic, vegetation productivity and surface greenness have trended positively over the period of satellite observation. However, since 2011 these trends have slowed considerably, showing signs of browning in many regions. It is unclear what...
U.S. Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers and U.S. Geological Survey National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center—Annual report for 2017
Elda Varela Minder
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1049
IntroductionThe year 2017 was a year of review and renewal for the Department of the Interior (DOI) Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC). The Southeast, Northwest, Alaska, Southwest, and North Central CSCs’ 5-year summary review reports were released...
Supporting natural resource management—The role of economics at the Department of the Interior—A workshop report
Emily Pindilli, Christian S.L. Crowley, Sarah A. Cline, Anthony J. Good, Carl D. Shapiro, Benjamin Simon
2018, Open-File Report 2018-1054
The first U.S. Department of the Interior Economics Workshop was held April 5–7, 2017 in Washington, D.C., to identify, highlight, and better understand needs and opportunities for economic analysis to support the Department of the Interior’s mission. The Economics Workshop, jointly convened by the Department of the Interior Office of...
