Prey partitioning and use of insects by juvenile sockeye salmon and a potential competitor, threespine stickleback, in Afognak Lake, Alaska
Natura Richardson, Anne H. Beaudreau, Mark S. Wipfli, Heather Finkle
2017, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (26) 586-601
Freshwater growth of juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) depends upon the quality and quantity of prey and interactions with potential competitors in the foraging environment. To a large extent, knowledge about the ecology of lake-rearing juvenile sockeye salmon has emerged from studies of commercially important runs returning to deep nursery...
Challenges and solutions for applying the travel cost demand model to geographically remote visitor destinations: A case study of bear viewing at Katmai National Park and Preserve
Leslie Richardson, Christopher Huber, John B. Loomis
2017, Human Dimensions of Wildlife (22) 550-563
Remote and unique destinations present difficulties when attempting to construct traditional travel cost models to value recreation demand. The biggest limitation comes from the lack of variation in the dependent variable, defined as the number of trips taken over a set time frame. There are various approaches that can be...
Continuously amplified warming in the Alaskan Arctic: Implications for estimating global warming hiatus
Kang Wang, Tingjun Zhang, Xiangdong Zhang, Gary D. Clow, Elchin E. Jafarov, Irina Overeem, Vladimir Romanovsky, Xiaoqing Peng, Bin Cao
2017, Geophysical Research Letters (44) 9029-9038
Historically, in situ measurements have been notoriously sparse over the Arctic. As a consequence, the existing gridded data of surface air temperature (SAT) may have large biases in estimating the warming trend in this region. Using data from an expanded monitoring network with 31 stations in the Alaskan Arctic, we...
Harvesting wildlife affected by climate change: a modelling and management approach for polar bears
Eric V. Regehr, Ryan H. Wilson, Karyn D. Rode, Michael C. Runge, Harry Stern
2017, Journal of Applied Ecology (54) 1534-1543
The conservation of many wildlife species requires understanding the demographic effects of climate change, including interactions between climate change and harvest, which can provide cultural, nutritional or economic value to humans.We present a demographic model that is based on the polar bear Ursus maritimus life cycle and includes density-dependent...
2015 Volcanic activity in Alaska—Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
James P. Dixon, Cheryl E. Cameron, Alexandra M. Iezzi, Kristi L. Wallace
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5104
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, and seismic events at 14 volcanic centers in Alaska during 2015. The most notable volcanic activity consisted of continuing intermittent ash eruptions from Cleveland and Shishaldin volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands. Two eruptive episodes, at Veniaminof and...
National assessment of shoreline change—Summary statistics for updated vector shorelines and associated shoreline change data for the north coast of Alaska, U.S.-Canadian Border to Icy Cape
Ann E. Gibbs, Bruce M. Richmond
2017, Open-File Report 2017-1107
Long-term rates of shoreline change for the north coast of Alaska, from the U.S.-Canadian border to the Icy Cape region of northern Alaska, have been updated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Short-term shoreline change rates are reported for the first time. Additional...
Fatal attraction? Intraguild facilitation and suppression among predators
Kelly J. Sivy, Casey B. Pozzanghera, James B. Grace, Laura R. Prugh
2017, The American Naturalist (190) 663-679
Competition and suppression are recognized as dominant forces that structure predator communities. Facilitation via carrion provisioning, however, is a ubiquitous interaction among predators that could offset the strength of suppression. Understanding the relative importance of these positive and negative interactions is necessary to anticipate community-wide responses to apex predator declines...
Glacial conditioning of stream position and flooding in the braid plain of the Exit Glacier foreland, Alaska
Janet H. Curran, Michael G. Loso, Haley B. Williams
2017, Geomorphology (293 ) 272-288
Flow spilling out of an active braid plain often signals the onset of channel migration or avulsion to previously occupied areas. In a recently deglaciated environment, distinguishing between shifts in active braid plain location, considered reversible by fluvial processes at short timescales, and more permanent glacier-conditioned changes in stream position can be critical to...
Effects of surgically implanted transmitters on reproduction and survival in mallards
Jennifer Sheppard, Todd W. Arnold, Courtney L. Amundson, David Klee
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 597-604
Abdominally implanted radiotransmitters have been widely used in studies of waterbird ecology; however, the longer handling times and invasiveness of surgical implantation raise important concerns about animal welfare and potential effects on data quality. Although it is difficult to assess effects of handling and marking wild animals by comparing them...
Neotectonics of interior Alaska and the late Quaternary slip rate along the Denali fault system
Peter J. Haeussler, Ari Matmon, David P. Schwartz, Gordon G. Seitz
2017, Geosphere (13) 1-19
The neotectonics of southern Alaska (USA) are characterized by a several hundred kilometers–wide zone of dextral transpressional that spans the Alaska Range. The Denali fault system is the largest active strike-slip fault system in interior Alaska, and it produced a Mw 7.9 earthquake in 2002. To evaluate the late Quaternary slip...
Deep-sea coral research and technology program: Alaska deep-sea coral and sponge initiative final report
Chris Rooper, Robert P. Stone, Peter Etnoyer, Christina Conrath, Jennifer Reynolds, H. Gary Greene, Branwen Williams, Enrique Salgado, Cheryl L. Morrison, Rhian G. Waller, Amanda W.J. Demopoulos
2017, NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-OHC-2
Deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems are widespread throughout most of Alaska’s marine waters. In some places, such as the central and western Aleutian Islands, deep-sea coral and sponge resources can be extremely diverse and may rank among the most abundant deep-sea coral and sponge communities in the world. Many different...
QFASAR: Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis with R
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin
2017, Methods in Ecology and Evolution (8) 1158-1162
Knowledge of predator diets provides essential insights into their ecology, yet diet estimation is challenging and remains an active area of research.Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a popular method of estimating diet composition that continues to be investigated and extended. However, software to implement QFASA...
2014 volcanic activity in Alaska: Summary of events and response of the Alaska Volcano Observatory
Cheryl E. Cameron, James P. Dixon, Christina A. Neal, Christopher F. Waythomas, Janet R. Schaefer, Robert G. McGimsey
2017, Scientific Investigations Report 2017-5077
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptions, possible eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, and seismic events at 18 volcanic centers in Alaska during 2014. The most notable volcanic activity consisted of intermittent ash eruptions from long-active Cleveland and Shishaldin Volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, and two eruptive episodes...
New Zealand supereruption provides time marker for the Last Glacial Maximum in Antarctica
Nelia W. Dunbar, Nels A. Iverson, Alexa R. Van Eaton, Michael Sigl, Brent V. Alloway, Andrei V. Kurbatov, Larry G. Mastin, Joseph R. McConnell, Colin J. N. Wilson
2017, Scientific Reports (7)
Multiple, independent time markers are essential to correlate sediment and ice cores from the terrestrial, marine and glacial realms. These records constrain global paleoclimate reconstructions and inform future climate change scenarios. In the Northern Hemisphere, sub-visible layers of volcanic ash (cryptotephra) are valuable time markers due to their widespread dispersal...
Comparison of acoustic recorders and field observers for monitoring tundra bird communities
Skyler T. Vold, Colleen M. Handel, Lance B. McNew
2017, Wildlife Society Bulletin (41) 566-576
Acoustic recorders can be useful for studying bird populations but their efficiency and accuracy should be assessed in pertinent ecological settings before use. We investigated the utility of an acoustic recorder for monitoring abundance of tundra‐breeding birds relative to point‐count surveys in northwestern Alaska, USA, during 2014. Our objectives were...
A comment on “temporal variation in survival and recovery rates of lesser scaup”
Mark S. Lindberg, G. Scott Boomer, Joel A. Schmutz, Johann A. Walker
2017, Journal of Wildlife Management (81) 1138-1141
Concerns about declines in the abundance of lesser scaup (Aythya affinis) have promoted a number of analyses to understand reasons for this decline. Unfortunately, most of these analyses, including that of Arnold et al. (2016 Journal of Wildlife Management 80: 850–861), are based on observational studies leading to weak inference....
Increasing rock-avalanche size and mobility in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska detected from 1984 to 2016 Landsat imagery
Jeffrey A. Coe, Erin Bessette-Kirton, M. Geertsema
2017, Landslides (15) 393-407
In the USA, climate change is expected to have an adverse impact on slope stability in Alaska. However, to date, there has been limited work done in Alaska to assess if changes in slope stability are occurring. To address this issue, we used 30-m Landsat imagery acquired from 1984 to...
Simultaneous estimation of diet composition and calibration coefficients with fatty acid signature data
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Suzanne M. Budge, Gregory W. Thiemann, Karyn D. Rode
2017, Ecology and Evolution (7) 6103-6113
Knowledge of animal diets provides essential insights into their life history and ecology, although diet estimation is challenging and remains an active area of research. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) has become a popular method of estimating diet composition, especially for marine species. A primary assumption of QFASA is...
Polar bears and sea ice habitat change
George M. Durner, Todd C. Atwood
Andy Butterworth, editor(s)
2017, Book chapter, Marine mammal welfare
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is an obligate apex predator of Arctic sea ice and as such can be affected by climate warming-induced changes in the extent and composition of pack ice and its impacts on their seal prey. Sea ice declines have negatively impacted some polar bear...
Gene transcription patterns in response to low level petroleum contaminants in Mytilus trossulus from field sites and harbors in southcentral Alaska
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Brenda E. Ballachey, Shannon C. Waters-Dynes, James L. Bodkin, Mandy Lindeberg, Daniel Esler
2017, Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography (147) 27-35
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill damaged a wide range of natural resources, including intertidal communities, and post-spill studies demonstrated acute and chronic exposure and injury to an array of species. Standard toxicological methods to evaluate petroleum contaminants have assessed tissue burdens, with fewer assays providing indicators of health or physiology, particularly...
Polar bears experience skeletal muscle atrophy in response to food deprivation and reduced activity in winter and summer
John P. Whiteman, Henry J. Harlow, George M. Durner, Eric V. Regehr, Bryan C. Rourke, Manuel Robles, Steven C. Amstrup, Merav Ben-David
2017, Conservation Physiology (5)
When reducing activity and using stored energy during seasonal food shortages, animals risk degradation of skeletal muscles, although some species avoid or minimize the resulting atrophy while experiencing these conditions during hibernation. Polar bears may be food deprived and relatively inactive during winter (when pregnant females hibernate and hunting success...
Maintenance of influenza A viruses and antibody response in mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) sampled during the non-breeding season in Alaska
Timothy J. Spivey, Mark S. Lindberg, Brandt W. Meixell, Kyle R. Smith, Wendy Blay Puryear, Kimberly R. Davis, Jonathan A. Runstadler, David E. Stallknecht, Andrew M. Ramey
2017, PLoS ONE (12)
Prevalence of influenza A virus (IAV) infections in northern-breeding waterfowl has previously been reported to reach an annual peak during late summer or autumn; however, little is known about IAV infection dynamics in waterfowl populations persisting at high-latitude regions such as Alaska, during winter. We captured mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) throughout...
Small mammals as indicators of climate, biodiversity, and ecosystem change
Andrew G. Hope, Eric Waltari, Nathan R. Morse, M.J. Flamme, Sandra L. Talbot, Joseph A. Cook
2017, Alaska Park Science (16) 72-78
Climate is a driving evolutionary force for biodiversity in high-latitude Alaska. This region is complex and dynamic with high annual variation in temperature and light. Through deeper time, Alaska has experienced major climate extremes over much longer periodicity. For example, the Quaternary Period (the last ~2.5 million years), commonly known...
Combined analysis of roadside and off-road breeding bird survey data to assess population change in Alaska
Colleen M. Handel, John R. Sauer
2017, Condor (119) 557-575
Management interest in North American birds has increasingly focused on species that breed in Alaska, USA, and Canada, where habitats are changing rapidly in response to climatic and anthropogenic factors. We used a series of hierarchical models to estimate rates of population change in 2 forested Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs)...
The National Map seamless digital elevation model specifications
Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Eric W. Constance, Samantha T. Arundel, Amanda J. Lowe, Kimberly S. Mantey, Lori A. Phillips
2017, Techniques and Methods 11-B9
This specification documents the requirements and standards used to produce the seamless elevation layers for The National Map of the United States. Seamless elevation data are available for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, and the U.S. territories, in three different resolutions—1/3-arc-second, 1-arc-second, and 2-arc-second. These specifications include requirements and...
