February 17, 2005

USGS-National Park Service Monitoring Plan for Central Alaska Parks Serves as Example At the national meeting of the National Park Service (NPS) Vital Signs Monitoring program, held February 7-11, 2005, Austin, TX, the ecological monitoring plan developed for the 3 national parks in Central Alaska Network was lauded for its clarity, strong conceptual foundation, and statistical design. The USGS has worked collaboratively with the Alaska parks in developing this monitoring plan, which will now provide a model for other monitoring networks in this program. In 2000, Congress began providing significant new funding to the NPS for the Vital Signs Monitoring Program to document the status and trends in selected indicators of the condition of park ecosystems. Completion of peer-reviewed monitoring plans is required prior to implementation of monitoring efforts. (Karen Oakley, Anchorage, AK, 907-786-3579)

USGS Salmon Studies Relevant to Important Commercial and Subsistence Fisheries in Alaska Poor returns of chum salmon to the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and rivers draining into Norton Sound have led to severe restrictions on commercial and subsistence fisheries and to repeated disaster declarations by state and federal governments. Research concerning these fish will be the topic of a special session at the 22nd Pink and Chum Salmon Workshop, a biennial international conference to be held in Ketchikan, Alaska on February 23-25th. USGS biologists Jim Finn, Julie Meka, and Christian Zimmerman will present results from studies of chum salmon in the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, reporting information on habitat selection and survival of chum salmon eggs and embryos, energy reserves and migration by juvenile chum salmon in the Kuskokwim River, and ecology of juvenile chum salmon in Kuskokwim Bay. These studies are providing information on the early life history of juvenile chum salmon to better understand the factors that regulate returns of adult salmon to western Alaska rivers. The Pink and Chum Salmon Workshop, first held in 1962, attracts researchers and managers of pink and chum salmon from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Russia. The workshops facilitate rapid exchange of findings of on-going work and bring together biologists, managers, researchers and others to explore innovative research and management approaches and expand knowledge of the biology of pink and chum salmon populations, very important commercial and subsistence resources to residents of Alaska. (Christian Zimmerman. Anchorage, AK, 907-786-3954)

January 13, 2005

USGS Releases Report on Wildlife Response to Ecological Change along the Arctic Coastal Plain: The USGS Alaska Science Center will release the annual report on the first season of work on the DOI Landscape Initiative the week of January 18, 2005. The report (Schmutz, J., P. Flint, M. Anthony, E. Mallek, C. Markon, G. Clow, S. Frenzel, and D. Houseknecht. 2005. Avian Population Response to Ecological Change Along the Arctic Coastal Plain. U.S. Geological Survey Report, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska) will be available for distribution via hard copy and CD, and will be available on the Alaska Science Center website (http://alaska.usgs.gov/). This report will be useful to Federal land management agencies and Alaska native organizations who have jurisdiction over the Arctic Coastal Plain, including the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPRA) because it assesses how recent environmental changes influence the distribution and abundance of important bird species in the region. Our analyses of the long-term distribution of the four species of geese reveal that they have shifted significantly since the original designation of the Teshepuk Lake Special Area (TLSA) within the NPRA in 1979. The area has become significantly more important for some species of interest while less for others. Habitat change is hypothesized as a core reason. We examined a time-series of aerial photographs of lakes used by geese and found significant changes over the last two decades in structure and landcover characteristics. Important feeding habitats near the margins of lakes have decreased. These results are consistent with higher evaporative water loss due to elevated temperatures in recent decades. Also, lake structures have been breached by the Beaufort Sea due to significant shoreline erosion. In some areas of the NPRA, hundreds of meters of shoreline were lost between 1979 and 2002, with as much as 60 meters in 2004. High rates of coastal erosion have resulted in saltwater intrusion in freshwater habitats, particularly in the northeast part of the TLSA. Saltwater intrusion is expected to quickly alter foraging habitats for geese, important subsistence species for Alaska Natives. This report confirms that ecosystems within the NPRA are highly dynamic and are capable of changing dramatically in just a couple decades. These lakes provide important habitat for geese, loons, many other waterbirds, and for a variety of fish species of ecological and subsistence importance. Understanding and predicting these ongoing, broad scale changes within Arctic ecosystems is essential for minimizing and mitigating potential future perturbations.
(Dirk Derksen, Anchorage, AK, 907-786-3531).

December 17, 2004

Pacific Walrus Assessment Team Receives U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Teamwork Award: Many walruses are harvested each year for subsistence by Alaskan and Russian natives. However, the size and trend of the walrus population are unknown, largely due to unresolved problems with survey methods. The USFWS and USGS have created a Pacific Walrus Population Assessment Team to develop new walrus survey techniques. USGS scientists Chadwick Jay, Anthony Fischbach and Mark Udevitz are members of the team. They are developing a remotely deployed satellite-linked transmitter to allow estimation of the proportion of the population not on the ice and an overall survey design and associated estimation methods. The Walrus Team was recently awarded the “Alaska Regional Director’s Excellence Award 2004 for Teamwork” for creatively tackling a tough problem which could not have been solved without teamwork. (Chad Jay, Anchorage, AK, 907-786-7414)

October 1, 2004

USGS Biologists Participate in International Marine Mammal Conference: Chad Jay, Tony Fischbach, and Mark Udevitz are presenting papers and coordinating with international partners at the Third International Conference "Marine Mammals of the Holarctic" to be held October 11-17 in Koktebel, Crimea, Ukraine. Their research results on the United States-Russian walrus population support the USGS mission of conducting science for this trust species of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is an internationally shared wildlife resource. Dr. Udevitz will discuss survey design for estimating walrus population size, and Dr. Jay will present results of a remotely deployed satellite transmitter for walruses. These topics are important because of the difficulties of determining accurate estimates of walrus population sizes in their sea ice environment. Mr. Fischbach will discuss results of genetic studies of Pacific walrus inhabiting regions in Alaska and Russia, as a means to evaluate hypotheses regarding genetic structuring of breeding aggregations and non-breeding regions. (Chad Jay, Anchorage, AK 907-786-3856)

June 1, 2004

Experts remain puzzled over beak deformities in Alaska's birds: Why is the problem more common in Southcentral than elsewhere? By Doug O'Harra in the Anchorage Daily News.

With fury in its tiny dark eyes, the black-capped chickadee struggled to escape research technician Lisa Pajot by pecking her fingers. But tips of the bird's deformed beak had grown apart since its last monthly exam and it could not pinch the skin. Its feathers were dirty and a bit frayed too -- potentially fatal problems for a wild bird.

To read more please see the ADN web site at:
http://www.adn.com/front/story/5142731p-5073311c.html.
(Colleen Handel, Anchorage, Alaska, 786-3418)

May 24, 2004

Lead from hunters' shot turns up in birds, Alaskans. YUKON-KUSKOKWIM: Health, wildlife agencies hope to ban deadly metal. By Joel Gay of the Anchorage Daily News.

Some hunters in Western Alaska are still blasting ducks and geese with lead shot, and it's causing the same problems that prompted a nationwide ban on the ammunition more than a decade ago: The heavy metal is showing up in humans and birds, recent studies suggest. Health officials say lead levels in mothers and newborns on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta are higher than in areas where nontoxic shot is more widely used, though at levels still considered safe.

To read more please see the ADN web site at:
http://www.adn.com/front/story/5107755p-5034663c.html
(Paul Flint, Anchorage, Alaska, 786-3608)

April 29 , 2004

Wolves, Bears, and Moose in "Dance of Death": Dr. Layne Adams of the USGS served as a technical consultant for National Geographic on a photoessay in the May 2004 issue. The article, entitled "Dance of Death", details the killing of a moose by a pack of wolves and several grizzly bears in Denali National Park. This was an unusual sight to be photographed in process. These species are the focus of study and controversy in Alaska, because their predator-prey interactions are subject to management decisions that are of much public interest. (Layne Adams, Anchorage, Alaska, 786-3918)

Longest Non-stop Bird Flight: After 20 years of study, USGS biologist Robert Gill and colleague Theunis Piersma of Holland have discovered for the first time that the bar-tailed godwit travels the longest non-stop flight of any bird. Evidence presented recently in Edinburgh at the Waterbirds Around the World Conference documents that this godwit species migrates from Alaska to New Zealand (12,400 km) each year in six days and six nights at speeds of up to 80 mph, without stopping to feed or rest. This work will be featured soon in an upcoming issue of New Scientist. (Robert Gill, Anchorage, Alaska , 907-786-3514).

April 12, 2004

USGS scientist Colleen Handel was interviewed by the Associated Press for an article published April 7 in the Seattle Times, and April 6 in the the Juneau Empire (AK), about the increasing number of beak deformities in crows being seen in southwestern Alaska. (Colleen Handel, Anchorage, Alaska, 907-786-3418)

March 30 , 2004

Protecting Polar Bears from Human Disturbances: Petroleum related activities currently span approximately 200 km of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coastal area, with new and proposed developments expected to dramatically expand the area of influence. These activities are expected to pose a potential threat to polar bears, especially as they might disturb female bears giving midwinter birth in snow dens and remaining in dens to nurture their young until early spring; survival and development of newborn bears is dependent on a stable environment within the maternal den. In an article scheduled for publication in the April issue of BioScience for the, USGS scientists report on using forward-looking infrared (FLIR) viewing devices to detect anomalous heat sources created by populated polar bear dens, and the determination that FLIR surveys can be an important management tool for mitigating the effects of potentially disturbing human activity on denning polar bears. (Steven Amstrup, Anchorage, AK, 907-786-3424)

Audubon Alaska Bird Conference for Conservation and Management: USGS scientists gathered with other scientists and wildlife managers, together with Alaskan naturalist and resource specialists, to share an assemblage of diverse information about Alaskan bird populations at the Alaskan Bird Conference held in Anchorage, AK, March 16-18. The conference provided a forum to exchange ideas and information about research, education, management, and conservation methods related to ornithology. USGS scientists presented talks on Kittlitz's Murrelets, the Common Murre, the Glacier Murrelet, the endangered short-tailed Albatross, and provided attendees with additional information about these and other subjects at poster sessions which included the potential human impacts on birds at Glacier Bay National Park, and the population status of Murrelets along the Alaska Peninsula. Information provided by USGS scientists will be used to improve wildlife management techniques, evaluate current trends and identify potential problems in wildlife populations, and provide resource managers with needed information to accomplish missions related to efficient and effective avian population management throughout Alaska. (Geoffrey York, Anchorage, AK, 907-786-3928)

February 12 , 2004

Scientists from the Alaska Science Center (Dr. Gail Irvine, Derek Wilson, Dr. Jennifer Nielsen, and Dr. Lisa Etherington) are presenting their research at next week's Ocean Sciences meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in Hawaii.

OCEANOGRAPHIC PATTERNS IN A GLACIALLY-FED FJORD ESTUARY: IMPLICATIONS FOR BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTIVITY AND HOTSPOTS - Oceanographic conditions within high latitude glacially-fed estuaries are often complex, due to high rates of freshwater input, dramatic bathymetry, and high sedimentation rates. Through a long term monitoring program, we have conducted physical and biological oceanographic sampling at 24 stations within Glacier Bay, AK, from 1993-2002. Seasonal patterns of salinity, temperature, stratification, turbidity and euphotic depth are correlated with freshwater input. High rates of freshwater input create strong and persistent stratification of surface waters, contributing to sustained phytoplankton abundance from spring through fall. Spatial patterns of phytoplankton abundance vary throughout the season and are influenced by stratification levels and euphotic depth. Highest levels of phytoplankton abundance exist at regions of physical and bathymetric discontinuities, where shallower mixed zones are juxtaposed with deep stratified basins. Spatial patterns of physical and biological oceanographic parameters suggest that there may be biological hotspot regions within Glacier Bay. These findings further our understanding of physical-biological coupling within fjord estuaries and provide information necessary for making management decisions and understanding the ecosystem properties of high latitude marine reserves, such as Glacier Bay National Park. (Contact Dr. Lisa Etherington, letherington@usgs.gov )

USE OF ACOUSTIC TAGS AND MOORED-RECIEVERS TO DESCRIBE BEHAVIOR AND FRESHWATER TO MARINE MIGRATION OF POST-SPAWN STEELHEAD, NINILCHIK RIVER, ALASKA - Little is known about the distribution and behavior of salmonids in the ocean or the role of environmental variation on the survival of salmonids within marine habitats. This requires a better understanding of movements and habitat use at all life history stages. Acoustic tagging and moored receivers provide opportunities to examine migration and behavior of salmonids in marine habitats. We used an ultrasonic gate at the mouth of the Ninilchik River to describe freshwater to marine migratory behavior in post-spawn steelhead. Post-spawn steelhead were captured in a downstream trap within the Ninilchik River and individually coded acoustic pingers were surgically implanted in each fish. Time between tagging and initial detection, time in the tidal zone, residence time within the buoy array, and direction of out-migration was determined based on detection time and location. This study indicates that the use of acoustic tags and acoustic detection arrays are a feasible and potentially productive means to study near-shore marine migrations of salmonids in the North Pacific. (Contact Derek Wilson, derek_wilson@usgs.gov)

OCEAN PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH TIME AS REVEALED THROUGH STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF ARCHEOLOGICAL MIDDEN MATERIALS IN THE GULF OF ALASKA: INITIAL RESULTS - Ocean productivity and temperature of nearshore environments in the Gulf of Alaska over the past 6,300 years are being examined through natural stable isotope analysis of bivalve material from an archeological site. The Katmai National Park island site in the Shelikov Strait was occupied from approximately 350 to 2,000 years before present (BP) and from approximately 4,000 to 6,300 years BP. Bivalves figure prominently in the midden materials and are well preserved. Results of delta carbon-13 and delta oxygen-18 isotopic analyses of Saxidomus giganteus shells are being contrasted to available climate data to suggest how ocean productivity has varied with climate in the nearshore marine environment. (Contact Dr. Gail Irvine, gail_irvine@usgs.gov )

Continued on Previous Highlights