Q&A: USGS Ecosystems Science Provides Information on Subsistence and Hunter-Harvested Food Resources in Alaska
The Search for One of North America’s Rarest Birds
The McKay's Bunting - Alaska's only endemic landbird species
The McKay's Bunting - Alaska's only endemic landbird species
Q&A: The Role of USGS Ecosystems Science in Alaska
Assisting Executive and Department of Interior Secretarial orders and priorities
Assisting Executive and Department of Interior Secretarial orders and priorities
Environmental Occurrence of Avian Influenza Virus Relative to Bait Trapping of Waterfowl
Study finds that bait trapping was associated with localized increases in avian influenza virus
Study finds that bait trapping was associated with localized increases in avian influenza virus
Anchor River at Anchor Point
USGS has 24 river webcams in AK. Here is one river's data, photos, and timelapse video.
USGS has 24 river webcams in AK. Here is one river's data, photos, and timelapse video.
Alaska Science Center
The mission of the Alaska Science Center is to provide objective and timely data, information, and research findings about the earth and its flora and fauna to Federal, State, and local resource managers and the public to support sound decisions regarding natural resources, natural hazards, and ecosystems in Alaska and circumpolar regions. We have offices in Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks.
In the Spotlight
In the Spotlight
Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database
Critical minerals are commodities essential to modern industrial and strategic technologies and are highly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The CMiO database contains geochemical data for more than 20,000 samples from more than 100 deposit types comprising 10 deposit environments.
Current Water Conditions
Current Water Conditions
Explore real-time Alaska streamflow, groundwater, and water-quality conditions and access data with our new interactive map application.
News
Project Spotlight: USGS Scientists Work with Kenai Peninsula Communities to Define Baseline Water Data Amid Climate Uncertainty
Project Spotlight: USGS Scientists Work with Kenai Peninsula Communities to Define Baseline Water Data Amid Climate Uncertainty
A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami evidence and modeling
A 700-year rupture sequence of great eastern Aleutian earthquakes from tsunami evidence and modeling
The Threat of Coastal Flooding from Cascadia Earthquake-Driven Land Subsidence
The Threat of Coastal Flooding from Cascadia Earthquake-Driven Land Subsidence
Publications
Identifying presence or absence of grizzly and polar bear cubs from the movements of adult females with machine learning Identifying presence or absence of grizzly and polar bear cubs from the movements of adult females with machine learning
BackgroundInformation on reproductive success is crucial to understanding population dynamics but can be difficult to obtain, particularly for species that birth while denning. For grizzly (Ursus arctos) and polar bears (U. maritimus), den visits are impractical because of safety and logistical considerations. Reproduction is typically documented through direct observation, which can be...
Environmental drivers of productivity explain population patterns of an Arctic-nesting goose across a half-century Environmental drivers of productivity explain population patterns of an Arctic-nesting goose across a half-century
Joint estimation of demographic rates and population size has become an essential tool in ecology because it enables evaluating mechanisms for population change and testing hypotheses about drivers of demography in a single modeling framework. This approach provides a comprehensive perspective on population dynamics and how animal populations will respond to global pressures in future...
Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the Late Miocene Arctic speleothems reveal nearly permafrost-free Northern Hemisphere in the Late Miocene
Arctic warming is happening at nearly four times the global average rate. Long-term trends of permafrost dynamics cannot be estimated directly from monitoring of present-day thaw processes, requiring paleoclimate-proxy information. Here we use cave carbonates (speleothems) from a northern Siberian cave to determine when the Northern Hemisphere was mostly permafrost-free. At present...
Science
Q&A: USGS Ecosystems Provides Objective Science to Manage Lands, Fish, and Wildlife
The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area is the only program within the Department of Interior (DOI) focused on generating science to inform the management of the nation’s lands, fish, and wildlife. The Ecosystems Mission Area is also the only entity with the specific role of meeting the information needs of DOI agencies (e.g., Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Park...
USGS Alaska Science Center Wildlife Tracking Data Collection
Understanding the short- and long-distance movements of wildlife is critical for a wide variety of ecological research questions and management decisions. Since the mid-1980s, the USGS Alaska Science Center has used information from telemetry devices on wildlife species to determine locations of animals throughout their annual cycles, understand patterns of habitat use, quantify time spent on...
Beak Deformities in Landbirds
Over the past 26 years, Alaskans have witnessed a startling increase of beak deformities among Black-capped Chickadees and other species of resident birds. This disease, called avian keratin disorder (AKD), is characterized by debilitating beak overgrowth and other abnormalities of keratinized tissues. Affected birds have difficulty feeding and preening and may suffer high rates of mortality. If...