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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. 

News

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Interagency Partners to Collect Seafloor Data in Southern Alaska

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USGS Invests Millions in Critical-Minerals Mapping in Alaska

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Alaska Science Center Newsletter - Spring 2023

Publications

Gene expression and wildlife health: Varied interpretations based on perspective

We evaluated wildlife population health from the perspective of statistical means vs. variances. We outlined the choices necessary to provide the framework for our study. These consisted of spatial and temporal boundaries (e.g., choice of sentinel species, populations, time frame), measurement techniques (molecular to population level), and appropriate statistical analyses. We chose to assess the
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Lizabeth Bowen, Julie L. Yee, James L. Bodkin, Shannon C. Waters, Michael J. Murray, Heather Coletti, Brenda E. Ballachey, Daniel Monson, A. Keith Miles

Oligocene–Miocene northward growth of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from intermontane basins in the West Qinling Belt, NW China

Growth of the Tibetan Plateau, Earth’s broadest and highest elevation collisional system, shapes orographic barriers, reorganizes drainage networks, and influences surface erosion and sediment delivery, whose changes in space and provenance feed back to intracontinental tectonic processes. Studies of interior basins within the northern Tibetan Plateau provide new sediment accumulation, provenance,
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Yi-Peng Zhang, Wei-Tao Wang, Richard O. Lease, Renjie Zhou, Yue-Jun Wang, Yong-Gang Yan, Ying Wang, Wen-Jun Zheng, Bing-Xu Liu, Zhi-Gang Li, Hao Liang, Ge-Ge Hui, Chuang Sun, Qing-Ying Tian, Bin-Bin Xu, Pei-Zhen Zhang

Climate change and pulse migration: Intermittent Chugach Inuit occupation of glacial fiords on the Kenai Coast, Alaska

For millennia, Inuit peoples of the Arctic and Subarctic have been challenged by the impacts of climate change on the abundance of key subsistence species. Responses to climate-induced declines in animal populations included switching to alternative food sources and/or migrating to regions of greater availability. We examine these dynamics for the Chugach Inuit (Sugpiat) people of southern coastal
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Aron Crowell, Mayumi L. Arimitsu

Science

Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology

Alaska's coastal and offshore waters provide foraging habitat for an estimated 100 million birds comprising more than 90 different species; from loons and seaducks that nest inland, to petrels and puffins that breed on islands off shore. All these birds depend on the sea to provide a wide variety of food types— from clams, crabs and urchins nearshore— to krill, forage fish, and squid offshore. The...
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Seabirds and Forage Fish Ecology

Alaska's coastal and offshore waters provide foraging habitat for an estimated 100 million birds comprising more than 90 different species; from loons and seaducks that nest inland, to petrels and puffins that breed on islands off shore. All these birds depend on the sea to provide a wide variety of food types— from clams, crabs and urchins nearshore— to krill, forage fish, and squid offshore. The...
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Pacific Marine Heatwave

The USGS conducts research on marine wildlife, habitats, and ecosystem processes to provide science to inform our partners as they make decisions relative to species status, resource use, and human activities. These studies examine impacts of severe heatwaves on marine ecosystems of the North Pacific.
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Pacific Marine Heatwave

The USGS conducts research on marine wildlife, habitats, and ecosystem processes to provide science to inform our partners as they make decisions relative to species status, resource use, and human activities. These studies examine impacts of severe heatwaves on marine ecosystems of the North Pacific.
Learn More

Outer Continental Shelf Program

This is a nation-wide collaborative program, supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, through which USGS and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management staff address priority research needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. On this page, we highlight research taking place in Alaska as part of this program.
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Outer Continental Shelf Program

This is a nation-wide collaborative program, supported by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, through which USGS and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management staff address priority research needs identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. On this page, we highlight research taking place in Alaska as part of this program.
Learn More