Publications

Polar bears give birth in snow dens in mid winter, and remain in dens until early spring. Survival and development of neonates is dependent on the stable environment within the maternal den. Petroleum related activities currently span approximately 200 km of the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coastal area. New and proposed developments are expected to dramatically expand the area influenced by...

We evaluated the use of corticosterone to gauge forage availability and predict reproductive performance in black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) breeding in Alaska during 1999 and 2000. We modeled the relationship between baseline levels of corticosterone and a suite of individual and temporal characteristics of the sampled birds. We also provided supplemental food to a sample of...

Primary geologic and geomorphic processes that formed valley-bottom and channel features downstream from the Pelton-Round Butte dam complex are inferred from a canyon-long analysis of feature morphology, composition, location, and spatial distribution. Major controls on valley-bottom morphology are regional tectonics, large landslides, and outsized floods (floods with return periods...

No abstract available.

Subspecies of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) exhibit wide variation in body size across their range. To monitor harvest levels in the Pacific Flyway, biologists commonly use culmen length and plumage color to differentiate among subspecies on sympatric wintering grounds. Among the four large-bodied Pacific subspecies (B. c. parvipes, B. c. occidentalis, B. c. fulva, and B. c. moffitti)...

Twenty free-ranging spectacled eiders (Somateria fischeri; 10 male, 10 female), 11 free-ranging king eiders (Somateria spectabilis; 6 male, 5 female), and 20 female common eiders (Somateria mollissima) were anesthetized with propofol, bupivacaine, and ketoprofen for the surgical implantation of satellite transmitters. Propofol was given to induce and maintain anesthesia (mean total dose...

Despite its great distance from productive shelf-edge habitat, the inner shelf area of the Bering Sea, from St. Lawrence Island to the Bering Strait, supports a surprisingly large number (>5 million) of seabirds during summer, mostly small plantivorous auklets (65%) and large piscivorous murres (19%) and kittiwakes (5%). This paradox of seabird biogeography is explained by the Anadyr...

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) give birth to and nurture their young in dens of ice and snow. During 1999-2001, we measured the structure of 22 dens on the coastal plain of northern Alaska after polar bear families had evacuated their dens in the spring. During the summers of 2001 and 2002, we revisited the sites of 42 maternal and autumn exploratory dens and recorded characteristics of...

Descriptions of the mineral occurrences shown on the accompanying figure follow. See U.S. Geological Survey (1996) for a description of the information content of each field in the records. The data presented here are maintained as part of a statewide database on mines, prospects and mineral occurrences throughout Alaska.

Radio telemetry was used to identify and map sockeye salmon spawning habitats in glacially influenced Lake Clark, Kvichak River watershed, Alaska. Two hundred eighty-two adult sockeye salmon were radio tagged and tracked to spawning grounds. Thirty-five spawning areas were identified, including 18 previously unidentified. Comparison of radio telemetry data with past aerial population...

The banking of environmental specimens under cryogenic conditions for future retrospective analysis has been recognized for many years as an important part of environmental monitoring programs. Since 1987, the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project (AMMTAP) has been collecting tissue samples from marine mammals for archival in the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB) at the...

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is dominated by the marine waters that make up nearly one-fifth of the park’s area. Since the late 1800s, the nutrient rich waters of Glacier Bay have supported highly productive commercial fisheries. Congress closed fishing in parts of Glacier Bay National Park in 1999, creating one of North America’s largest marine reserves. Throughout the world...