Publications

The Cook Inlet basin is a northeast-trending forearc basin above the Aleutian subduction zone in southern Alaska. Folds in Cook Inlet are complex, discontinuous structures with variable shape and vergence that probably developed by right-transpressional deformation on oblique-slip faults extending downward into Mesozoic basement beneath the Tertiary basin. The most recent episode of...

Shoup Glacier is a retreating, tidewater-calving glacier in northeast Prince William Sound, Alaska. Historical records, vegetation distribution, and sediment depth in Shoup Bay indicate that the glacier reached a late Holocene maximum at the mouth of Shoup Bay prior to 1750. When first observed around 1900, the terminus was stable on a series of shallow, bedrock obstructions between...

The 1995 measured winter snow, maximum winter snow, net, and annual balances in the Gulkana Glacier basin were evaluated on the basis of meteorological, hydrological, and glaciological data obtained in the basin. Averaged over the glacier, the measured winter snow balance was 0.94 meter on April 19, 1995, 0.6 standard deviation below the long-term average; the maximum winter snow balance...

Emperor Geese (Chen canagica) breed on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in an area inhabited by three other goose species. Whereas populations of other geese increased since the mid 1980s, Emperor Goose numbers remained low. Because survival and habitat selection by broods of Emeperor Geese had not been studied previously and numbers of predatory Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus) had recently...

Adult rainbow trout were radio-tagged in two locations in the Alagnak River drainage in 1997 and 1998 and radio-tracked until March 1999. The telemetry data indicate the two different sample groups exhibited independent movements with little geographic overlap. However, some tagged fish from each sample group migrated downstream to the same general area during the spawning season...

We examined effects of season, time of day, tide stage, tidal oscillation, and sea surface temperature on Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) abundance and distribution at sea. We also evaluated whether constraining surveys to specific time periods or tide stages would reduce temporal variability in counts. Murrelets were surveyed daily from small boats and from shore in Auke Bay...

Dominance ranks in male and female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) were determined from 6 measurements that mimicked environmental situations that might be encountered by prairie voles in communal groups, including agonistic interactions resulting from competition for food and water and encounters in burrows. Male and female groups of 6 individuals each were tested against one...

Metapopulation theory has proven useful for understanding the population structure and dynamics of many species of conservation concern. The metapopulation concept has been applied almost exclusively to nonmigratory species, however, for which subpopulation demographic independence—a requirement for a classically defined metapopulation - is explicitly related to geographic distribution...

We used radio-telemetry to examine survival of adult female and juvenile Spectacled Eiders (Somateria fischeri) from 30 days after hatch until departure from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) during 1997-1999. Juvenile survival was 71.4%; adult female survival was 88.5%. Mink (Mustella vison) were the most common predator identified for both adults and juveniles. Detectable levels of lead...

Low sample size and high variation within populations reduce power of statistical tests. These aspects of statistical power appear to have affected an analysis comparing overwinter survival rates of non-orphan and orphan Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) calves by an earlier study for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. A re-evaluation of the data revealed that conclusions about a lack of significant...

We sexed adult Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) using DNA-based genetic techniques, behavior and morphology and compared results from these techniques. Genetic and morphology data were collected on 605 breeding kittiwakes and sex-specific behaviors were recorded for a sub-sample of 285 of these individuals. We compared sex classification based on both genetic and behavioral...

During 1986–1991, carcasses of 619 arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) collected from local trappers and at biological field camps on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska from November through May were analyzed to determine gastrointestinal contents, age, sex, and body condition. Prey in declining order of importance were small mammals (95% tundra voles, Microtus oeconomus), birds...