Publications

Nesting ecology of Pacific white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons frontalis) was studied on a 9.9-km2 area on the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta, Alaska, during 1977-79. Availability of nesting habitat varied considerably among years because of differences in time of snow- and icemelt. Mean clutch size was 3.7 eggs in the late spring thaw year and 5.2 and 5.7 eggs in early snowmelt years...

Food brought to nestling Rhinoceros Auklets (Cerorhinca monocerata) was sampled by applying tape or cloth muzzles to the chicks and collecting the uningested food from the burrow daily. Limited data were also gathered for Tufted and Horned puffins (Fratercula cirrhata and F. corniculata). Auklet chicks received an average of 34.1 g of food per night at Middleton Island in 1978, and 32.8...

This circular contains short topical and summary articles about the results of 1982 geologic studies on a wide range of subjects of economic and scientific interest. Included are lists of references cited for each article and a compilation of reports about Alaska written by members of the U.S. Geological Survey and published by the Geological Survey and other organizations.

1. Lipid levels of capelin are highest in late fall and lowest during the summer spawning season; protein levels are constant at 13–14% body wt throughout the year. 2. Ovid females contained significantly more lipid and protein and less water and had higher energy densities than males and spent females. 3. Surgically-removed egg masses made up 34.2 ± 10.3% female body wt and were very...

Geologic mapping and potassium-argon dating by R. L. Detterman, F. H. Wilson, J. E. Case, and Nora Shew in the Ugashik and western part of the Karluk quadrangles have shown that the Eocene and Oligocene volcanic arc continues into these quadrangles from the south in the Chignik and Sutwik Island quadrangles. Surface exposures of the arc extend northward to approximately 57°30'N., or...

The breeding phenology of Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) on Squab Island, Aialik Bay, Alaska in 1979 was identical to that in 1980, but clutch sizes and later reproductive performance differed markedly. In 1979, clutch sizes were small, but chick growth rates and survivorship were high. In contrast, clutch sizes were large in 1980, but chick growth rates were slow, and chick

The so-called Jeanie Point complex is a distinctive package of rocks within the Orca Group, a Tertiary turbidite sequence. The rocks crop out on the southeast coast of Montague Island, Prince William Sound, approximately 3 km northeast of Jeanie Point (loc. 7, fig. 44). These rocks consist dominantly of fine-grained limestone and lesser amounts of siliceous limestone, chert, tuff...

The lower Tertiary Orca Group is juxtaposed against the Upper Cretaceous Valdez Group along the Contact fault system (Winkler and Plafker, 1974, 198; Plafker and others, 1977)(fig. 33). In both groups, turbidites are the dominant rock type, with lesser mafic volcanic rocks (table 10). The Valdez Group, on the north, has traditionally been considered to be of higher metamorphic grade than...

Three species of alcids, Common and Thick-billed murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia) and the Razorbill (Alca torda), have post-hatching developmental patterns intermediate to precocial and semi-precocial modes (Sealy 1973). The young leave their cliff nest sites at about one quarter of adult weight and complete their growth at sea. At departure, an event here loosely referred to as...

Nesting distribution, age-related seasonal movements, survivorship, and mechanisms of population expansion in Pacific Coast Caspian Terns (Sterna caspia) were examined primarily through analysis of 412 recoveries of birds banded as juveniles between 1935 and 1980. Since the beginning of this century, the population has shifted from nesting in numerous small colonies associated with...

Fourteen known and three probable nests of Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) and eight known and one probable nest of Marbled Murrelet (B. marmoratus) have been reported. Nests of Kittlitz's Murrelet tend to be at higher elevations and farther inland than those of Marbled Murrelet. Kittlitz's nests have much less vegetative cover than Marbled nests. Nests of both species...

No abstract available.