Publications

We collected female greater scaup (Aythya marila) on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska during two breeding seasons to determine if concentrations of 18 trace elements in livers and eggs were elevated and if hepatic concentrations correlated with body condition or affected reproductive status. Fifty-six percent, 5%, and 42% of females, respectively, had elevated hepatic cadmium (Cd: >3 μg...

Northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis in the North Pacific Ocean are opportunistic, generalist predators, yet their diets are poorly described; thus, relationships of fulmars to supporting food webs, their utility as indicators of variability in forage fish abundances, and their sensitivity to ecosystem change are not known. We employed fatty acid (FA) signature analysis of adipose tissue...

A growing number of studies suggest that an individual’s physiology affects its carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures, obscuring a signal often assumed to be only a reflection of diet and foraging location. We examined effects of growth and moderate food restriction on red blood cell (RBC) and feather δ15N and δ13C in rhinoceros auklet chicks (Cerorhinca monocerata), a...

Review of: E.J. Branson (ed): Fish Welfare Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 2008, xvi + 300 pp, Hardback, ISBN-13:978-1-4051-4629-6.

Observed declines in the Arctic sea ice have resulted in a variety of negative effects on polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Projections for additional future declines in sea ice resulted in a proposal to list polar bears as a threatened species under the United States Endangered Species Act. To provide information for the Department of the Interior's listing-decision process, the US...

Quantifying population genetic heterogeneity within nonbreeding aggregations can inform our understanding of patterns of site fidelity, migratory connectivity, and gene flow between breeding and nonbreeding areas. However, characterizing mechanisms that contribute to heterogeneity, such as migration and dispersal, is required before site fidelity and migratory connectivity can be...

The hypothesis that growth in Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. is dependent on previous growth was tested using annual scale growth measurements of wild Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha returning to the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, Alaska, from 1964 to 2004. First-year marine growth in individual O. tshawytscha was significantly correlated with growth in fresh water. Furthermore...

Low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses are well documented to circulate within wild waterfowl populations (Olsen et. al. 2006). It has been assumed that these infections are benign with no subsequent effects on life-history parameters. The study by Latorre-Margalef et al. (2009; hereafter L.-M. et al.) represents an important step, as they attempt to test this assumption in wild...

No abstract available.

An acoustic Doppler current profiler interfaced with a differentially corrected global positioning system was used to map bathymetry and multi-dimensional velocities on the Matanuska River near Circle View Estates, Alaska. Data were collected along four spur dikes and a bend in the river during a period of active bank erosion. These data were collected as part of a larger investigation...

We report chemical analyses of stream-water, stream-sediment, soil, soil-water, bedrock, and vegetation samples collected from the headwaters of the Delta River (Tangle Lakes District, Mount Hayes 1:250,000-scale quadrangle) in east-central Alaska for the period June 20-25, 2006. Additionally, we present mineralogic analyses of stream sediment, concentrated by panning. The study area...

Sperm aging is known to be detrimental to reproductive performance. However, this apparently general phenomenon has seldom been studied in an evolutionary context. The negative impact of sperm aging on parental fitness should constitute a strong selective pressure for adaptations to avoid its effects. We studied the impact of sperm aging on black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), a...