Publications

The effects of vegetation management on northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) activity and damage to lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) seedlings were studied using 2,4-D herbicide to alter the habitat. Treatments were applied to a large (8.1 ha) treatment unit and observed effects were compared with an untreated control unit of the same size. The greatly reduced forb and grass cover...

No abstract available.

We studied habitat use by nesting and brood-rearing northern pintails (Anas acuta) on the coastal Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta, 1991-93. We used a digital habitat map constructed from color infrared aerial photos to assign habitat types to nest and brood locations and estimate habitat availability. Sixty-nine percent of females nested on slough banks in highly saline, tidally influenced...

During the first six months of 1993, about 3500 dead and moribund guillemots (Uria aalge) were observed throughout the northern Gulf of Alaska coast (ca 1800 km range). Mortality peaked during March. Highest numbers were observed in western Prince William Sound and along the south coast of the Kenai Peninsula. Large flocks of live guillemots gathered in nearshore waters, in contrast to...

During 1996, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) responded to eruptive activity, anomalous seismicity, or suspected volcanic activity at 10 of the approximately 40 active volcanic centers in the state of Alaska. As part of a formal role in KVERT (the Kamchatkan Volcano Eruption Response Team), AVO staff also disseminated information about eruptions and other volcanic unrest at six...

Placer gold and precious metal-bearing lode deposits of southwestern Alaska lie within a region 550 by 350 km, herein referred to as the Kuskokwim mineral belt. This mineral belt has yielded 100,240 kg (3.22 Moz) of gold, 12, 813 kg (412,000 oz) of silver, 1,377,412 kg (39,960 flasks) of mercury, and modest amounts of antimony and tungsten derived primarily from the late Cretaceous-early...

We studied the effects of timing of spring snowmelt on nesting phenology, nest site selection, and clutch size of Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) breeding at the Tutakoke river colony, Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska. In late springs, brant nested later: however, time between peak arrival at Tutakoke and nest initiation (6 to 12 days) was similar in early and late springs. Nest...

Females in lek‐breeding species appear to copulate with a small subset of the available males. Such strong directional selection is predicted to decrease additive genetic variance in the preferred male traits, yet females continue to mate selectively, thus generating the lek paradox. In a study of buff‐breasted sandpipers (Tryngites subruficollis), we combine detailed behavioral...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

The Mesozoic accretionary wedge of south-central Alaska is cut by an array of faults including dextral and sinistral strike-slip faults, synthetic and antithetic thrust faults, and synthetic and antithetic normal faults. The three fault sets are characterized by quartz ± calcite ± chlorite ± prehnite slickensides, and are all relatively late, i.e. all truncate ductile fabrics of the host...

During the period from 1985 to 1990, radio collars were attached to 61 arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) in the coastal region of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in western Alaska. Radio tracking using hand-held receivers from aircraft and from fixed towers was conducted to determine daily and seasonal movements of foxes. Intensive radio tracking of 18 foxes from May through July indicated that...