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Publications

USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.

Filter Total Items: 3082

Nestling diet and feeding rates of rhinoceros auklets in Alaska Nestling diet and feeding rates of rhinoceros auklets in Alaska

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...
Authors
Scott A. Hatch

Composition and energy contents of mature inshore spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus): Implications for seabird predators Composition and energy contents of mature inshore spawning capelin (Mallotus villosus): Implications for seabird predators

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...
Authors
W.A. Montevecchi, John F. Piatt

The Jeanie Point complex revisited The Jeanie Point complex revisited

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...
Authors
Julie A. Dumoulin, Marti L. Miller

Offset of Tertiary arcs on the Alaska Peninsula: A section in Geological Survey research, fiscal year 1981 Offset of Tertiary arcs on the Alaska Peninsula: A section in Geological Survey research, fiscal year 1981

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...
Authors

Dietary changes and poor reproductive performance in Glaucous-winged Gulls Dietary changes and poor reproductive performance in Glaucous-winged Gulls

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
Authors
Edward C. Murphy, Robert H. Day, Karen L. Oakley, A. Anne Hoover

A transect of metamorphic rocks along the Copper River, Cordova and Valdez Quadrangles, Alaska: A section in The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1982 A transect of metamorphic rocks along the Copper River, Cordova and Valdez Quadrangles, Alaska: A section in The United States Geological Survey in Alaska: Accomplishments during 1982

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...
Authors
Marti L. Miller, Julie A. Dumoulin, S.W. Nelson

Pacific Coast Caspian Terns: Dynamics of an expanding population Pacific Coast Caspian Terns: Dynamics of an expanding population

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...
Authors
Robert E. Gill, L. Richard Mewaldt

Nest sites and eggs of Kittlitz's and Marbled murrelets Nest sites and eggs of Kittlitz's and Marbled murrelets

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...
Authors
Robert H. Day, Karen L. Oakley, D.R. Barnard

The fledging of common and thick-billed murres on Middleton Island, Alaska The fledging of common and thick-billed murres on Middleton Island, Alaska

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...
Authors
Scott A. Hatch

Effect of loading density of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum), eggs in incubation boxes on mortality caused by infectious haematopoietic necrosis Effect of loading density of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum), eggs in incubation boxes on mortality caused by infectious haematopoietic necrosis

Infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN) can cause massive mortalities of sockeye salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum), cultured in hatcheries. One method of enhancing sockeye salmon populations is to use a streamside egg incubation box from which the fry are automatically released into the stream as they emerge from the gravel. In this system, however, IHN epizootics occur as the fry...
Authors
D. Mulcahy, K. Bauersfeld

Memorial to a Black Turnstone: An examplar of breeding and wintering site fidelity Memorial to a Black Turnstone: An examplar of breeding and wintering site fidelity

Most of us who have banded long-distance migrants are aware, through recaptures of individuals, of the high degree of site fidelity exhibited by many bird species. It is not uncommon for a bander to have a marked bird remain in the vicinity of its banding site throughout a season and then to recapture or sight the bird there during the following season, or occasionally for several...
Authors
Robert E. Gill, Colleen M. Handel, Leonard A. Shelton
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