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Daniel H Monson, Ph.D.

Dan is a Research Wildlife Biologist with the Alaska Science Center and sea otter research lead within the Nearshore Marine Ecosystem Research Program. His work focuses on sea otter ecology and conservation including developing metrics of sea otter population status and exploring drivers of variation in sea otter foraging and demographic patterns.

Professional Experience

  • 1995 - Present                 Research Wildlife Biologist, USGS, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999  Biologist, University of Minnesota, Antarctic Research Program, McMurdo, Antarctica

  • 1992 - 1995                    Graduate Research Assistant, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California

  • 1992 - 1995                    Statistical Assistant, NBS, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 1987 - 1992                    Biological Technician, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska

  • 1985 - 1987                    Research Assistant, University of Minnesota, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, North Dakota

  • 1983 - 1985                    Biological Technician, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Kawishawi Field Station, Ely, Minnesota

Education and Certifications

  • Ph.D.  2009   University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA    Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  • M.S.  1995    University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA    Marine Science

  • B.S.  1983      Luther College, Decorah, IA   Biology

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • The Wildlife Society

  • American Association for the Advancement of Science

  • Ecological Society of America

Science and Products

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A juvenile female sea otter eating small green urchins in the intertidal. Glacier Bay near Geikie Inlet, Alaska

Nearshore Marine Ecosystem Research

Nearshore ecosystems include many resources that are of high ecological, recreational, subsistence, and economic value. They also are subject to influences from a wide variety of natural and human-caused perturbations, which can originate in terrestrial or oceanic environments. Our research is designed to evaluate sources of variation in the nearshore and how they influence resources of high...
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Ecosystems, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Nearshore Marine Ecosystem Research

Nearshore ecosystems include many resources that are of high ecological, recreational, subsistence, and economic value. They also are subject to influences from a wide variety of natural and human-caused perturbations, which can originate in terrestrial or oceanic environments. Our research is designed to evaluate sources of variation in the nearshore and how they influence resources of high...
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Intertidal Temperature Data from Kachemak Bay, Prince William Sound, Katmai National Park and Preserve, and Kenai Fjords National Park

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long-term monitoring program. This dataset consists of date, time, and temperature measurements from intertidal rocky sampling sites, including predicted tide height at the time of the reading, which is used to distinguish air from water temperature readings. The data are provided as comma separated values (.csv) files derived from data downloaded
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Alaska Science Center

Intertidal Mussel (Mytilus) Data from Prince William Sound, Katmai National Park and Preserve, and Kenai Fjords National Park

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long-term monitoring program and describe mussel sampling and observations conducted in the northern Gulf of Alaska. This dataset consists of six comma separated files (.csv): 1) mussel sampling site layout information, 2) mussel counts for mussels greater than 20 millimeters in a quadrat, 3) mussel size measurements for mussels greater than 20 mi
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Alaska Science Center

Sea Otter Aerial Survey Data from Western Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2017

This dataset consists of three tables related to abundance and distribution of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) in western Prince William Sound, Alaska, based on data collected during a series of population-wide aerial surveys in June 2017. The dataset consists of: (1) sea otter counts along strip transects, (2) sea otter counts in Intensive Search Unit (ISU) within the transects, and
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Alaska Science Center

Sea Otter Aerial Survey Data from the outer Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, 2019

This dataset consists of three tables related to abundance and distribution of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) near the outer Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, based on data collected during a series of population-wide aerial surveys in June 2019. The dataset consists of: (1) sea otter counts along strip transects, (2) sea otter counts in Intensive Search Unit (ISU) within the transects, and (
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Alaska Science Center

Sea Otter Survey Data, Carcass Recovery Data, and Blood Chemistry Data from Southwest Alaska

Three data sets are included here to aid in assessment of the sea otter population collapse in southwest Alaska. One data set consists of results of sea otter surveys conducted between 1959 and 2015 at Bering Island, Russia and a selection of western Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Sea otter counts are reduced to a comparable value of otters per linear kilometer. Another data set consists per-capita a
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Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Morphometric and Reproductive Status Data for Sea Otters Collected or Captured in Alaska

This dataset includes morphometric measurements and pregnancy / dependency status from sea otters captured or collected (experimental harvests or recovered after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill) in Alaska, 1947-2019 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Data collected include total body length, tail length, body mass, axillary girth, paw width, canine diam
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Alaska Science Center

Gulf Watch Alaska, Nearshore Component: Sea Otter Mortality Age Data from Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2006-2017

These data are part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long term monitoring program, nearshore monitoring component. The dataset is a comma separated file exported from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The data consist of information related to collection of sea otter carcasses. Collectors walked selected shorelines searching for signs of carcasses. Date, location, carcass condition, parts collected, an
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Alaska Science Center

Gulf Watch Alaska Nearshore Component: Marine Water Quality, Water Temperature from Prince William Sound, Katmai National Park and Preserve, and Kenai Fjords National Park, 2014-2016

This data is part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long term monitoring program, nearshore monitoring component. The data consists of date, time, and temperature measurements from intertidal rocky sampling sites. The dataset is 5 comma separated files exported from a download from the HOBO temperature logger. Sites are in Alaska and include locations in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Kenai Fjor
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Alaska Science Center

Gulf Watch Alaska, Nearshore Monitoring Component: Sea Otter Foraging Observations from Prince William Sound, Katmai National Park and Preserve, and Kenai Fjords National Park, 2012-2016

This data is part of the Gulf Watch Alaska (GWA) long term monitoring program, benthic monitoring component and a seasonal diet study in Kenai Fjords National Park. The dataset is a comma separated file exported from a Microsoft Access database. The data consists of observations made of foraging sea otters (Enhydra lutris). Observers used Questar field model spotting scopes and binoculars to ident
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Alaska Science Center
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Brown bear–sea otter interactions along the Katmai coast: Terrestrial and nearshore communities linked by predation

Sea otters were extirpated throughout much of their range by the maritime fur trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, including the coast of Katmai National Park and Preserve in southcentral Alaska. Brown bears are an important component of the Katmai ecosystem where they are the focus of a thriving ecotourism bear-viewing industry as they forage in sedge meadows and dig clams in the extensive tidal
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Where land and sea meet: Brown bears and sea otters

In Katmai National Park, Alaska, USA, we have seen changes in the number of brown bears and sea otters. The number of animals of a species a habitat can support is called carrying capacity. Even though bears live on land and sea otters live in the ocean, these two mammals share coastal habitats. Bears eat salmon, other fish, plants, clams, and beached whales. Sea otters feed on clams and other mar
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Divergent gene expression profiles in Alaskan sea otters: An indicator of chronic domoic acid exposure?

An opportunistic investigation into ecosystem instability in Kachemak Bay (KBay), Alaska, has led us to investigate exposure to toxic algae in sea otters. We used gene expression to explore the physiological health of sea otters sampled in KBay in May 2019. We found altered levels of gene transcripts in comparison with reference sea otters from clinically normal, oil-exposed, and nutritionally cha
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Temperature variations in the northern Gulf of Alaska across synoptic to century-long time scales

Surface and subsurface moored buoy, ship-based, remotely sensed, and reanalysis datasets are used to investigate thermal variability of northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) nearshore, coastal, and offshore waters over synoptic to century-long time scales. NGA sea surface temperature (SST) showed a larger positive trend of 0.22 ± 0.10 °C per decade over 1970–2021 compared to 0.10 ± 0.03 °C per decade over
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Evidence of increased mussel abundance related to the Pacific marine heatwave and sea star wasting

Mussels occupy a key middle trophic position in nearshore food webs linking primary producers to predators. Climate-related environmental changes may synergistically combine with changes in predator abundance to affect intertidal ecosystems. We examined the influence of two major events on mussel (Mytilus trossulus) abundance in the northern Gulf of Alaska: the recent Pacific marine heatwave (PMH,
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Abundance and distribution of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in the southcentral Alaska stock, 2014, 2017, and 2019

The Southcentral Alaska (SCAK) sea otter (Enhydra lutris) stock is the northernmost stock of sea otters, a keystone predator known for structuring nearshore marine ecosystems. We conducted aerial surveys within the range of the SCAK sea otter stock to provide recent estimates of sea otter abundance and distribution. We defined three survey regions: (1) Eastern Cook Inlet (2017), (2) Outer Kenai Pe
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Genetic variation in sea otters (Enhydra lutris) from the North Pacific with relevance to the threatened Southwest Alaska Distinct Population Segment

For the sea otter (Enhydra lutris), genetic population structure is an area of research that has not received significant attention, especially in Southwest Alaska where that distinct population segment has been listed as threatened since 2005 pursuant to the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In this study, 501 samples from 14 locations from Prince William Sound, Alaska to the Commander Islands in Russ
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Sea otter population collapse in southwest Alaska: Assessing ecological covariates, consequences, and causal factors

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations in southwest Alaska declined substantially between about 1990 and the most recent set of surveys in 2015. Here we report changes in the distribution and abundance of sea otters, and covarying patterns in reproduction, mortality, body size and condition, diet and foraging behavior, food availability, health profiles, and exposure to environmental contaminants

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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center, Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)

Sea otter predator avoidance behavior

Predators directly affect their prey as a source of mortality, and prey respond by employing antipredator strategies. Sea otters are a keystone predator within the nearshore community, but higher trophic level avian, terrestrial, and pelagic predators (e.g., bald eagles, brown bears, wolves, white sharks, and killer whales) prey on them. Three antipredator strategies used by sea otters are vigilan
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

Ecosystem response persists after a prolonged marine heatwave

Some of the longest and most comprehensive marine ecosystem monitoring programs were established in the Gulf of Alaska following the environmental disaster of the Exxon Valdez oil spill over 30 years ago. These monitoring programs have been successful in assessing recovery from oil spill impacts, and their continuation decades later has now provided an unparalleled assessment of ecosystem response
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Ecosystems, Alaska Science Center

A study of marine temperature variations in the northern Gulf of Alaska across years of marine heatwaves and cold spells

We use over 100 in situ and remotely sensed temperature datasets to investigate thermal variability within and across the intertidal nearshore, coastal and offshore waters of the northern Gulf of Alaska. For the years 1970 through 2019 we document a warming trend of 0.24±0.10 °C per decade for the coastal northern shelf (0-250 m depth average) and a Gulf-wide sea surface temperature (SST) trend of
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Changes in rocky intertidal community structure during a marine heatwave in the northern Gulf of Alaska

Marine heatwaves are global phenomena that can have major impacts on the structure and function of coastal ecosystems. By mid-2014, the Pacific Marine Heatwave (PMH) was evident in intertidal waters of the northern Gulf of Alaska and persisted for multiple years. While offshore marine ecosystems are known to respond to these warmer waters, the response of rocky intertidal ecosystems to this warmin
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Ecosystems, Land Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
video thumbnail: USGS Science: Walrus Haul-Out 2011 link

Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government