Daniel H Monson, Ph.D.
Retrospective and historical data analysis, nearshore ecology of marine systems; predator/prey dynamics; mammalian reproductive biology/ecology; marine food web dynamics and marine mammal foraging ecology; population biology.
Biography
Education
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
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
Professional Activities and/or Memberships
The Wildlife Society
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Ecological Society of America
Science and Products
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...
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...
Tinker, M Tim; Bodkin, James L; Bowen, Lizabeth; Ballachey, Brenda; Bentall, Gena; Burdin, Alexander; Coletti, Heather; Esslinger, George G.; Hatfield, Brian; Kenner, Michael C.; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Konar, Brenda; Miles, A. Keith; Monson, Daniel; Murray, Michael J.; Weitzman, Ben; Estes, James A 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...
Monson, Daniel 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...
Suryan, Robert M.; Arimitsu, Mayumi L.; Coletti, Heather A.; Hopcroft, Russell R.; Lindeberg, Mandy; Barbeaux, Steven J.; Batten, Sonia; Burt, William J.; Bishop, Mary Anne; Bodkin, James L.; Brenner, R.; Campbell, Robert W.; Cushing, Daniel A.; Danielson, Seth L.; Dorn, Martin W.; Drummond, Brie; Esler, Daniel N.; Gelatt, Thomas S.; Hanselman, Dana H.; Iken, Katrin; Irons, David B.; Hatch, Scott A.; Haught, Stormy; Holderied, Kris; Kimmel, David G.; Konar, Brenda H.; Kuletz, Kathy J.; Kettle, Arthur B.; Laurel, Benjamin J.; Maniscalco, John M.; Monson, Daniel; Matkin, Craig O.; McKinstry, Caitlin; Moran, John; Olsen, D.; Piatt, John F.; Palsson, Wayne A.; Pegau, W. Scott; Rogers, Lauren A.; Rojek, Nora A.; Schaefer, Anne; Spies, Ingrid B.; Straley, J.M.; Strom, Suzanne L.; Szymkowiak, Marysia; Weitzman, Ben P.; Sweeney, Kathryn L.; Yasumiishi, Ellen M.; Zador, Stephanie 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...
Weitzman, Ben; Konar, Brenda; Iken, Katrin; Coletti, Heather; Monson, Daniel; Suryan, Robert M.; Dean, Thomas; Hondolero, D.; Lindeberg, Mandy Future directions in sea otter research and management
The conservation and management of sea otters has benefited from a dedicated research effort over the past 60 years enabling this species to recover from a few thousand in the early 20th century to about 150,000 today. Continued research to allow full, pre-exploitation recovery and restoration of nearshore ecosystems should focus on at least seven...
Davis, Randall W.; Bodkin, James L.; Coletti, Heather A.; Monson, Daniel; Larson, Shawn E.; Carswell, Lilian P.; Nichol, Linda M. Trends and carrying capacity of sea otters in Southeast Alaska
Sea otter populations in Southeast Alaska (SEAK) have increased dramatically from fewer than 500 translocated animals in the late 1960s. The recovery of sea otters to ecosystems from which they had been absent has affected coastal food webs, including commercially important fisheries, and thus information on expected growth and equilibrium...
Tinker, M. Tim ; Gill, Verena A.; Esslinger, George G.; Bodkin, James L.; Monk, Melissa; Mangel, Marc; Monson, Daniel; Raymond, Wendel W.; Kissling, Michelle Factors affecting disaster preparedness, response, and recovery using the community capitals framework
Disaster research often focuses on how and why communities are affected by a discrete extreme event. We used the community capitals framework to understand how community characteristics influence their preparedness, response to, and recovery from successive or multiple disasters using the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake and the 1989 Exxon Valdez...
Himes-Cornell, Amber; Ormond, Carlos; Hoelting, Kristin R; Ban, Natalie C.; Koehn, J. Zachary; Allison, Edward H.; Larson, Eric R.; Monson, Daniel; Huntington, Henry P.; Okey, Tom Lactation and resource limitation affect stress responses, thyroid hormones, immune function, and antioxidant capacity of sea otters (Enhydra lutris)
Lactation is the most energetically demanding stage of reproduction in female mammals. Increased energetic allocation toward current reproduction may result in fitness costs, although the mechanisms underlying these trade‐offs are not well understood. Trade‐offs during lactation may include reduced energetic allocation to cellular maintenance,...
Chinn, Sarah M.; Monson, Daniel; Tinker, M. Tim; Staedler, Michelle M.; Crocker, Daniel E. Timelines and mechanisms of wildlife population recovery following the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Research and monitoring activities over the 28 years since the T/V Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska have led to an improved understanding of how wildlife populations were damaged, as well as the mechanisms and timelines of recovery. A key finding was that for some species, such as harlequin ducks...
Esler, Daniel N.; Ballachey, Brenda E.; Matkin, Craig O.; Cushing, Daniel; Kaler, Robert; Bodkin, James L.; Monson, Daniel; Esslinger, George G.; Kloecker, Kimberly A. Variation in abundance of Pacific Blue Mussel (Mytilus trossulus) in the Northern Gulf of Alaska, 2006–2015
Mussels are conspicuous and ecologically important components of nearshore marine communities around the globe. Pacific blue mussels (Mytilus trossulus) are common residents of intertidal habitats in protected waters of the North Pacific, serving as a conduit of primary production to a wide range of nearshore consumers including predatory...
Bodkin, James L.; Coletti, Heather A.; Ballachey, Brenda E.; Monson, Daniel; Esler, Daniel N.; Dean, Thomas A. Influence of static habitat attributes on local and regional Rocky intertidal community structure
Rocky intertidal communities are structured by local environmental drivers, which can be dynamic, fluctuating on various temporal scales, or static and not greatly varying across years. We examined the role of six static drivers (distance to freshwater, tidewater glacial presence, wave exposure, fetch, beach slope, and substrate composition) on...
Konar, B.; Iken, K.; Coletti, H.; Monson, Daniel H.; Weitzman, Ben P. Detecting and inferring cause of change in an Alaska nearshore marine ecosystem
Community composition, species abundance, and species distribution are expected to change while monitoring ecosystems over time, and effective management of natural resources requires understanding mechanisms contributing to change. Marine ecosystems in particular can be difficult to monitor, in part due to large, multidimensional spatial scales...
Coletti, H. A.; Bodkin, James L.; Monson, Daniel; Ballachey, Brenda E.; Dean, T. A.