George G Esslinger
Using new technologies to study ecosystems; sea otter ecology; geographic information systems; population estimation; predator/prey interactions.
Biography
Education
M.S. 2011 University of Alaska, Anchorage, AK Biological Sciences
B.S. 1993 Humboldt State University Arcata, CA Wildlife
Professional Experience
1998 - Present Zoologist, USGS, Alaska Biological Science Center Anchorage, Alaska
1995 - 1998 Fish and Wildlife Biologist, USGS, Alaska Biological Science Center Anchorage, Alaska
1993 - 1995 Biological Science Technician, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Alaska Fish & Wildlife Research Center Anchorage, Alaska
1989 - 1993 Biological Science Technician, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management Anchorage, Alaska
Science and Products
USGS Research Vessel Alaskan Gyre
The R/V Alaskan Gyre is a 50-foot fiberglass seiner that has been converted into a versatile research vessel to provide USGS scientists and collaborators with access to remote marine areas of Alaska and serve as a mobile laboratory. The vessel was built by Ledford Marine of Marysville, Washington in 1989 and is named after the Alaskan Gyre, a series of wind driven currents that...
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...
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 The rise of an apex predator following deglaciation
AimSea otters (Enhydra lutris) are an apex predator of the nearshore marine community and nearly went extinct at the turn of the 20th century. Reintroductions and legal protection allowed sea otters to re‐colonize much of their former range. Our objective was to chronicle the colonization of this apex predator in Glacier Bay, Alaska, to help...
Hooten, Mevin B.; Esslinger, George G. Aerial surveys of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in Lower Cook Inlet, Alaska, May, 2017
Portions of two stocks of northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) occur in Lower Cook Inlet (LCI), Alaska. Sea otters on the west side of LCI are considered part of the southwest Alaska stock; sea otters occupying eastern LCI are considered part of the southcentral Alaska stock. Information concerning the distributions and abundance of sea...
Gerlach-Miller, Joel; Esslinger, George G.; Weitzman, Ben Monitoring dynamic spatio-temporal ecological processes optimally
Population dynamics vary in space and time. Survey designs that ignore these dynamics may be inefficient and fail to capture essential spatio‐temporal variability of a process. Alternatively, dynamic survey designs explicitly incorporate knowledge of ecological processes, the associated uncertainty in those processes, and can be optimized with...
Williams, Perry J.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Womble, Jamie N.; Esslinger, George G.; Bower, Michael R. 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. An integrated data model to estimate spatiotemporal occupancy, abundance, and colonization dynamics
Ecological invasions and colonizations occur dynamically through space and time. Estimating the distribution and abundance of colonizing species is critical for efficient management or conservation. We describe a statistical framework for simultaneously estimating spatiotemporal occupancy and abundance dynamics of a colonizing species. Our method...
Williams, Perry J.; Hooten, Mevin B.; Womble, Jamie N.; Esslinger, George G.; Bower, Michael R.; Hefley, Trevor J. Variability within nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Alaska
Nearshore marine habitats, which represent the interface among air, land and sea, form a critical component of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) ecosystem. As an interface, the nearshore facilitates transfer of water, nutrients and biota between terrestrial and oceanic systems, creating zones of high productivity. The nearshore provides a variety of...
Ballachey, Brenda E.; Bodkin, James L.; Coletti, Heather A.; Dean, Thomas A; Esler, Daniel N.; Esslinger, George G.; Iken, Katrin; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Konar, Brenda; Lindeberg, Mandy; Monson, Daniel; Shepherd, Marnie; Weitzman, Ben P.
Monitoring population status of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska: options and considerations
After many decades of absence from southeast Alaska, sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are recolonizing parts of their former range, including Glacier Bay, Alaska. Sea otters are well known for structuring nearshore ecosystems and causing community-level changes such as increases in kelp abundance and changes in the size and number of other consumers....
Esslinger, George G.; Esler, Daniel N.; Howlin, S.; Starcevich, L.A. Timelines and mechanisms of wildlife population recovery following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
In March 1989, the T/V Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska and spilled an estimated 42 million liters of crude oil (Wolfe et al. 1994). This oil subsequently spread over more than 26,000 km2 of water surface in PWS and the Gulf of Alaska and landed on more than 1000 km of shoreline (Spies et al. 1996, Short et al. 2004;...
Esler, Daniel N.; Bodkin, James L.; Ballachey, Brenda E.; Monson, Daniel; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Esslinger, George G. Temporal patterns in the foraging behavior of sea otters in Alaska
Activity time budgets in apex predators have been proposed as indicators of population status relative to resource limitation or carrying capacity. We used archival time-depth recorders implanted in 15 adult female and 4 male sea otters (Enhydra lutris) from the northernmost population of the species, Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA, to examine...
Esslinger, George G.; Bodkin, James L.; Breton, André R.; Burns, Jennifer M.; Monson, Daniel H.
2013 update on sea otter studies to assess recovery from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska
On March 24, 1989, the tanker vessel Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling an estimated 42 million liters of Prudhoe Bay crude oil. Oil spread in a southwesterly direction and was deposited on shores and waters in western Prince William Sound (WPWS). The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) was one of more than 20 nearshore...
Ballachey, Brenda E.; Monson, Daniel H.; Esslinger, George G.; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Bodkin, James L.; Bowen, Lizabeth; Miles, A. Keith Synthesis of nearshore recovery following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill: sea otter liver pathology and survival in Western Prince William Sound, 2001 – 2008
We examined livers and liver biopsies collected from captured sea otters in WPWS, 2001–2008, to determine whether indicators of liver health correlated with history of oil contamination from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Sea otters captured in oiled areas had a significantly higher proportion of livers with gross pathological change,...
Ballachey, Brenda E.; Monson, Daniel H.; Kloecker, Kimberly A.; Esslinger, George G.; Mohr, F.C.; Lipscomb, T.P.; Murray, M.J.; Howlin, S.