Publications
Publications from the Alaska Science Center.
Filter Total Items: 2977
Mapping eelgrass (Zostera marina) cover and biomass at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, using in-situ field data and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery
The U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have developed a three-tiered strategy for monitoring eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds at Izembek Lagoon, Alaska, that targets different spatial and temporal scales. The broadest-scale monitoring (tier-1) uses satellite imagery about every 5 years to delineate the spatial extent of eelgrass beds throughout the lagoon. This...
Authors
David C. Douglas, Michael D. Fleming, Vijay P. Patil, David H. Ward
Linking permafrost to the abundance, biomass, and energy density of fish in Arctic headwater streams
Permafrost thaw alters groundwater flow, river hydrology, stream-catchment interactions, and the availability of carbon and nutrients in headwater streams. The impact of permafrost on watershed hydrology and biogeochemistry of headwater streams has been demonstrated, but there is little understanding of how permafrost influences fish in these ecosystems. We examined relations among...
Authors
Michael P. Carey, Joshua C. Koch, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, Brett Poulin, Christian E. Zimmerman
Marginalizing time in habitat selection and species distribution models improves inference
AimRecent methodological advances for studying how animals move and use space with telemetry data have focused on fine-scale, more mechanistic inference. However, in many cases, researchers and managers remain interested in larger scale questions regarding species distribution and habitat use across study areas, landscapes, or seasonal ranges. Point processes offer a unified framework...
Authors
Joseph Michael Eisaguirre, Layne G. Adams, Bridget Borg, Heather E. Johnson
Using long-term ecological datasets to unravel the impacts of short-term meteorological disturbances on phytoplankton communities
Extreme meteorological events such as storms are increasing in frequency and intensity, but our knowledge of their impacts on aquatic ecosystems and emergent system properties is limited. Understanding the ecological impacts of storms on the dynamics of primary producers remains a challenge that needs to be addressed to assess the vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems to extreme weather...
Authors
V. Tran-Khac, J.P. Doubek, Vijay P. Patil, J.D. Stockwell, R. Adrian, C.-W. Change, G. Dur, A. Lewandowska, J.A. Rusak, N. Salmaso, D. Straile, S.J. Thackeray, P. Venail, R. Bhattacharya, J. Brentrup, R. Bruel, H. Feuchtmayr, M.O. Gessner, H-P. Grossart, B.W. Ibelings, S. Jacquet, S. MacIntyre, S.S. Matsuzaki, E. Nodine, P. Nõges, L.G. Rudstam, F. Soulignac, P. Verburg, P. Znachor, T. Zohary, O. Anneville
Increased flood exposure in the Pacific Northwest following earthquake-driven subsidence and sea-level rise
Climate-driven sea-level rise is increasing the frequency of coastal flooding worldwide, exacerbated locally by factors like land subsidence from groundwater and resource extraction. However, a process rarely considered in future sea-level rise scenarios is sudden (over minutes) land subsidence associated with great (>M8) earthquakes, which can exceed 1 m. Along the Washington, Oregon...
Authors
Tina Dura, William Chilton, David Small, Andra Garner, Andrea D. Hawkes, Diego Melgar, Simon E. Engelhart, Lydia M. Staisch, Robert C. Witter, Alan Nelson, Harvey Kelsey, Jonathan Allan, David S. Bruce, Jessica DePaolis, Mike Priddy, Richard W. Briggs, Robert Weiss, SeanPaul La Selle, Michael J. Willis, Benjamin P. Horton
Automated snow cover detection on mountain glaciers usingspaceborne imagery and machine learning
Tracking the extent of seasonal snow on glaciers over time is critical for assessing glacier vulnerability and the response of glacierized watersheds to climate change. Existing snow cover products do not reliably distinguish seasonal snow from glacier ice and firn, preventing their use for glacier snow cover detection. Despite previous efforts to classify glacier surface facies using...
Authors
Rainey Aberle, Ellyn Enderlin, Shad O'Neel, Caitlyn Florentine, Louis C. Sass, Adam Dickson, Hans-Peter Marshall, Alejandro Flores
Assessment of undiscovered conventional and continuous oil and gas resources in the Escondido, Olmos, and San Miguel Formations of the Western Gulf Basin Province, U.S. Gulf Coast region, 2023
Using a geology-based assessment methodology, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable mean resources of 5 million barrels of oil and 25 billion cubic feet of gas in conventional reservoirs and 361 million barrels of oil and 10,978 billion cubic feet of gas in continuous reservoirs in the Western Gulf Basin Province of the U.S. Gulf Coast region.
Authors
William H. Craddock, John W. Counts, Colin A. Doolan, Marc L. Buursink, Celeste D. Lohr, Javin J. Hatcherian, Katherine L. French, Jared T. Gooley, Phuong A. Le, Tracey J. Mercier, Cheryl A. Woodall, Christopher J. Schenk
Detection of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in surface water of a subarctic city
Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. are globally distributed protozoan parasites that can cause gastrointestinal disease in humans and animals. These zoonotic parasites and their ecological relationships have been understudied in Alaska and elsewhere, despite being identified as priority zoonotic pathogens. We aimed to detect and characterize Giardia and Cryptosporidium spp. in waterbodies...
Authors
Christina Ahlstrom, Michael P. Carey, Damian M. Menning, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, Andrew M. Ramey
Development of a genotyping-in-thousands by sequencing (GT-seq) panel for identifying individuals and estimating relatedness among Alaska black bears (Ursus americanus)
The management and conservation of large mammals, such as black bears (Ursus americanus), have long been informed by genetic estimates of population size and individual dispersal. Amplicon sequencing methods, also known as ‘genotyping-in-thousands-by sequencing’ (GT-seq), now enable the efficient and cost-effective genotyping of hundreds of loci and individuals in the same sequencing run...
Authors
Eleni Leto Petrou, Colette D. Brandt, Timothy J. Spivey, Kristen M. Gruenthal, Cherie Marie McKeeman, Sean D. Farley, David Battle, Cory Stantorf, Andrew M. Ramey
Equilibrium line altitudes, accumulation areas, and the vulnerability of glaciers in Alaska
The accumulation area ratio (AAR) of a glacier reflects its current state of equilibrium, or disequilibrium, with climate and its vulnerability to future climate change. Here, we present an inventory of glacier-specific annual accumulation areas and equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) for over 3000 glaciers in Alaska and northwest Canada (88% of the regional glacier area) from 2018 to 2022...
Authors
Lucas Zeller, Daniel J McGrath, Louis C. Sass, Caitlyn Florentine, Jacob Downs
Critical Minerals in Ores (CMiO) database
Critical minerals are commodities essential to modern industrial and strategic technologies and are highly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Critical Minerals Mapping Initiative (CMMI) is a collaboration among the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Geological Survey of Canada, and Geoscience Australia that aims to deepen global understanding of where critical minerals are...
Authors
George N. D. Case, Garth E. Graham, Christopher Lawley, Evgeniy Bastrakov, David Huston, Albert H. Hofstra, Vladimir Lisitsin, Steph Hawkins, Bronwen Wang
Shortening migration by 4500 km does not affect nesting phenology or increase nest success for black brant (Branta bernicla nigricans) breeding in Arctic and subarctic Alaska
BackgroundSince the 1980s, Pacific Black Brant (Branta bernicla nigricans, hereafter brant) have shifted their winter distribution northward from Mexico to Alaska (approximately 4500 km) with changes in climate. Alongside this shift, the primary breeding population of brant has declined. To understand the population-level implications of the changing migration strategy of brant, it is...
Authors
Toshio Doroff Matsuoka, Vijay P. Patil, Jerry W. Hupp, Alan G. Leach, John Reed, James S. Sedinger, David H. Ward