Publications

SUMMARY: A comparison is made of different methods of determining size of home range from grid trapping data. Studies of artificial populations show that a boundary strip method of measuring area and an adjusted range length give sizes closer to the true range than do minimum area or observed range length methods. In simulated trapping of artificial populations, the known range size increas

The distribution of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) is circumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere, but known locations of maternal dens are concentrated in relatively few, widely scattered locations. Denning is either uncommon or unknown within gaps. To understand effects of industrial development and propose increases in hunting, the temporal and spatial distribution of denning in the Beaufort Sea must

We compared trends in breeding population size among cormorants, gulls, alcids, and others, among the Farallon Islands, and sites in northern California and Washington, Gulf of Alaska, and Bering Sea, but in most cases only during the last two decades. For a given species, trends were usually concordant within the same oceanographic domain, except for Rhinoceros Auklet, which increased across all

We developed an intersection model to integrate parameters estimated from three distinct data sets that resulted from the Exxon Valdez oil spill: (1) the distribution, amount, and movements of spilled oil; (2) the distribution and abundance of sea otters along the Kenai Peninsula; and (3) the estimates of site-specific sea otter mortality relative to oil exposure from otters captured for rehabil

The Exxron Valdez oil spill (EVOS) on 24 March 1989 threatened extensive areas of prime sea otter (Enhydra lutris) habitat along the coasts of south-central Alaska. The spill occurred in northeastern Prince William Sound (PWS), and oil moved rapidly south and west through PWS into the Gulf of Alaska. Much of the coastline of western PWS was heavily oiled, and the slick eventually spread as far sou

This collection of 19 papers continues the annual series of U.S. Geological Survey reports on geologic investigations in Alaska. Contributions include 14 Articles and 5 shorter Geologic Notes that report results from all corners of the State.USGS activities in Alaska cover a broad spectrum of earth science topics, including the environment, hazards, resources, and geologic framework studies. Three

The Castle Mountain fault is one of several major east-northeast-striking faults in southern Alaska, and it has had historical seismicity and Holocene surface faulting. The Castle Mountain fault was delineated on a regional scale by Detterman and others (1974, 1976), who divided it into two physiographic segments. Mapping in a 30-km-long region between the two segments (from Houston to the Hatcher

Wave-cut terraces and multiple exposures of lacustrine sediment indicate a former, more extensive stand of intracaldera Surprise Lake in the crater of Aniakchak volcano. The lake once covered nearly half of the caldera floor and had an estimated volume of about 3.7x109 m3. A terrace that marks the high stand of the lake is traceable along the north caldera wall to a break in slope near the top of

The number of spectacled eiders nesting on two study areas near the Kashunuk River, on the central Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta, Alaska, declined by over 75% in the last 20 years. Nesting densities have remained low, but have not significantly declined since 1985. There has been no decrease in the reproductive effort of individual females as indicated by average clutch sizes. There has been a signi

Early naturalists exploring western Alaska were intrigued to find a stocky, blue-gray species of coastal goose unique to that area and nearby Russia. As E. W. Nelson (1887) wrote, "Among the various species of birds more or less peculiar to Alaska this goose is perhaps the most noteworthy." The Emperor Goose nests in the extensive coastal salt marsh habitats of arctic and sub-arctic Alaska and Rus

1. We investigated the functional response of wolves (Canis lupus) to varying abundance of ungulate prey to test the hypothesis that switching from alternate prey to preferred prey results in regulation of a caribou (Rangifer tarandus) population at low densities. 2. We determined prey selection, kill rates, and prey abundance for four wolf packs during three 30-day periods in March 1989, March 19

Many Alaskans know the dynamic nature of Alaska’s landscape firsthand. The 1964 earthquake, the 1989 eruption of Mount Redoubt volcano, the frequent earthquakes in the Aleutians and the ever-shifting meanders of the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers remind them of constant changes to the land. These changes are part of the continuing story of the geologic growth and development of Alaska during hundreds