Publications
USGS research activities relevant to Alaska have yielded more than 9400 historical publications. This page features some of the most recent newsworthy research findings.
Filter Total Items: 2891
Legacy or colonization? Posteruption establishment of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) on a volcanically active subarctic island.
How populations and communities reassemble following disturbances are affected by a number of factors, with the arrival order of founding populations often having a profound influence on later populations and community structure. Kasatochi Island is a small volcano located in the central Aleutian archipelago that erupted violently August 8, 2008, sterilizing the island of avian biodiversity. Prior
Authors
Sarah A. Sonsthagen, J.C. Williams, Gary S. Drew, C.M. White, G. Kevin Sage, Sandra L. Talbot
Evidence for shallow megathrust slip across the Unalaska seismic gap during the great 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska
We reassess the slip distribution of the 1957 Andreanof Islands earthquake in the eastern part of the aftershock zone where published slip models infer little or no slip. Eyewitness reports, tide gauge data, and geological evidence for 9–23 m tsunami runups imply seafloor deformation offshore Unalaska Island in 1957, in contrast with previous studies that labeled the area a seismic gap. Here, we s
Authors
D. J. Nicolsky, J.T. Freymueller, Robert C. Witter, E. N. Suleimani, R.D. Koehler
Timing of ice retreat alters seabird abundances and distributions in the southeast Bering Sea
Timing of spring sea-ice retreat shapes the southeast Bering Sea food web. We compared summer seabird densities and average bathymetry depth distributions between years with early (typically warm) and late (typically cold) ice retreat. Averaged over all seabird species, densities in early-ice-retreat-years were 10.1% (95% CI: 1.1–47.9%) of that in late-ice-retreat-years. In early-ice-retreat-years
Authors
Martin Renner, Sigrid Salo, Lisa B. Eisner, Kathy J. Kuletz, Jarrod A. Santora, Patrick Ressler, John F. Piatt, Carol Ladd, Gary S. Drew, George L. Hunt
Arctic sea ice a major determinant in Mandt's black guillemot movement and distribution during non-breeding season
Mandt's black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii) is one of the few seabirds associated in all seasons with Arctic sea ice, a habitat that is changing rapidly. Recent decreases in summer ice have reduced breeding success and colony size of this species in Arctic Alaska. Little is known about the species' movements and distribution during the nine month non-breeding period (September–May), when chan
Authors
G.J. Divoky, David C. Douglas, I. J. Stenhouse
SNP discovery in candidate adaptive genes using exon capture in a free-ranging alpine ungulate
Identification of genes underlying genomic signatures of natural selection is key to understanding adaptation to local conditions. We used targeted resequencing to identify SNP markers in 5321 candidate adaptive genes associated with known immunological, metabolic and growth functions in ovids and other ungulates. We selectively targeted 8161 exons in protein-coding and nearby 5′ and 3′ untranslat
Authors
Gretchen H. Roffler, Stephen J. Amish, Seth Smith, Ted F. Cosart, Marty Kardos, Michael K. Schwartz, Gordon Luikart
Invariant polar bear habitat selection during a period of sea ice loss
Climate change is expected to alter many species' habitat. A species' ability to adjust to these changes is partially determined by their ability to adjust habitat selection preferences to new environmental conditions. Sea ice loss has forced polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to spend longer periods annually over less productive waters, which may be a primary driver of population declines. A negative
Authors
Ryan H. Wilson, Eric V. Regehr, Karyn D. Rode, Michelle St. Martin
A strategy for recovering continuous behavioral telemetry data from Pacific walruses
Tracking animal behavior and movement with telemetry sensors can offer substantial insights required for conservation. Yet, the value of data collected by animal-borne telemetry systems is limited by bandwidth constraints. To understand the response of Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) to rapid changes in sea ice availability, we required continuous geospatial chronologies of foraging
Authors
Anthony S. Fischbach, Chadwick V. Jay
Evidence for wild waterfowl origin of H7N3 influenza A virus detected in captive-reared New Jersey pheasants
In August 2014, a low-pathogenic H7N3 influenza A virus was isolated from pheasants at a New Jersey gamebird farm and hunting preserve. In this study, we use phylogenetic analyses and calculations of genetic similarity to gain inference into the genetic ancestry of this virus and to identify potential routes of transmission. Results of maximum-likelihood (ML) and maximum-clade-credibility (MCC) ph
Authors
Andrew M. Ramey, Mia Kim Torchetti, Rebecca L. Poulson, Deborah L. Carter, Andrew B. Reeves, Paul Link, Patrick Walther, Camille Lebarbenchon, David E. Stallknecht
H9N2 influenza A virus isolated from a Greater White-fronted wild goose (Anser albifrons) in Alaska has a mutation in the PB2 gene, which is associated with pathogenicity in human pandemic 2009 H1N1
We report here the genomic sequence of an H9N2 influenza A virus [A/greater white-fronted goose/Alaska/81081/2008 (H9N2)]. This virus shares ≥99.8% identity with a previously reported virus. Both strains contain a G590S mutation in the polymerase basic 2 (PB2) gene, which is a pathogenicity marker in the pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus when combined with R591.
Authors
Andrew B. Reeves, Hon S. Ip
Biogeography of boreal passerine range dynamics in western North America: past, present, and future
Many of the Neotropical migrant bird species that breed throughout the Canadian boreal region are not found in the Alaskan boreal region, separated by the northwestern cordilleran mountains, despite the presence of climatically suitable habitat. We asked whether biological or climatic factors constrain certain species from crossing this geographic barrier. Analyzing a comprehensive dataset for 80
Authors
Diana Stralberg, Steven M. Matsuoka, Colleen M. Handel, Fiona K.A. Schmiegelow, Andreas Hamann, Erin M. Bayne
Spatial distribution of thermokarst terrain in Arctic Alaska
In landscapes underlain by ice-rich permafrost, the development of thermokarst landforms can have drastic impacts on ecosystem processes and human infrastructure. Here we describe the distribution of thermokarst landforms in the continuous permafrost zone of Arctic Alaska, analyze linkages to the underlying surficial geology, and discuss the vulnerability of different types of landscapes to future
Authors
Louise Farquharson, Dan H Mann, Guido Grosse, Benjamin M. Jones, Vladimir Romanovsky
Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative strategic plan 2015 - 2025
The Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NWB LCC) is a voluntary, diverse, self-directed management-science partnership, informing and promoting integrated science, sustainable natural and cultural resource management, and conservation to address impacts of climate change and other stressors within and across ecosystems. The NWB LCC area includes parts of Alaska, Yukon, Northwest T
Authors
Carl Markon, Eric Schroff