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
Gene transcript profiling in sea otters post-Exxon Valdez oil spill: A tool for marine ecosystem health assessment
Using a panel of genes stimulated by oil exposure in a laboratory study, we evaluated gene transcription in blood leukocytes sampled from sea otters captured from 2006–2012 in western Prince William Sound (WPWS), Alaska, 17–23 years after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS). We compared WPWS sea otters to reference populations (not affected by the EVOS) from the Alaska Peninsula (2009), Katmai
Authors
Lizabeth Bowen, A. Keith Miles, Brenda E. Ballachey, Shannon C. Waters, James L. Bodkin
Trophic dynamics of shrinking Subarctic lakes: naturally eutrophic waters impart resilience to rising nutrient and major ion concentrations
Shrinking lakes were recently observed for several Arctic and Subarctic regions due to increased evaporation and permafrost degradation. Along with lake drawdown, these processes often boost aquatic chemical concentrations, potentially impacting trophic dynamics. In particular, elevated chemical levels may impact primary productivity, which may in turn influence populations of primary and secondar
Authors
Tyler Lewis, Mark S. Lindberg, Patricia J. Heglund, Joel A. Schmutz, Joshua H. Schmidt, Adam J. Dubour, Jennifer R. Rover, Mark R. Bertram
Should fatty acid signature proportions sum to 1 for diet estimation?
Knowledge of predator diets, including how diets might change through time or differ among predators, provides essential insights into their ecology. Diet estimation therefore remains an active area of research within quantitative ecology. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is an increasingly common method of diet estimation. QFASA is based on a data library of prey signatures, whi
Authors
Jeffrey F. Bromaghin, Suzanne M. Budge, Gregory W. Thiemann
Lithium brines: A global perspective
Lithium is a critical and technologically important element that has widespread use, particularly in batteries for hybrid cars and portable electronic devices. Global demand for lithium has been on the rise since the mid-1900s and is projected to continue to increase. Lithium is found in three main deposit types: (1) pegmatites, (2) continental brines, and (3) hydrothermally altered clays. Contine
Authors
LeeAnn Munk, Scott Hynek, Dwight Bradley, David Boutt, Keith A. Labay, Hillary Jochens
Presence of rapidly degrading permafrost plateaus in south-central Alaska
Permafrost presence is determined by a complex interaction of climatic, topographic, and ecological conditions operating over long time scales. In particular, vegetation and organic layer characteristics may act to protect permafrost in regions with a mean annual air temperature (MAAT) above 0 °C. In this study, we document the presence of residual permafrost plateaus in the western Kenai Peninsul
Authors
Benjamin M. Jones, Carson Baughman, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, Andrew D. Parsekian, Esther Babcock, Eva Stephani, Miriam C. Jones, Guido Grosse, Edward E Berg
A review of the relationships between drought and forest fire in the United States
The historical and pre-settlement relationships between drought and wildfire are well documented in North America, with forest fire occurrence and area clearly increasing in response to drought. There is also evidence that drought interacts with other controls (forest productivity, topography, fire weather, management activities) to affect fire intensity, severity, extent, and frequency. Fire regi
Authors
Jeremy S. Littell, David L. Peterson, Karin L. Riley, Yongquiang Liu, Charles H. Luce
Effects of geolocators on hatching success, return rates, breeding movements, and change in body mass in 16 species of Arctic-breeding shorebirds
Background
Geolocators are useful for tracking movements of long-distance migrants, but potential negative effects on birds have not been well studied. We tested for effects of geolocators (0.8–2.0 g total, representing 0.1–3.9 % of mean body mass) on 16 species of migratory shorebirds, including five species with 2–4 subspecies each for a total of 23 study taxa. Study species spanned a range of
Authors
Emily Weiser, Richard B. Lanctot, Stephen C. Brown, José A. Alves, Phil F. Battley, Rebecca L. Bentzen, Joel Bety, Mary Anne Bishop, Megan Boldenow, Loic Bollache, Bruce Casler, Maureen Christie, Jonathan T. Coleman, Jesse R. Conklin, Willow B. English, H. River Gates, Olivier Gilg, Marie-Andree Giroux, Ken Gosbell, Chris J. Hassell, Jim Helmericks, Andrew C. Johnson, Borgny Katrinardottir, Kari Koivula, Eunbi Kwon, Jean-Francois Lamarre, Johannes Lang, David B. Lank, Nicolas Lecomte, Joseph R. Liebezeit, Vanessa Loverti, Laura McKinnon, Clive Minton, David S. Mizrahi, Erica Nol, Veli-Matti Pakanen, Johanna Perz, Ron Porter, Jennie Rausch, Jeroen Reneerkens, Nelli Ronka, Sarah T. Saalfeld, Nathan R. Senner, Benoit Sittler, Paul A. Smith, Kristine M. Sowl, Audrey Taylor, David H. Ward, Stephen Yezerinac, Brett K. Sandercock
Demographic outcomes of diverse migration strategies assessed in a metapopulation of tundra swans
Background
Migration is a prominent aspect of the life history of many avian species, but the demographic consequences of variable migration strategies have only infrequently been investigated, and rarely when using modern technological and analytical methods for assessing survival, movement patterns, and long-term productivity in the context of life history theory. We monitored the fates of 50 sa
Authors
Craig R. Ely, Brandt W. Meixell
Assessing the role of seabirds in the ecology of influenza A viruses
Wild waterbirds, specifically waterfowl, gulls, and shorebirds, are recognized as the primordial reservoir of influenza A viruses (IAVs). However, the role of seabirds, an abundant, diverse, and globally distributed group of birds, in the perpetuation and transmission of IAVs is less clear. Here we summarize published and publicly available data for influenza viruses in seabirds, which for the pur
Authors
Andrew S. Lang, Camille Lebarbenchon, Andrew M. Ramey, Gregory J. Robertson, Jonas Waldenström, Michelle Wille
The structure of genetic diversity in eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) along the North Pacific and Bering Sea coasts of Alaska
Eelgrass (Zostera marina) populations occupying coastal waters of Alaska are separated by a peninsula and island archipelago into two Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). From populations in both LMEs, we characterize genetic diversity, population structure, and polarity in gene flow using nuclear microsatellite fragment and chloroplast and nuclear sequence data. An inverse relationship between genetic
Authors
Sandra L. Talbot, George K. Sage, Jolene R. Rearick, Megan C. Fowler, Raquel Muñiz-Salazar, Bethany Baibak, Sandy Wyllie-Echeverria, Alehandro Cabello-Pasini, David H. Ward
Range expansion of moose in arctic Alaska linked to warming and increased shrub habitat
Twentieth century warming has increased vegetation productivity and shrub cover across northern tundra and treeline regions, but effects on terrestrial wildlife have not been demonstrated on a comparable scale. During this period, Alaskan moose (Alces alces gigas) extended their range from the boreal forest into tundra riparian shrub habitat; similar extensions have been observed in Canada (A. a.
Authors
Ken D. Tape, David D. Gustine, Roger W. Reuss, Layne G. Adams, Jason A. Clark
Detrital zircon geochronology of pre- and syncollisional strata, Acadian orogen, Maine Appalachians
The Central Maine Basin is the largest expanse of deep-marine, Upper Ordovician to Devonian metasedimentary rocks in the New England Appalachians, and is a key to the tectonics of the Acadian Orogeny. Detrital zircon ages are reported from two groups of strata: (1) the Quimby, Rangeley, Perry Mountain and Smalls Falls Formations, which were derived from inboard, northwesterly sources and are suppo
Authors
Dwight Bradley, Paul B. O'Sullivan