Alaska scientists find Arctic tundra yields surprising carbon loss
Fairbanks, Alaska Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB) ecologists Donie Bret-Harte and Terry Chapin and colleagues working in northern Alaska discovered that tundra plants and soils respond in surprisingly opposite ways to conditions that simulate long-term climate warming. ......Their findings are published in the September 23, 2004 edition of the leading science journal Nature and are featured in...UAF scientists discover new marine habitat in Alaska
PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, Alaska--While researchers in Alaska this summer used high-tech submersibles and huge ships to plumb the deep-ocean depths in search of new species, a team of scuba diving scientists working from an Alaska fishing boat has discovered an entirely new marine habitat just a stone's throw from shore.... ...The discovery in June of a single bed of rhodoliths, colorful marine algae...Climate change could doom Alaska's tundra
PORTLAND In the next 100 years, Alaska will experience a massive loss of its historic tundra, as global warming allows these vast regions of cold, dry, lands to support forests and other vegetation that will dramatically alter native ecosystems, an Oregon State University researcher said today.... ...Polar regions such as Alaska will be among the first to illustrate the profound impacts of...Chronic respiratory symptoms prevalent among Alaska natives
(NORTHBROOK, IL, May 10, 2004) Chronic respiratory symptoms are prominent among Alaska Native children in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta (YK delta) region of Alaska, with symptoms varying greatly within the geographic location. ... ...In a study published in the May issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, 40 percent of Alaska Native (AN) and American Ind...Spruce bark beetle outbreaks examined at Alaska Symposium
ANCHORAGE, Alaska. January 20, 2004. About 4 million acres of spruce forests were infested and killed by the spruce beetle in south-central Alaska in the past decade--more than twice the amount affected from 1919 to 1989. Fire, of course, spreads rapidly through these dead forests causing catastrophic damage to life and property. ... Several state and federal agencies are presenting a symposium t...Alaska oil and gas exploration good and bad for area life
COLLEGE STATION, March 5, 2003 - Mahlon C. "Chuck" Kennicutt, ...director of the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group ...(GERG) at Texas A&M University, says the findings of a National ...Academies' National Research Council (NRC) report released today ...(March 4) on the cumulative effects of oil and gas exploration on ...the Alaska North Slope region present "a classic case of the ...t...Alaskan waters growing hospitable to sharks while seals and sea lions decline
Salmon shark fins cut the surface of the water. A spotter in an Alaska Fish and Game plane on an annual survey of sea otters estimates there are hundreds of fins in the small bay near Port Gravina, Prince William Sound.... ...More sharks mass unseen below the surface. All are likely feasting on a run of salmon returning to spawn in nearby rivers and creeks.... ...That aerial count would be a hi...NSF-funded researchers track Alaska seal migration for the first time
Using a remarkable combination of time-tested hunting knowledge, the application of common-sense ingenuity and high-tech satellite tracking, researchers supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), working with Alaska Native hunters, have captured, electronically tagged, and tracked a ringed seal in its spring migration as it moved northward with the ice of the Chukchi Sea.... ...This is t...Betting on climate change: Alaskan gambling contest yields treasure trove of scientific data
A celebrated betting pool in Alaska is providing researchers with a remarkably accurate record of global climate change, according to a new study in the journal Science. And the results show that spring is coming earlier and earlier.... ...Every spring, the Alaskan village of Nenana (population 500) hosts the Nenana Ice Classic - a popular event that awards cash prizes to those lucky enough to gu...Warmer periods in Alaskan area not confined to modern times
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. In the northwest foothills of the Alaska Range, the last 150 years have been warm by historical reckoning, scientists report. However, they note, two other lengthy periods of climatic warmth appear to have occurred in that region during the last 2,000 years. ...The findings come from a comprehensive geochemical analysis of sediment samples taken from Farewell Lake in a remote,...9,000-mile coastline voyage will include much-anticipated ...repatriation of sacred artifacts removed in 1899 ... ...NORTHAMPTON, Mass.--Just over a century ago, industrialist and railroad magnate Edward Harriman chartered a ship to take his family on a pleasure cruise to Alaska, one of the last remaining expanses of unexplored wilderness and open space on the North American continent. ...What...Discovery of fossil mollusks in Alaska links histories of Arctic Ocean and Isthmus of Panama
. Finding two fossil mollusks in a California collection led a researcher funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to undertake field work in Alaska that he says links the formation of the Isthmus of Panama approximately 3.6 million years ago to a reversal of water flow through the Bering Strait.. . Louie Marincovich, of the California Academy of Sciences, is the first to produce fossil e...NCAR scientists seek clues to wildfires during Alaska prescribed burn
...BOULDER--Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research...(NCAR) will fly over a prescribed blaze in the Alaskan forest this month...seeking clues to how violent and seemingly unpredictable forest fires...spread. Between July 8 and July 31, if conditions are right, a...multiagency team of researchers will observe the burn on 2,000 acres...approximately 25 miles northeast of Fair...USGS will re-evaluate its Alaska strategy
. Alaska is a land of great opportunity for scientific research, according.to the director of the U.S. Geological Survey. Following a week-long visit to.various areas of the state, USGS Director Charles "Chip" Groat said, "No part of.the United States offers greater opportunities to gain understandings of natural.systems that are relatively or completely free of the direct impacts of hum....SANTA CRUZ, CA--With seals and sea lions in short supply in the North Pacific,.killer whales are now feeding on sea otters, causing an abrupt decline in sea.otter populations in western Alaska, according to researchers studying the.area's marine ecosystems. The decline in sea otters has allowed their primary.prey, sea urchins, to increase in number and strip coastal kelp forests over.large area...New Evidence From Dinosaur Footsteps Show Massive Herds Once Roamed Northern Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska - A joint University of Alaska Fairbanks/Anchorage.expedition team has discovered a significant variety of single dinosaur footprints and sets of prints,.or trackways, on Alaska's North Slope. . Faculty and students from the University of Alaska.Museum along with team members from the UAF and UAA geology departments collected casts and.impressions of five different types of d...Alaska Natives Provide New Evidence Linking Common Infection To Heart Disease
.DALLAS, Aug. 18 -- The strongest link yet between a chronic lung infection and.heart disease has been found in a study of Alaska natives, researchers report in.today's Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. . Other studies have reported finding the bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae.(C. pneumoniae) in atherosclerotic plaques -- the fatty deposits that build up.in the walls of...Alaska Sea Grant To Convene Ecosystem Considerations In Fisheries Management Conference
The goal of this symposium is to gather worldwide expertise and discuss how.to incorporate ecosystem considerations into practical fishery management advice, and to recommend a.process for advancing fishery management beyond the single species model.. .In the last 10 years, there has been a growing perception that it is not effective to base fisheries.management policies solely on single-specie...Alaska Scientists Say Salmon Declines Inevitable
. .FAIRBANKS, Alaska--For two straight years, returns of sockeye salmon to Bristol Bay, the world's largest wild red salmon fishery, have been below state forecasts. Salmon returns to the Kenai Peninsula, the Yukon-Kuskokwim River and elsewhere in Alaska also have fallen short of expectations. .The declines come as a shock to fishermen and policy makers, but not to some scientists who study the..."Scifish" Technology To Protect Alaska's Fisheries And Promote Sustainable Use
. Patrick Simpson, the son of Alaskan fishermen, has developed software.and a type of sonar that will help fisheries while reducing harmful effects on.the environment. Simpson, with the assistance of the National Science.Foundation's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, created.Scientific Fisheries Systems Inc. (SciFish) in 1993. . After receiving a computer science...