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Weekly Highlights for 10-20-2009

I. Departmental/Bureau News

A. Upcoming Events

USGS Science at American Fisheries Society - Alaska Chapter Annual Meeting
Several USGS Alaska Science Center (ASC) scientists will be presenting at the annual conference of the Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1-5 November. Topics will include: "Reproductive constraints among Yukon River Chinook salmon revealed by genetics and a generalized mixture model"; "Estimation of total abundance and migratory timing of adult salmon using distribution and partial abundance data"; "Selective fishing as a potential factor contributing to declining size and productivity of Yukon River Chinook salmon"; "Migration timing, abundance, and egg-to-smolt survival of juvenile chum salmon in Clear Creek and Kwethluk River"; Differences in growth patterns across cohorts in an anadromous Arctic fish, Arctic cisco"; "Influence of environmental parameters on age and size at maturity of sockeye salmon from Newhalen River, Alaska"; and "Eruption of Redoubt Volcano and Impacts to Aquatic Habitats in 2009". Jennifer Nielsen, research fishery biologist with ASC, will also be delivering the keynote address titled "Diversity in Alaska's Fisheries - Did you choose the fish or did the fish choose you?", reflecting the theme of the meeting "Celebrating professional diversity within Alaska fisheries". The talk will tout the Alaska AFS Chapter's diverse leadership and membership over the last 36 years.
Contact: Joy Geiselman Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7075

USGS at Alaska Miners Association Annual Meeting
Bruce Gamble, USGS Alaska Science Center (ASC), will chair the Agency Session at the 2009 Alaska Miners Association Annual Convention and Trade Show to be held November 2-8 in Anchorage, Alaska. The agency session will feature presentations by geologists and geophysicists from the USGS and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). Of special interest is the first talk of the session titled “Using detailed airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys in 1:63,360-scale geologic mapping in Alaska” which will highlight the geophysical programs of the two agencies, and discuss how magnetic and electromagnetic surveys can assist in 1:63,360 scale geologic mapping. Peter Haeussler and Sue Karl, research geologists with ASC, will also be giving presentations at the annual meeting. Haeussler's is titled "The new USGS Western Alaska Range Project and precursory results from the Tyonek Quadrangle" and Karl will be presenting "Neoproterozoic to Triassic rift-associated VMS deposits in the Alexander composite oceanic arc terrane, Southeast Alaska".
Contact: Bruce Gamble Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7479

B. Current

Glacial-marine foraging habitat of a declining seabird
USGS Alaska Science Center Fisheries Biologist Mayumi Arimitsu completed her Master of Science degree in fisheries at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Science. She successfully defended her ground-breaking thesis on environmental gradients and forage fish availability relative to glacial features in marine habitats used by Kittlitz’s Murrelets. Her thesis characterizes critical habitat for this threatened and declining species in Kenai Fjords National Park. Arimitsu found that cold, sediment-laden glacial melt water was a key factor influencing each trophic level in this marine ecosystem. It provided nutrients and contributed to stratification, both of which directly impact phyto- and zoo-plankton production. Small schooling fish abundance was also correlated with distance to tide-water glaciers and this association varied by fjord and month, perhaps in a lagged response to production at lower trophic levels. Kittlitz’s Murrelets were generally confined to turbid glacial plumes throughout the breeding season. The study enhances our understanding of how the “Glacier Murrelet” will respond to changes in its glacial-marine foraging habitat as tide-water glaciers continue to recede because of global warming.
Contact: John Piatt Nordland, WA, (360) 774-0516

New Publication Examines Life History Plasticity in Alaska's Sea Otters
Some sea otter populations in Alaska are near carrying capacity, while others are below carrying capacity. Life history theory predicts that within a species, reproduction and survival rates will differ among these populations through phenotypic plasticity. USGS Alaska Science Center biologists Vanessa von Biela and Jim Bodkin worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Alaska Anchorage to investigate phenotypic plasticity in a key life history trait, age at first reproduction. The average age at first reproduction was estimated and compared among 4 sea otter populations: 2 population near carrying capacity, Prince William Sound and the historic Aleutian Archipelago (using archived samples in this case), and 2 populations below carrying capacity, the Kodiak Archipelago and Sitka region. On average sea otters in the populations below carrying capacity became reproduction at a younger at than sea otters in the populations near carrying capacity, supporting life history theory. These results were recently published in the article "Phenotypic Plasticity in Age at First Reproduction of Female Northern Sea Otters" in the Journal of Mammalogy and is available at http://www.asmjournals.org/
Contact: Vanessa von Biela Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7073

USGS Walrus Radio-Tracking in the Chukchi Sea
Essentially all Pacific walrus females and their calves summer in the Chukchi Sea, where loose sea ice has historically persisted throughout the summer over the walrus feeding grounds. When sea ice dissipated north over deep waters in the Arctic basin this September, walruses came to rest on the U.S. Chukchi Sea shores in large numbers for the second time on record. The USGS Alaska Science Center (ASC) is tracking the movements and foraging behavior of 16 of these walruses and can be viewed online at: http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/walrus/2009animation_Norseman.html. To better understand the costs of foraging from coastal haulouts, scientists will compare the foraging efforts of these 16 walruses with those obtained from walruses that the ASC tracked through the sea ice habitats of the Chukchi Sea earlier this year.
Contact: Chadwick Jay Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7414

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