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The Yukon River at Eagle - Photo by Dan Long, USGS

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Weekly Highlights for 7-12-2012

I. Departmental/Bureau News

A. Upcoming Events


No Upcoming Events highlights for this week

B. Current


International Workshop on Global Response of Seabirds to Changes in Forage Fish Populations
Working with researchers from around the world, USGS Alaska Science Center biologist John Piatt is convening the 3rd in a series of international workshops that focus on the biological responses of marine birds to variability in prey stocks. Following fruitful workshops in France and South Africa, which resulted in a recent publication in Science (#334: Global seabird responses to forage fish depletion—one-third for the birds) a team of 12 marine scientists will meet at the Kasitsna Bay Laboratory near Homer, Alaska, during 22-26 July, to continue collaborative work on analyses of global seabird and forage fish databases. During this workshop, researchers will identify critical ratios in the abundance of prey at sea needed to maximize seabird reproductive success versus the actual nutritional (energetic) demand of breeding populations. Work on another manuscript will follow the workshop, and plans will be developed for the next workshop, to be held in 2013 at the Stockholm Resilience Center, Sweden.
Contact: John Piatt Nordland, WA, (360) 774-0516

Measuring the Contribution of Glaciers to Marine Food Webs in Alaska
This summer, the USGS Alaska Science Center begins a major new study funded by the North Pacific Research Board to evaluate glacial contributions to coastal marine food webs. About 20 percent of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) coastal watershed is covered by glacial ice, and USGS studies indicate that nearly half of the terrestrial freshwater outflow into GOA waters is derived from ice melt, which in turn may help sustain commercial and subsistence fisheries as well as millions of coastal marine birds and mammals. However, little is known about how the organic matter and nutrients in glacial runoff contribute to marine productivity in glacial-marine ecosystems. To address this question, USGS scientists will: 1) Sample particulate organic matter, copepods, euphausiids, forage fish and seabirds near tidewater glaciers in Prince William Sound, and, 2) Measure the contribution of terrestrial versus marine sources of carbon and water by tracing stable and radio isotopes through nearshore marine food webs. Collaborators include Keith Hobson (Environment Canada), isotope ecologist; Eran Hood (University of Alaska Southeast), glacial hydrologist; and Olav Ormseth (NOAA), PI for the GOA Integrated Ecosystem Research Project.
Contact: Mayumi Arimitsu Juneau, AK, (907) 364-1593

II. Press Inquiries/Media

June USGS News Release "Lifetime Mates Good for the Goose and the Gander" followed up by Public Radio in Alaska and Nevada: According to a study recently published in Behavioral Ecology researchers found that when female black brant (a small arctic goose) lose their mate, their chances for survival are greatly diminished. This collaborative study is the first to characterize health effects of mate loss to female geese, and its conclusions have implications for wildlife population management. On July 10, Annie Feidt with APRN in Anchorage aired a story titled "Scientists Discover Female Brandt Live Longer" http://www.alaskapublic.org/2012/07/10/scientists-discover-female-brants-live-longer/ and on June 26, KNPR in Nevada aired the story "Bird Love" with Jim Sedinger with the University of Nevada, Reno http://www.knpr.org/son/archive/detail2.cfm?SegmentID=8988&ProgramID=2530.
Contact: Yvette Gillies Anchorage, AK, (907) 786-7039

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