Southwest Alaska Research Articles

The effects of age, sex, season and geographic region on circulating serum cortisol concentrations in threatened and endangered Steller sea lions ( Eumetopias jubatus)

The role of stress in the decline of Steller sea lions has become of interest in the identification of factors leading to their drastic decline and subsequent failure to recover. Serum cortisol was validated as a potential indicator of stress in three sub-populations inhabiting the majority of the Steller sea lions range ( n = 941). Additionally, seasonal variability in serum cortisol measured in captive animals ( n = 9) of different age classes and sex was investigated. Significant interactions were found between region and year, as well as year and sex ( p = 0.001 and p = 0.005, respectively). Samples from pups in Russia (151.5 ± 3.2 ng ml −1) and southeast Alaska (152.7 ± 2.7 ng ml −1) were consistently higher than concentrations measured in pups from southwest Alaska (133.0 ± 3.2 ng ml −1). Serum cortisol concentrations measured in 2001 (134.9 ± 2.0 ng ml −1) were significantly lower than 2002 (156.5 ± 2.4 ng ml −1, p < 0.001) for all regions. Seasonal effects indicated significant interactions between age, year and sex ( p = 0.011). Serum cortisol was elevated in months associated with the breeding season and annual molt (86.5 ± 5.0 and 92.4 ± 5.1 ng ml −1, respectively) compared to the other seasons. Our results suggest that cortisol concentrations in Steller sea lions can be a useful diagnostic tool to compare the physiology between groups of sea lions, but factors such as animal sex, age, season and year must be considered.

Integration of MODIS-derived metrics to assess interannual variability in snowpack, lake ice, and NDVI in southwest Alaska

Impacts of global climate change are expected to result in greater variation in the seasonality of snowpack, lake ice, and vegetation dynamics in southwest Alaska. All have wide-reaching physical and biological ecosystem effects in the region. We used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) calibrated radiance, snow cover extent, and vegetation index products for interpreting interannual variation in the duration and extent of snowpack, lake ice, and vegetation dynamics for southwest Alaska. The approach integrates multiple seasonal metrics across large ecological regions. Throughout the observation period (2001–2007), snow cover duration was stable within ecoregions, with variable start and end dates. The start of the lake ice season lagged the snow season by 2 to 3 months. Within a given lake, freeze-up dates varied in timing and duration, while break-up dates were more consistent. Vegetation phenology varied less than snow and ice metrics, with start-of-season dates comparatively consistent across years. The start of growing season and snow melt were related to one another as they are both temperature dependent. Higher than average temperatures during the El Niño winter of 2002–2003 were expressed in anomalous ice and snow season patterns. We are developing a consistent, MODIS-based dataset that will be used to monitor temporal trends of each of these seasonal metrics and to map areas of change for the study area.

Aurora: An American Experience in Quilt, Community, and Craft by Jane Kirkpatrick

work, however, suggests a hard and tedious road ahead. The smoldering issues surrounding thegov ernance of public lands reach farback into the past. For the most part, thepublic lands under consideration here are thosemanaged by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Man agement.With respect to theForest Service, a keymilestone was the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of i960, thefirstcomprehensive effort by Congress to redefine the purposes of the national forests since the Forest Organic Act of 1897.The author is particularly versed in the issues of thehuge Tongass National Forest inAlaska, having participated inwildlife and environmental studies of southwest Alaska. Here, local economic interests,congressional pressures, and powerful preservationist orga nizations found an extensivebattleground. The confrontations came amidst environmental and wilderness legislation, new orientations inpublic land laws, special Executive Orders, and thewriting of ponderous planning docu ments. Since the 1960s, heavy burdens have been placed on the landmanagement agencies to carry out themandates of environmental legislation craftedbyCongress. The 1969Envi ronmental PolicyAct and the establishment of theEnvironmental Protection Agency in 1970 subjected public lands to lengthyenvironment reviews. The next ten years saw legislation protecting endangered species and launching new policies in range improvement, protec tion, and forest management. All, in one way or another, threatened traditional resource uses on thepublic lands, timberharvests, recreation, mining, and domestic livestockgrazing.Many of the new approaches ? such as an assertion in the Federal Land Management Planning Act of 1976 that the Federal Government was theowner inperpetuity of thepublic lands -? fueled thecareers of anti-government political leaders and touched off the Sagebrush Rebel lion in the late 1970s.Various issues pitted resourceusers against rulingsfrom Washington mandating road-less area reviews, designation ofwilderness preserves, and theprotection of endangered species that requiredmeasures to protect habitat (read: spotted owl). The results have been a quagmire for the land management agencies in response to whiplash changes in policies as administra tions changed back and forthbetween the two political parties. In spiteof all, thisauthor isnot willing to give up on public land governance, although he acknowledges that it is in a "dys functional" state. His optimism shines through as he patientlydiscusses details ofnew propos als and courses of action. He even endorses a call fora new public lands study commission to formulate legislation both specific and general. He likes some of the new legislation that targets special problems within states, such as the Southern Nevada Land Exchanges and Sales Act that permits the expansion of Las Vegas but in return provides funds for the purchase of sensitive lands around Lake Tahoe for public enjoyment and protection against development. Readers sympathetic to thedefense of public land through competent management will find the optimism of this book heartening. William D. Rowley University of Nevada, Reno AURORA: ANAMERICANEXPERIENCE IN QUILT,COMMUNITY,AND CRAFT byJane Kirkpatrick WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs, 2008. Photographs, maps, notes, index. 167pages. $17.95 cloth. Oregon historybuffs,genealogists, and descen dants of the Aurora Colony settlers will embrace thisbook written byOregon's historical novel ist and non-fiction author JaneKirkpatrick. Her attention to themundane aswell as large photographs of the settlers engaged in their daily activitiesgives a realisticunderstanding of 310 OHQ vol. no, no. 2 thecommunal society. Dr.Wilhem Keil was the colony's founder, and his dream led pioneers fromMissouri to thePacificNorthwest to settle just south of Portland in 1856 to 1883. The actual building of the colony is told chronologically with period photographs of thehomes, tents,and buildings, inside and out. The colonists' portraits aremostly grouped pictures ofworkers or a family.Quotes from Keil and founding families, who are recognized fortheirparticular contributions to thecolony, complement the informative text.The index listsfamiliesby surname, thenfirstnames. Aurora reads somewhat like a personal journal. Because Kirkpatrick writes with such specificity, readersmay feela part of theevents unfolding for the pioneers as theydeveloped the region to accommodate and produce what theyrequired to live a self-reliantand harmo nious life. Keil was seen as a fatherfigure,not a dictator,with respect for the colonists and with thedesire to facilitate a pleasurable and abundant lifeforall. The colonists' music, cooking, artistry, sharing attitude, and humanitarian approach to lifebrought people from nearby Oregon City and Portland as customers, suppliers, and friends.The women quilted capes and...

Relationships between plasma adiponectin and body fat distribution, insulin sensitivity, and plasma lipoproteins in Alaskan Yup'ik Eskimos: the Center for Alaska Native Health Research study

Adiponectin, a protein secreted by adipose tissue, has antiatherogenic, anti-inflammatory, and insulin-sensitizing actions. We examined the relationship between plasma adiponectin and adiposity, insulin resistance, plasma lipids, glucose, leptin, and anthropometric measurements in 316 adult men and 353 adult women Yup'ik Eskimos in Southwest Alaska. Adiponectin concentration was negatively associated with body mass index, percentage of body fat, sum of skin folds, waist circumference, triglycerides, insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-IR]), fasting insulin, and leptin in both men and women, and also with glucose in women. Adiponectin concentration correlated positively with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, and also with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in women. Insulin-sensitive individuals (HOMA-IR <3.52, n = 442) had higher plasma adiponectin concentrations than more insulin-resistant individuals (HOMA-IR ≥3.52, n = 224): 11.02 ± 0.27 μg/mL vs 8.26 ± 0.32 μg/mL, P < .001. Adiponectin concentrations did not differ between groups of participants with low and high level of risk for developing coronary heart disease. No difference in plasma adiponectin levels was found among Yup'ik Eskimos and whites matched for sex, age, and body mass index. In conclusion, circulating adiponectin concentrations were most strongly associated with sum of skin folds in Yup'ik men and with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, sum of skin folds, waist circumference, and insulin and triglycerides concentrations in Yup'ik women.

A 2000 year record of climatic change at Ongoke Lake, southwest Alaska

We analyzed sediments of the past 2000 years from Ongoke Lake, southwest Alaska, for organic carbon, organic nitrogen, biogenic silica (BSi), and diatom assemblages at decadal to centen- nial resolution to infer limnological changes that may be related to climatic variation in southwestern Alaska. The chronology is based on a 210 Pb profile

Nocturnal activity by mammal‐eating killer whales at a predation hot spot in the Bering Sea

The importance of food availability (bottom-up control) vs. predation (top-down control) in affecting population dynamics of individual species and the structure of marine communities and ecosystems is in most cases poorly known, but vigorously debated. This debate has recently focused on the dramatic declines of populations of four species of marine mammals in Alaska (Estes et al. 1998, Springer et al. 2003, 2008; Williams et al. 2004, Fritz and Hinckley 2005, Trites et al. 2007, Wade et al. 2007). Between the early 1970s and late 1990s, the abundance of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus), and sea otters (Enhydra lutris) collapsed sequentially by 80%–90% throughout southwest Alaska—the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, and western Gulf of Alaska. The major portion of each collapse occurred over short intervals of about 10 yr. Harbor seals have since begun a slow recovery in at least a part of this range (Small et al. 2003); sea lions have variously increased somewhat, remained stable, or continued to decline (NMFS 2007); and sea otters were still declining in most areas through the early 2000s (Doroff et al. 2003, Estes et al. 2005, J. Estes1). Across that entire span of years, a fourth species, the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus) on the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, has experienced a less precipitous, but continuing, and now concerning, decline—for example, pup production, the index of total abundance, has fallen by 26% since 2002 and their abundance is just 24% of the peak in 1955 (Trites and Larkin 1989, Towell and Fowler 2006). Three principal hypotheses have been proposed to explain these collapses and the lack of significant recovery: direct mortality from human activities, nutritional limitation, and predation. Direct mortality of sea lions was caused primarily by commercial harvests, bycatch in commercial fisheries, and legal and illegal shooting (Atkinson et al. 2008): direct mortality has not been invoked as a cause of the declines of any of the other species in the region since the mid 1970s or earlier. The cause of purported nutritional limitation of pinnipeds is thought to be climate change or commercial fisheries, or both, which altered the availability of various species of

Asynchrony in population dynamics of sockeye salmon in southwest Alaska

Ecologists have examined the synchronization of population dynamics across space as a means to understand how populations respond to climate variation. However, response diversity may reflect important variation among local population dynamics driven by population‐specific responses to regional environmental change. We used long‐term data on sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka from pristine watersheds of southwestern Alaska to show that populations spawning in close proximity (&lt;40 km) to one another have a limited degree of synchrony in their dynamics, even after accounting for density‐dependent processes. In fact, the dynamics of local populations of stream‐spawning sockeye salmon were no more coherent than those of stocks at a much coarser resolution across this region of Alaska. We examined four hypotheses to explain the observed patterns of asynchrony among stream‐spawning populations, and found that populations spawning in dissimilar habitats, and using different nursery lakes were less synchronized in their productivity. Similarity in the age structure of spawning adults was less correlated with synchrony in productivity. These results emphasize the importance of maintaining diverse spawning and rearing habitat for the conservation of Pacific salmon, and should guide conservation planning for Pacific salmon populations in regions where natural dynamics have been altered by habitat loss, hatchery practices, and over‐fishing.

Traditional foods and physical activity patterns and associations with cultural factors in a diverse Alaska Native population

Objectives. To determine the prevalence of traditional food and physical activity use and associations with cultural factors among 3,830 Alaska Native and American Indian (AN/AI) people enrolled in the Education and Research Towards Health (EARTH) Study in 3 regions of Alaska.Study design. Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cohort study.Methods Participants (2,323 women and 1,507 men) completed a computer-assisted self-administered questionnaire that included information on diet, physical activity, life-style and cultural factors.Results Over 92% of participants reported eating at least 1 traditional food in the past year. The top 3 traditional foods reported were fish, moose and agutaq (a mixture of berries and fat). The percentage of people who consumed traditional foods varied by region and age but not by sex (p>0.01). Almost 70% of participants engaged in at least one traditional harvesting physical activity. Picking berries or greens, cutting/smoking fish or meat and fishing were the most common activities. Participation in traditional physical activity was highest in south-west Alaska and was higher among men than women, but did not differ by age (p>0.01). Both traditional food and physical activity were associated with greater tribal self-identification, speaking a Native language at home, using traditional remedies and participating in or attending traditional events (p>0.05).Conclusions The EARTH Study found relationships between traditional food use, physical activities, cultural activities and behaviours. Consumption of a variety of traditional foods and participation in traditional physical activities remain an important part of the contemporary Alaska Native life-style. Efforts to promote and sustain these foods and activities in AN/AI populations may lead to improved health outcomes.

GIS Based Marine Platinum Exploration, Goodnews Bay Region, Southwest Alaska

Goodnews Bay, southwest Alaska, is known for platinum (Pt) reserve that extends offshore in the Bering Sea. To assess the nearshore placer potential we first collated marine Pt concentrations available since 1960 in a geographic information system (GIS) database. Subsequently, in 2005, we collected 23 pipe dredge sediment samples and 26 vibracores from unexplored sites and analyzed them for Pt. This sampling was supplemented by magnetic (Sea Spy) and seismic (side scan, geoacoustic and datasonic bubble pulser) surveys. Integrating results of geospatial analysis of Pt concentrations with geophysical analysis using GIS techniques led to delineate four locations encouraging for further Pt exploration. Of these, two locations fall close to paleochannels and drowned ultramafic source, while the other two coincide with high energy environments in the Goodnews Bay and close to the Carter Bay.

Post-eruptive development of the Ukinrek East Maar since its eruption in 1977 A.D. in the periglacial area of south-west Alaska

Maar eruptions form small initially steep-walled basins that contain important archives for the climatic and palaeoenvironmental history in continental areas. The two Ukinrek Maars in south-western Alaska erupted between 30 March and 9 April 1977 and are the best-documented maars that have erupted in historical time. This study presents a preliminary analysis of geomorphology, hydrology, magnetic susceptibility, geochemistry and sedimentology data of a field study in August 2004. These results, photographs and topographic surveys are combined for reconstructing the post-eruptive evolution of Ukinrek East Maar. Within less than 30 years the initially polygonal shape of the crater with nearly vertical crater walls has developed into an almost elliptic form with slopes of 35° inclination on debris fans between a few escarpments. The water table and the crater floor have risen significantly and the crater diameter:depth ratio increased from 3·4 to 5·7, whereas the average height of the crater rim remained almost constant. The main sub-aerial resedimentation process is formation of rock falls, rock slumps and scree resulting in debris flows and turbidites within the lake that is ice-covered throughout about half of the year. Distal lake sediments consist of laminated minerogenic clayey-sandy silts that document frequent turbidity currents. From the linear sedimentation rate of only ca 5 mm year−1 in 17 cm long cores it may be concluded that the largest portion of the crater sediments formed within the first few months of the maar history, however, this has to be confirmed by future studies.

Suspension feeding and kleptoparasitism within the genus Trichotropis (Gastropoda: Capulidae)

The marine gastropod Trichotropis cancellata is a facultative kleptoparasite, either suspension feeding or parasitically stealing food from tube-dwelling polychaete worms. To determine whether conclusions drawn from long-term studies in the San Juan Islands, Washington, about the relative importance of suspension feeding and kleptoparasitism can be applied generally to T. cancellata across its biogeographic range, I expanded earlier studies to Alaska and British Columbia. Kleptoparasitism is pervasive throughout the range of T. cancellata, occurring with equal frequency throughout the areas studied. The average density and size of worm hosts are relatively constant across this range. Snail and worm densities are not significantly correlated at the larger scale of site (averaged over nearby sampling locations clustered around a city), but are correlated at the smaller local scale (within a sampling location). Larger worms do not support more snails. The abundance of uninfected worm hosts is usually not limiting, except potentially in some sampling locations in southwest Alaska where the use of a novel host (a holothurian) may be the result of low densities of uninfected worms. Additionally, I documented the feeding behaviours of other trichotropid species in these regions. Trichotropis conica is the second confirmed kleptoparasite within the genus Trichotropis, with kleptoparasitism as frequent in this species as in T. cancellata. Like T. cancellata, all sizes observed of T. conica are kleptoparasites. On the other hand, Trichotropis insignis is an obligate suspension feeder. Further studies are needed to determine exactly how many times this behaviour has arisen and been lost in Capulidae and related families.

Metabolic Syndrome in Yup'ik Eskimos: The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) Study

This study investigated the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its defining components among Yup'ik Eskimos. A cross-sectional study design that included 710 adult Yup'ik Eskimos >or=18 years of age residing in 8 communities in Southwest Alaska. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was determined using the recently updated Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in this study cohort was 14.7%, and varied by sex with 8.6% of the men and 19.8% of the women having metabolic syndrome. This is lower than the prevalence of 23.9% in the general U.S. adult population. The most common metabolic syndrome components/risk factors were increased waist circumference and elevated blood glucose. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels in Yup'ik Eskimos were significantly higher, and triglycerides lower than levels reported in National Health and Nutritional Examination III. Compared with other populations, metabolic syndrome is relatively uncommon in Yup'ik Eskimos. The higher prevalence among Yup'ik women is primarily explained by their large waist circumference, suggesting central body fat accumulation. Further increases in metabolic syndrome risk factors among Yup'ik Eskimos could lead to increases in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, once rare in this population.

Postsecondary education gender disparities among Inuit in Alaska: A symptom of male malaise?

Far more Inuit women in Alaska are pursuing postsecondary education compared to Inuit men. Among Inupiat in Alaska, only 28% of students pursuing baccalaureate degrees at the University of Alaska are male, and the proportion of males receiving baccalaureate degrees declined from 2000 to 2003. Among Yupiit, 30% of students pursuing baccalaureate degrees are male. Similar gender disparities occur in programs for high school students designed to prepare academically able Indigenous students for college. This phenomenon can be interpreted either as a sign of “male malaise,” of disengagement from education and the wage employment for which education is a preparation, or as a functional adaptation to a mixed wage and subsistence way of life where education and particularly higher education is less important to Inuit males than females. To examine support for the explanation of “male malaise,” we compare two Inuit regions of Alaska, the Inupiaq region of Northwest Alaska, where the regional Native corporation has emphasized providing employment within the region through the Red Dog Mine, and the Yup’ik region of southwestern Alaska, which has low numbers of jobs, particularly outside the regional hub of Bethel. In Northwest Alaska, 49% of young Inuit men, ages 22 to 29, described themselves in the 2000 census as either “unemployed” or “out of the labor force.” In Southwest Alaska, 48% of young Inuit men said the same thing. These patterns support the explanation of “male malaise.” However, community studies, which allow fine-grained, household analyses of male and female participation in the wage and subsistence economies are needed to distinguish between these two explanations or suggest other interpretations.

Varying effects of anadromous sockeye salmon on the trophic ecology of two species of resident salmonids in southwest Alaska

Summary1. Anadromous salmon transport marine‐derived nutrients and carbon to freshwater and riparian ecosystems upon their return to natal spawning systems. The ecological implications of these subsidies on the trophic ecology of resident fish remain poorly understood despite broad recognition of their potential importance.2. We studied the within‐year changes in the ration size, composition and stable isotope signature of the diets of two resident salmonids (rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss; Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus) before and after the arrival of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) to their spawning grounds in the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska.3. Ration size and energy intake increased by 480–620% for both species after salmon arrived. However, the cause of the increases differed between species such that rainbow trout switched to consuming salmon eggs, salmon flesh and blowflies that colonized salmon carcasses, whereas grayling primarily ate more benthic invertebrates that were presumably made available because of physical disturbances by spawning salmon.4. We also observed an increase in the δ15N of rainbow trout diets post‐salmon, but not for grayling. This presumably led to the observed increase in the δ15N of rainbow trout with increasing body mass, but not for grayling.5. Using a bioenergetics model, we predicted that salmon‐derived resources contributed a large majority of the energy necessary for growth in this resident fish community. Furthermore, the bioenergetics model also showed how seasonal changes in diet affected the stable isotope ratios of both species. These results expand upon a growing body of literature that highlights the different pathways whereby anadromous salmon influence coastal ecosystems, particularly resident fish.

Using a bioenergetic model to assess growth reduction from catch‐and‐release fishing and hooking injury in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss

Abstract A bioenergetic model was used to predict the potential effects of feeding cessation caused by catch‐and‐release capture and a reduction in feeding efficiency from hooking injuries on rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), growth in southwest Alaska, USA. Simulations indicated that a 1‐day feeding cessation for a rainbow trout captured one to two times during summer months resulted in deviations from expected growth of −3% to −15%. To represent debilitating hooking injuries, the proportion of the maximum feeding potential was decreased by 5–50% resulting in deviations from expected growth of −9% to −164%. Simulated growth effects were most prominent from captures during months when salmon eggs and flesh constituted the majority of the trout diet. Simulated growth effects from reduced foraging efficiency were most prominent when hooking injuries occurred early in the fishing season. These simulations suggest that rainbow trout are most vulnerable to decreases in growth when salmon are abundant and spawning and, coincidentally, during the months when most fishing occurs.

Age-related variation in red blood cell stable isotope ratios (delta13C and delta15N) from two Yupik villages in southwest Alaska: a pilot study

Objectives. A significant fraction of the Alaska Native population appears to be shifting from a primarily subsistence-based diet to a market-based diet; therefore, the ability to link diet pattern to disease risk has become increasingly important to predicting public health needs. Our research aims to develop the use of stable isotope ratios as diet pattern biomarkers, based on naturally-occurring isotopic differences in the elemental composition of subsistence and non-subsistence foods. These differences are reflected in human blood, hair and fingernail isotope signatures.Study Design. In this preliminary study, we investigate the potential for 13C and 15N to serve as dietary biomarkers for age-related dietary differences in a subset of participants involved with a long-term study initiated by the Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF).Methods. We measured delta13C and delta15N in red blood cells collected from 12 “elder” participants (age 60+ yrs) and 14 younger participants (age 14–19 yrs). Samples were evenly divided between males and females, and between two villages sampled in 2004. We also sampled market and subsistence foods in Fairbanks, AK, as an indicator of the isotopic differences likely to be observed in village foods.Results. Elders were significantly enriched in 15N, but depleted in 13C, relative to younger participants. These differences are consistent with increased intake of marine subsistence in elders, and of certain market foods in younger participants. However, elders were considerably more variable in delta15N, suggesting greater differences among individuals in their usual intake.Conclusions. Overall we find that RBC stable isotope signatures exhibit variation consistent with previously documented dietary patterns in Alaska Natives, and we describe future directions for developing these biomarkers for diet pattern monitoring.

Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination

Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social Imagination JULIE CRUIKSHANK UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS, VANCOUVER, BC, 2005 328 PP. $32.95 PAPERBACK REVIEWED BY REBECCA K. ZARGER This fascinating book weaves together a study of memory, oral history and transformations through a series of encounters between people and glaciers in the region where the Saint Elias Mountains and the Alsek River converge in the southwest Yukon Territory and Alaska. I recently selected Cruikshank's award winning book (winner of the 2006 Julian Steward Award, given by the American Anthropological Association's Anthropology and Environment section, a 2007 Clio Award from the Canadian Historical Association and the 2006 Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, awarded by the Society for Humanistic Anthropology) for required reading in a graduate seminar in environmental anthropology. This review is framed within the discussion and critique that emerged from the seminar, with the aim of providing not just a synopsis of the intellectual and practical contributions of the book, but its pedagogical value as well. One compelling illustration of the impact of this book is the attention that has been paid to it across a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, history, and science and area studies. Clearly Cruikshank is speaking across chasms of inquiry as she writes about of glaciers' connections to human communities and oral traditions as local people, explorers and scientists negotiate meanings in a particular, out-of-the way cultural landscape. Another reason this book was chosen for the graduate seminar was the way the author engages with the topics of local (or traditional) environmental knowledge, environmental change, and social memory. Historical documents, carefully presented Tlingit and Athapaskan oral histories, 19th century explorer's accounts, and the current politics of conservation, identities and territories are analyzed with equal intensity. As the author links these lines of evidence together (in some chapters more seamlessly than others), bridges are created between types of inquiry, voices of local elders, the human-nature divide, and local and global histories. Do Glaciers Listen? is divided into three sections. Part one, Matters of Locality situates the reader in time and space (during the Little Ice Age) as well as within current theories of the nature of knowledge and its representations. The three chapters in the first section convey, through tales of the actions of both glaciers and humans in response to one another, the distinctions between narratives of Athapaskan/Tlingit elders and geophysical scientists. Extensive passages from stories of three women, including excerpts from thirteen different shared by Kitty Smith, Annie Ned and Angela Sidney, tell us of the dangers of falling through glaciers, traveling under glacier bridges, and the imaginative power of glaciers. The second section of the book is devoted to Practices of Exploration, where the author considers the ways scientific and territorial exploration shaped alternative narratives of the Saint Elias glaciers-stories that were told around the globe in addition to local communities. The diaries and journal accounts of La Perouse, Muir, and Glave, contextualized with local oral histories of the same events, provide the opportunity to examine what the author terms the epistemological consequences of such encounters. …

Holocene development of Boreal forests and fire regimes on the Kenai Lowlands of Alaska

Several studies have noted a relationship between vegetation type and fire frequency, yet despite the importance of ecosystem processes such as fire the long-term relationships between disturbance, climate and vegetation type are incompletely understood. We analysed pollen, plant macrofossils and sedimentary charcoal from three lakes within the Kenai lowlands to determine postglacial relationships between disturbance, climate and vegetation for the Boreal forest of southwest Alaska. An herb tundra was established in the lowlands following deglaciation by 13 000 cal. BP. Salix, Alnus and probably Betula kenaica, expanded in the area after 10 700 cal. BP, followed by Picea glauca by 8500 cal. BP. Picea mariana became established by 4600 cal. BP. The early Holocene was probably the driest time during the postglacial, as determined by aquatic plant macrofossils and climate models. Lake levels reached near- modern conditions by at least 8000 cal. BP. Mean Fire Intervals (MFI) were longest during the shrubherb tundra phase (1389 /65 yr), decreased after expansion of B. kenaica, Salix and Populus (779 /49 yr) and Picea glauca (819 /41 yr), and increased again with the arrival of P. mariana (1309 /66 yr). Unlike previous studies, our data demonstrate the highest fire frequencies during the early to mid-Holocene and less frequent fire during the late Holocene when P. mariana forests dominated the lowlands. Early Holocene forests of P. glauca and B. kenaica existed in summers that were longer and drier than today, while the increasingly wetter and cooler climates of the late Holocene probably hindered forest fire around Paradox Lake, perhaps because of less frequent summer drought.

Recent changes in the status of Steller's Eider Polysticta stelleri wintering in Europe: a decline or redistribution?

Steller's Eider Polysticta stelleri has a restricted arctic breeding range. The world population declined to c. 220,000 individuals in the late 1990s from an estimated 400,000–500,000 in the 1960s. The species has a limited global wintering distribution, occurring in marine habitats in north-east Europe, islands close to Kamchatka in Russia, and the eastern Aleutian Islands and south-west Alaska. European wintering numbers were estimated at 30,000–50,000 in the early 1990s, when the population was considered of favourable conservation status. Recent census data from the most important European wintering sites show annual declines of 8% in Norway since 1984, 9% in Estonia since 1994 and 22% in Lithuania since 1995, suggesting an overall 65% reduction in Europe. Counts in 1994 suggested that 30–50% of the European population wintered in Russia at that time. Current census data from Russia show similar declines along monitored sections of the Kola Peninsula wintering grounds since 1994. Accounting for trends in Russia, the current European wintering population could possibly stand at 10,000–15,000 individuals (a more than a 50% decline in 10 years), qualifying this population as Endangered under IUCN criteria. The changes in Baltic/Norwegian wintering numbers did not correlate with changes in the extent of ice-free marine waters in the Kola Peninsula/White Sea areas, but changes in annual numbers in Norway were correlated with winter North Atlantic Oscillation indices. Variation in annual numbers in the Baltic Sea correlated with projected number of juveniles among wintering birds. However, none of the possible causes discussed in this paper could fully explain the decline in Steller's Eider, confirming the need for comprehensive monitoring of the population throughout its winter range and for cohesive demographic monitoring to target effective conservation action.

Mobile scavengers create hotspots of freshwater productivity

Adjacent communities and ecosystems often differ in underlying productivity but are connected by flows of nutrients, energy, and matter. Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) transport substantial quantities of nutrients from marine ecosystems to coastal freshwater habitats when they return to spawn and die. Nutrients from their carcasses are initially concentrated in spawning streams and lakes, but are subsequently dispersed by abiotic (floods, hyporheic flow) and biotic processes (predators and scavengers). In southwest Alaska, mobile avian scavengers (gulls; Larus spp.) breed on small islands within salmon nursery lakes and consume large quantities of spawning salmon during the chick‐rearing period. However the role of birds as vectors of salmon‐derived nutrients remains unknown. We examined how gulls – by transporting salmon tissues to their chicks – create hotspots of biological productivity in the aquatic habitats surrounding their nesting colonies. We found that algal production was ∼10× higher at islands with high gull densities compared to islands without nesting gulls, but was concentrated within 40 m of island shorelines. Carbon stable isotopes (δ13C) confirmed that gulls enhance primary production in local benthic communities and demonstrated that this production was transferred up the food web to grazers (snails) and carnivores (blackfish). Nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) confirmed that salmon dominated the diet of gulls and that nutrients from gull guano were incorporated into algae and passed up the food web. By relocating and concentrating salmon‐derived nutrients into new and distant locations, gulls alter and magnify production in local aquatic communities. We offer the first evidence that the avian community can move salmon‐derived nutrients great distances, enriching otherwise isolated habitats.