Stable Isotope Lab 2012 Annual ReportENRI Contributions to the April 22-27 IPY 2012 Conference (Montréal): From Knowledge to ActionLast week UAA Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) researchers gave nine presentations at the International Polar Year (IPY) 2012 Conference in Montréal. IPY 2012 brought together more than 2000 researchers, government officials, indigenous people, and others from around the world. The goal of IPY 2012 was to highlight current scientific findings from the Arctic and Antarctic regions and to provide information that can be used to influence environmental and related policy decisions around the globe. Improving our understanding of high-arctic carbon cycling: Seasonal shifts in the age and source of riverine DOC and POC in NW Greenland Adam’s poster received a 2nd place Student and Early Career Researcher Excellence Award Evaluating the use of Inuit ecological knowledge and western science in polar bear comanagement in the Nunavut Territory, Canada Effects of Arctic warming on wolf spider feeding ecology Summer fluxes and sources of CO2 and CH4 in high arctic tundra under current and simulated, future climate Influence of food web on spatial variation of mercury in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) Deciphering results of the Arctic Pliocene Climate Change Experiment Inuit knowledge, polar bears and sea ice habitat Foraging movements of polar bears in relation to sea ice structure High arctic C cycling responses to multiple level of long-term experimental warming & added summer water and landscape observational studies: Findings from NW Greenland 1Postdoctoral Fellow, UAA ENRI 2012 Alaska Chapter of The Wildlife Society MeetingEnvironment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) researchers and students are giving seven presentations at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Alaska Chapter of The Wildlife Society, held April 10-13 in Anchorage. Their presentations are the result of research projects which focus on a wide range of Alaskan birds and mammals—from tufted puffins to polar bears—and will highlight the exciting, state-of-the-art food web ecology research currently in progress at UAA. Dr. Doug Causey (ENRI faculty fellow and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences) and his graduate students and collaborators will relate findings from several studies of Alaskan birds:
Dr. Don Spalinger (ENRI faculty fellow and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences) and his collaborators and graduate student will give a presentation on the nutritional ecology of moose in an urban landscape. Dr. Jeff Welker (ENRI director and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences) and his collaborators and graduate students will present findings from studies of tundra swans, gray wolves, and polar bears:
Dr. Jeffrey Welker Awarded Fulbright Arctic ChairDr. Jeffrey Welker, director of the Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was recently awarded the highly prestigious Fulbright U.S. Arctic Chair in Norway. The Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Programs, which include the Fulbright Arctic Chair, are considered to be among the most highly regarded appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program, both nationally and internationally. Welker will be based at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), an island five hundred miles north of Norway, from August 2012 through April 2013 and will be on sabbatical from his duties as director and professor at UAA. The College of Arts and Sciences will appoint an interim director to lead ENRI in Welker’s absence. During this year, Welker will conduct winter ecology research that will add to his long-term studies in the field of Arctic carbon cycling. For one study, he will examine the sources and ages of respired Co2 using 14C techniques under ambient conditions and long-term deeper snow conditions created through the use of experimental snow fences. He will also study the effects of Svalbard’s reindeer on the environment by setting up grazing exclosures in selected areas. Welker will also lead a Pan-Arctic synthesis of the International Polar Year, working with directors of major international Arctic institutes. “This award is an acknowledgement of research excellence across the entire University of Alaska Community,” says Welker. “I am proud that, as an Alaskan, I can deliver this prestigious level of recognition to our campus and our state.” 39th Annual Pacific Seabird Group MeetingENRI researchers gave nine presentations at the 39th annual meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group (February 7-10, Turtle Bay, HI), and Dr. Douglas Causey (UAA Professor of Biological Sciences and ENRI Faculty Fellow) was convener of the contaminants paper session. The international Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) was created in 1972 to link academic researchers and government agencies throughout the Pacific region. The PSG aims to promote seabird research, facilitate communication among researchers, identify and assess threats to seabird communities, and provide the best scientific data to government agencies. Scientists and students affiliated with ENRI are conducting a number of seabird research projects which focus on a broad range of topics. Their presentations at the PSG meeting included the following:
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2012The UAA Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) was privileged to sponsor the 2012 Alaska Marine Science Symposium (AMSS), in which 17 ENRI researchers participated. The AMSS, held this year January 16-20 at Anchorage’s Hotel Captain Cook and Dena’ina Center, is an annual gathering of eminent scientists, students, and government agencies involved in marine research in Alaskan waters. ENRI scientists presented research findings on topics ranging from the impact of floating plastic debris on the marine environment to the relationship between deglaciation and the marine foodweb in the Gulf of Alaska. ENRI research topics featured at the 2012 AMSS included the following: • The relationship of marine plastic debris to Persistent Organic Pollutants in the marine ecosystem• Comparative isotopic studies as a method of studying the foodweb ecology of Low-Arctic (Aleutian) and High-Arctic (Greenland) seabirds • Combining local knowledge and western scientific techniques to study freshwater seal populations in Lake Iliamna • Distribution and ecology of zooplankton and juvenile pelagic fishes in the Copper River plume (Gulf of Alaska) • Isotopic characteristics of Beaufort Sea polar bear tissues and diet: Food web ecology of a top predator • Agent-based modeling of mammal-eating killer whales and their prey AGU Fall 2011 MeetingFifteen UAA Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) faculty fellows, research scientists, and graduate student researchers provided twenty-two presentations at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2011 in San Francisco, California this past week. The AGU Fall Meeting is the largest conference of Earth and space scientists from around the world. ENRI researchers presented their research discoveries and discussed their scientific findings with more than 20,000 of the world’s leading scientists. ENRI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Adam Csank showcased his research findings from northwest Greenland, which indicate that there is seasonal variation in the source and age of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC). ENRI Research Scientist Dr. Patrick Sullivan gave and participated in several oral presentations highlighting research findings from his work on treeline shifts in Arctic Alaska and factors affecting the Arctic carbon cycle. ENRI Faculty Fellow and Professor of Biological Sciences Dr. Bjartmar Sveinbjörnsson presented research findings which help to explain why treelines are expanding north in latitude and upward in elevation. ENRI Research Scientist Dr. Birgit Hagedorn presented research findings from studies of Greenland Ice Sheet and the ground ice in Beacon Valley, Antarctica. ENRI participation in the AGU Fall Meeting 2011 demonstrated the strong research program which ENRI is building at UAA; this research program benefits UAA, Alaska’s scientific community, its resource managers, and the public. ENRI's Fall 2011 AGU PresentationsAntarctic ResearchDr. Jennifer Burns, Faculty Fellow in the UAA Environment and Natural Resources Institute (ENRI) and Professor in the UAA Department of Biological Sciences, is currently conducting research in Antarctica. Burns arrived in Antarctica on October 17th, joining UA students Linnea Pearson (UAF, PhD in Marine Biology) and Michelle Shero (UAA, MS in Biological Sciences) and PhD students Kim Goetz and Luis Huckstadt from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC). Burns is Co-PI on a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project studying Weddell Seals; her collaborators are Dr. Daniel Costa (UCSC) and Dr. Eileen Hofmann, Old Dominion University (ODU). Burns and her colleagues are studying Weddell seals’ habitat use and winter diving behavior, using conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) tags which allow monitoring of the seals’ behavior during Antarctic winters, when direct observation is not possible. A number of Weddell seals were outfitted with CTD tags in January and February 2011. Data from these tags was transmitted to the researchers via satellite throughout the Antarctic winter, but data transmission was limited by technical constraints. The researchers’ first task during this field season is to collect tags placed last year, in order to collect full data for each animal. Read Dr. Burns' Weekly Situation Report for February 13, 2012 Read Dr. Burns’ Weekly Situation Report for November 7, 2011 Read Dr. Burns’ Weekly Situation Report for October 31, 2011 Read Dr. Burns’ Weekly Situation Report for October 10, 2011 View Photos and Videos from Dr. Burns’ research in Antarctica |
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