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Sarah Saalfeld

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The western coast of Alaska is a remote region, rich in wildlife and providing critical nesting habitat for many of Alaska’s seabirds. It is also home to indigenous communities who rely upon the region’s natural resources to support a traditional lifestyle of hunting, gathering, and fishing. Although the region is frequently subject to extensive inland flooding from Bering Sea storms, little is known about the extent and frequency of flooding and its impacts on vegetation, wildlife, and water quality. Furthermore, information is lacking about how climate change and sea-level rise (which can influence the frequency and intensity of storms and subsequent flooding) are affecting this area, its communities, and their...
To determine the current spatial distribution of waterfowl nesting areas and understand the importance of environmental variables in the selection of nest locations, we modeled nest densities for six species of geese and eiders that commonly breed on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, including cackling goose ( Branta hutchinsii minima), emperor goose ( Chen canagica), black brant ( B. bernicla nigricans), greater white-fronted goose ( Anser albifrons frontalis), spectacled eider ( Somateria fischeri), and common eider ( S. mollissima). The data used were from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's long-term waterbird monitoring program in which single-visit nest searches were conducted during incubation (typically from early...
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We conducted ground-based surveys at 589 randomly selected 16-ha plots on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska during 2015-2016. The plots were selected using a stratified random sampling plan in an area of 35,769 square km divided into 8 physiographic strata. The population totals from the stratified random design estimators were adjusted using detection ratios derived with a double sampling protocol (Bart and Earnst 2002) on a subset of plots in Alaska.The subset of plots used for double sampling included 17 study plots on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge (9 plots in 2001-2002 [McCaffery et al. 2012] and 8 plots in 2016), and 33 plots located on the North Slope of Alaska (Utqiaġvik [6 plots, 2014–2015], the...
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