Exciting news! AWA is honored to be part of the 1% for the Planet.
Our 2023 Annual Report!
AWA's Kenai Peninsula Coordinator wins NOAA Partners in the Spotlight award!
2023 Wildlife Photo Calendar Contest!
AWA on the Wild for Change Podcast
New Publication! The Dynamics of a Changing Lutz Spruce Hybrid Zone on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Join us in congratulating AWA Vice President, Dr. John Morton, and co-authors Diana Wolf, Matthew Bowser, Naoki Takebayashi, and Dawn Magness in their recent publication in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research!
Abstract
We investigated the genetic makeup of Lutz spruce, a natural hybrid between white and Sitka spruce on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Microsatellites indicate 72% of individuals sampled had predominantly white spruce ancestry whereas 14% had predominantly Sitka spruce ancestry; some individuals classified as white spruce had Sitka spruce plastid genotypes. As Picea mitochondria are maternally inherited and plastids are paternally inherited, it appears that white spruce was the ancestral seed parent of nearly all spruce on the peninsula, whereas Sitka spruce alleles originated from pollen. Pollen records show that white spruce colonized the western peninsula ~8,500 YBP from glacial refugium, whereas Sitka spruce arrived on the eastern peninsula ~4,000 YBP after migrating up the Pacific coast. Our data suggest that Sitka spruce migration onto the western peninsula may have occurred not via seed dispersal, but by long distance transport of wind-borne pollen and subsequent hybridization with established white spruce populations. Hybridization was an important mechanism that allowed Sitka spruce to expand the leading edge of its range in response to historical climate change. As the climate continues to warm, climate envelope modeling suggests Lutz spruce may ultimately displace white spruce on the western peninsula even as Sitka spruce is constrained to the eastern peninsula where it will continue to hybridize.
AWA at the Alaska Marine Science Symposium
Alaska Wildlife Alliance Receives 2022 Best of Anchorage Award!
Alaska Wildlife Alliance Receives 2022 Best of Anchorage Award
Press Release: Anchorage Award Program Honors the Achievement
ANCHORAGE December 9, 2022 -- Alaska Wildlife Alliance has been selected for the 2022 Best of Anchorage Award in the Community Organizations category by the Anchorage Award Program.
Each year, the Anchorage Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Anchorage area a great place to live, work and play.
Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose one winner in each category. The 2022 Anchorage Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Anchorage Award Program and data provided by third parties.
About Anchorage Award Program
The Anchorage Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Anchorage area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.
The Anchorage Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.
SOURCE: Anchorage Award Program
CONTACT:
Anchorage Award Program
Email: PublicRelations@awardsforbusinesses.com
URL: http://www.awardsforbusinesses.com
2022 Annual Report
Remembering Vic Van Ballenberghe, Alaska's Moose Man
Preserving Traditional Life-ways by AWA Board member Angute-Karaq Qakvalria
Eradicating Elodea in Alaska: Do the ends justify the means?
AWA on the Alaska Law Review 'Alaska and the Environment' Panel
2022 Wildlife Photo Contest!
Join us - Wildlife Research Expedition in Prince William Sound!
In the News: Beluga whale monitoring efforts looking for winter sightings in Kenai, Kasilof rivers and in lower Cook Inlet
Alaska's Wildlife-Inspired Place Names
Adventure with us! Register for our Gates of the Arctic Wildlife Expedition
We are very excited to announce registration our first Alaskan Wildlife Expedition! In partnership with Chulengo Expeditions, we are offering wildlife lovers an opportunity to backpack with us in the heart of Alaska’s spectacular Brooks Range.
Publication: Integrating Distance Sampling and Minimum Count Data
Featured in the Journal of Wildlife Management
Letter to the Editor
Authored by:
Joshua H Schmidt, U.S. National Park Service, Central Alaska Network, 4175 Geist Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA
Joel H Reynolds, U.S. National Park Service, Climate Change Response Program, 1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 200, Fort Collins, CO 80525, USA
Kevin S White, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation, P.O. Box 110024, Juneau, AK 99811, USA
Dylan T Schertz, U.S. National Park Service, Arctic Network, 4175 Geist Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709, USA
John M Morton, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, P.O. Box 202022, Anchorage, AK 99520, USA
H. Sharon Kim, U.S. National Park Service, Kenai Fjords National Park, P.O. Box 1727, Seward, AK 99664 USA
You can read the full article below. *Note, you may need to refresh the page to see the PDFs below.
Excerpt: Becker and Herreman (2021) critique the approach of Schmidt et al. (2019), which integrates local minimum counts with landscape‐scale conventional distance sampling (CDS) surveys. They list concerns with model structure, fundamental assumptions, sampling approach, and the application to mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, USA. After careful review, these concerns appear to be largely due to misunderstandings of the intent of the original manuscript and the details of the integrated approach as presented, in addition to a perhaps common confusion over the relationship between the assumption of perfect detection on the transect line (i.e., the g(0)=1 assumption) and estimator bias in CDS applications. We address these points in detail so that practitioners can fully weigh the potential benefits of integrated approaches as illustrated by Schmidt et al. (2019) and better understand the role of estimator bias in CDS applications. Given the numerous challenges and tradeoffs in monitoring and managing wildlife populations, particularly in remote areas, we continue to advocate for the development of reliable survey alternatives that are logistically feasible, cost effective, and relatively unbiased. We maintain that the approach presented by Schmidt et al. (2019) represents an effective tool for addressing management‐relevant monitoring objectives and is primarily limited by the spatial and temporal extent of input data—an issue common to any estimator.
