University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers have discovered a thriving ecosystem among the decomposing seaweed debris that covers many Alaska beaches, including nearly 100 different types of invertebrates found in surveys at a handful of sites on the Kenai Peninsula. It’s the first Alaska-based survey of the marine algae that washes up on beaches, known as […]
For more than two decades, Alaska has led the way in using ecosystem information to inform resource management decisions. In 2020, contributions from research partners and local communities together with NOAA scientists helped fill some data gaps. Each year, NOAA Fisheries scientists compile information from a variety of sources to produce and update annual indicators […]
SOLOMONS, MD (November 11, 2020)–Arctic researchers Jacqueline Grebmeier and Lee Cooper have been visiting the Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska for nearly 30 years, collecting information about the biological diversity of the watery world under the sea ice to understand how marine ecosystems are responding to environmental changes. This year, a late-season research cruise […]
The impacts of predator loss and climate change are combining to devastate living reefs that have defined Alaskan kelp forests for centuries, according to new research published in Science. “We discovered that massive limestone reefs built by algae underpin the Aleutian Islands’ kelp forest ecosystem,” said Douglas Rasher, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for […]