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Concerns about wildland fuel levels and a growing wildland-urban interface (WUI) have pushed wildland fire risk mitigation strategies to the forefront of fire management activities. Mechanical (e.g., shearblading) and manual (e.g., thinning) fuel treatments have become the preferred strategy of many fire managers and agencies. This Joint Fire Science Program funded project seeks to document and quantify mechanical and manual fuel treatment effects on fire behavior. Alaska's Federal and State fire management agencies have identified this 'data gap' as their most important fire science research need and priority. The Nenana Ridge Ruffed Grouse Project Area is 6,000 acres of typical interior Alaska boreal forest located...
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This study describes the community, population, and growth dynamics of Alnus tenuifolia (thinleaf alder) and implications for nutrient cycling on the Tanana River floodplains. Through symbiotic N-fixation inputs, alder contributed to soil N accumulation with time. N-fixation itself was likely limited by soil P. Soil N was positively related to alder stem density in early successional stands. Community structure varied along a temporal gradient of changing environmental characteristics, but variations in successional patterns were found. Landscape scale alder recruitment varied temporally and was apparently linked to interactions between geofluvial processes, seed production and dispersal, and herbivory. A widespread...
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Summary: "Total Hg (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) were examined in muscle and liver samples of salmon species (Chinook: Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; Chum: O. keta; Sockeye: O. nerka; Coho: O. kisutch) and freshwater fish species (Pike: Esox lucius; Grayling: Thymallus arcticus; Whitefish: Caregonus nelsoni) collected in 1999 and 2000 from the Western Alaska rivers (Yukon, Kuskokwim, Nushagak and Kvichak). The THg in salmon muscles has a mean value of 62 ng/g (ww). In Pike muscles, THg has a mean value of 879 ng/g. The mean concentrations of THg in Grayling and Whitefish muscle are 153 ng/g and 32 ng/g respectively. In salmon muscle and liver the MeHg levels constitute 77% and 62% of the THg levels, respectively. In...
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Detailed observations of stream, soil, and groundwater chemistry were used to determine the role of fire, permafrost and snowmelt processes on the fluxes of carbon, nitrogen and major solutes from interior Alaskan catchments. We examined an experimentally burned watershed and two reference watersheds that differ in permafrost coverage (high, 53%; medium-burn, 18%; and low, 4%) during the FROSTFIRE prescribed burn in July 1999. The fire elevated stream nitrate concentrations for a short period during the first post-fire storm, but nitrate declined thereafter, suggesting that less severe fires that leave an intact riparian zone may have only a short-term effect on stream chemistry. Nevertheless, we found fundamental...
Categories: Data,
Publication;
Types: Citation,
Downloadable,
Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
Shapefile;
Tags: Modeling,
Monitoring 3-Improve Permafrost Mapping,
R1-Vulnerability Forest Species and Communities to Climate Change,
R2b-Effects of Fire on Ecosystems,
and Monitoring
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