Current projects

Estimating abundance of Sitka black-tailed deer using genetic tags

Summary: Deer in southeastern Alaska cannot be censused by traditional survey methods because they inhabit dense habitat, yet knowledge of population size and trends is important for proper management. For the last 25 years, managers have monitored population trends by conducting pellet-group surveys in the spring but that index can only detect large changes in abundance and cannot be converted to an estimate of deer numbers. We are conducting a capture-mark-recapture population estimate in areas of Prince of Wales Island to estimate deer numbers. Genetic fingerprints of deer are developed by harvesting DNA from the surface of fecal pellets deposited on trails; those fingerprints serve as genetic tags for the mark-recapture estimator. Our results will represent the first statistically robust estimate of deer population size in the region.

Funding/collaborators: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, US Forest Service

Personnel: Brinkman, Colson, Hundertmark, D. Person (ADF&G)

Fine-scale population structure of Sitka black-tailed deer in southeastern Alaska

Summary: Using genotype data developed from the Prince of Wales deer study, we are assessing connectivity (gene flow) among populations (stream drainages) of deer in relation to geographic separation of populations and landscape features. Those data will help us understand how landscape features and habitat changes influence connectivity of deer populations.

Funding: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, IAB

Personnel: Colson, Brinkman, Hundertmark, D. Person (ADF&G)

History of the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd and its relationship to neighboring herds

Summary: The Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd (TCH) occurs within the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's North Slope and provides subsistence for central North Slope communities. It has only been recognized as a distinct herd since the 1970s and is the least-studied herd on the North Slope. Oil exploration is scheduled to occur within the range of the TCH although the core calving area has received a 10-year exemption. We intend to characterize the herd genetically in relation to neighboring herds to provide baseline data on herd structure prior to development and to determine if North Slope herds conform to the prevailing view of 4 herds based on calving ground fidelity. We will infer the origin of the TCH and determine if TCH caribou have interbred with domestic reindeer in the past (reindeer were once herded in the area but have been gone for over 50 years). The study is interdisciplinary and also examines local residents perceptions of TCH caribou and will compare herd classifications by means of genetic data, calving-ground identity, and traditional knowledge.

Funding/collaborators: RAP (NSF IGERT), EPSCoR, Social Science Research Council, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, North Slope Borough

Personnel: Hibbard-Rode, Colson, Hundertmark

Moose movements and energetics in adjacent lowland and upland habitats

Summary: Daily movement rates are being compared for moose inhabiting adjacent areas of lowland and upland habitats on the Kenai Peninsula that differ markedly in vegetation composition. We are attempting to determine if differences in habitats translate into differences in daily movements and therefore energetics.

Funding/collaborators: Alaska Department of Fish and Game, US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, IAB

Personnel: Kraft, Hundertmark

Characteristics of an infestation of an invasive parasite of Alaska wolves

Summary: Trichodectes canis is a biting louse that infests canids and is commomly refered to as the dog louse. Alaska wolves infested with this parasite host incredibly large numbers of lice and show an allergic-type reaction that includes hair loss due to incessant grooming. The hair-loss syndrome was first observed on the Kenai Peninsula in the early 1980s and spread to the Mat-Su Valley in the late 1990s. Currently, the infestation has spread up the Parks Highway corridor to the Fairbanks area and across the Alaska Range to McGrath. We are attempting to determine if other populations of Alaska wolves have this parsite but at low levels as would be expected if this louse coevolved with wolves and has been documented in wolves elsewhere in North America. If the louse does not occur in Alaska outside of the infestation area it begs the question as to why Alaska wolves did not have this common canid parasite until recently. We are also using friction mapping to predict future spread of the parasite.

Funding/collaborators: IAB, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Personnel: Woldstad, Hundertmark

Habitat- and landscape-level correlates of mortality in black-tailed deer fawns

Summary: This study will start in 2009 and is a part of an ongoing research program of Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game that has focused on deer and wolves and the effects of habitat change on predator-prey dynamics for over 15 years. We will examine habitat- and landscape-level correlates of mortality due to predation and other causes of death such as malnutrition. The student will be comparing those correlates for landscapes that have been logged and those that are undeveloped and will differentiate compensatory and additive mortality of fawns due to predation. Results of this study likely will influence land management decisions on the Tongass National Forest. https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/sgilbert/home

Funding/collaborators: Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Personnel: Gilbert, Hundertmark, D. Person (ADF&G)