Climate is changing rapidly in mountain environments, giving rise to increasing variability in weather, incidence of extremeevents, and alteration of the cryosphere. Natural hazards, such as snow avalanches, and the ecological communities they impactmay be particularly sensitive to such change. While avalanches may impose both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ effects on mountain ecosys-tems, the direct impacts that lead to mortality have particularly important implications for future viability and resilience ofslow-growing alpine wildlife populations. Here, we studied a sentinel species of coastal Alaskan mountain environments—themountain goat (Oreamnos americanus) – using long-term field data from individually marked animals (600 individuals over44 years) in a quantitative modeling framework to understand how avalanches influence demographic processes. Specifically, wedeveloped and parameterized a sex- and age-specific population modeling approach to simulate the effects of avalanche-causedmortality on population growth rate (λ). We examined a range of ecologically relevant scenarios based on empirically observedstates of avalanche-caused mortality. During years when avalanche impacts are severe, populations can experience significantadditive mortality and population declines (up to 15%). Due to low reproductive rates, such impacts can lead to long demographicrecovery times (up to 11 years, or ~1.5 mountain goat generations). Thus, during the course of a typical mountain goat lifetime,significant avalanche-linked perturbations can be expected to occur, suggesting that meaningful demographic signatures of av-alanche impacts are generationally recurrent and routinely imbedded in population histories. From a conservation perspective,such impacts are striking and highlight the utility of employing a quantitative modeling approach to predict possible effects ofavalanches and extreme events more broadly on mountain ungulate population dynamics and viability. Our work explicitlybuilds upon recent findings about the importance of avalanches on mountain-adapted animal populations and has implicationsfor the cultural and ecological communities that depend on them.

Rural and Indigenous students face many barriers to persistence in biomedical and STEM trajectories including poor access to science experiences, a dearth of relatable educational resources, and educational structures misaligned with rural and Indigenous student and community needs. Rural Alaska Students in One Health Research (RASOR) is designed to provide a positive first college experience for rural and Indigenous students. Key innovations include 1) a partnership between the University of Alaska and tribal governments to allow for culturally relevant, locallymentored research experiences and 2) a customizable program structure. We also surveyed adults in the region regarding attitudes about science, its community relevance, and science opportunities for young people. One Health—the connection of human, animal, and environmental health—resonated with both adults and students. Student interest in both animal/environmental and human research increased during RASOR, as did measures of science self-efficacy, identity, and science aspirations. Community members view science as important and strongly support students’ scientific interests. However, perceptions remain that science training results in students leaving their communities, despite tribal leadership efforts to “grow-theirown” STEM opportunities and professionals in these same communities. We suggest One Health is a culturally meaningful pathway to promote engagement of rural and Indigenous students in biomedical and STEM fields and is enhanced by educator and institutional flexibility and community partnership.

Icebergs found in proglacial fjords serve as important habitats for pinnipeds in polar and subpolar regions. Environmental forcings can drive dramatic changes in the overall reduction in ice coverage across fjords in the circumpolar regions, with implications for pinnipeds that use ice for critical life-history functions, including pupping and molting. To better understand how pinnipeds respond to changes in iceberg habitat, we combine (i) iceberg velocity fields over hourly to monthly timescales, derived from high-rate time-lapse photogrammetry of Johns Hopkins Glacier and Inlet, Alaska, with (ii) aerial photographic surveys of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) conducted during the pupping (June) and molting (August) seasons. Iceberg velocities typically followed a similar diurnal pattern: flow was weak and variable in the morning and strong and unidirectional in the afternoon. The velocity fields tended to be highly variable in the inner fjord across a range of timescales due to changes in the strength and location of the subglacial outflow, whereas, in the outer fjord, the flow was more uniform, and eddies consistently formed in the same locations. During the pupping season, seals were generally more dispersed across the slow-moving portions of the fjord (with iceberg speeds of < 0:2 ms−1). In contrast, during the molting season, the seals were increasingly likely to be found on fastmoving icebergs in or adjacent to the glacier outflow plume. The use of slow-moving icebergs during the pupping season likely provides a more stable ice platform for nursing, caring for young, and avoiding predators. Periods of strong glacier runoff and/or katabatic winds may result in more dynamic and less stable ice habitats, with implications for seal behavior and distribution within the fjord.