• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Fisheries
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks
    • UAF Graduate School
    • Fisheries
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Scholarworks@UACommunitiesPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionPublication DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    First Time Submitters, Register Here

    Register

    Statistics

    Display statistics

    The influence of glaciers on coastal marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Arimitsu_uaf_0006E_10531.pdf
    Size:
    12.79Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Author
    Arimitsu, Mayumi L.
    Chair
    Mueter, Franz
    Committee
    Beaudreau, Anne
    Hood, Eran
    Hobson, Keith
    Piatt, John
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11122/6803
    Abstract
    Glacier runoff (i.e., meltwater and rainwater discharged at the glacier terminus) provides about half of the freshwater discharge into coastal margins of the Gulf of Alaska, where contemporary glacier melting rates are among the highest in the world. Roughly 410 billion metric tons of glacier runoff enter the Gulf of Alaska each year. With freshwater discharge volumes of that magnitude, I hypothesized that glacier runoff has both direct and indirect effects on the receiving coastal marine ecosystems that support rich food webs, abundant and diverse marine communities, commercial fisheries and tourism industries. To examine the influence of glacier runoff on coastal marine ecosystems, I focused on three questions: 1) How does the marine food web respond to physical and biological gradients induced by glacier runoff? 2) What is the contribution of riverine organic matter (OM) and ancient carbon resources in glacier runoff to marine food webs from plankton to seabirds? and 3) How does the influence of glaciers on coastal marine ecosystems differ at small to large spatial and temporal scales? I measured physical, chemical and biological indices within four fjord systems along the eastern Gulf of Alaska coast. In chapter one I used geostatistics as well as parametric and non-parametric models to demonstrate a strong influence of glacier runoff on ocean conditions and coastal food webs across all the fjord systems. In chapter two I used isotopes (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N, and Δ14C) to trace riverine OM and ancient carbon resources into the marine food web. This work included the development of a novel multi-trophic level 3-isotope Bayesian mixing model to estimate the proportion of allochthonous resources in animal tissues. Mean estimates from 14 species groups spanning copepods to seabirds ranged from 12 – 45 % riverine OM source assimilation in coastal fjords, but ancient carbon use by marine food webs was low. In the third chapter I synthesized information on the scale-dependent influence of glaciers on lower-trophic level productivity, predator-prey interactions and ways that humans may be affected by anticipated changes in glacier coverage. This contemporary understanding of glacier influence on coastal ecosystems aligns with paleoenvironmental evidence suggesting that over geological time scales glaciers have and will continue to shape marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska.
    Description
    Dissertation (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2016
    Table of Contents
    Introduction -- Chapter 1: Glacier runoff strongly influences food webs in Gulf of Alaska fjords -- Chapter 2. Tracing biogeochemical subsidies from glacier runoff into Alaska coastal marine food webs -- Chapter 3. Scale-dependent influence of glaciers on marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Alaska -- Conclusion.
    Date
    2016-08
    Type
    Dissertation
    Collections
    Fisheries

    entitlement

     
    ABOUT US|HELP|BROWSE|ADVANCED SEARCH

    The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution and is a part of the University of Alaska system.

    ©UAF 2013 - 2023 | Questions? ua-scholarworks@alaska.edu | Last modified: September 25, 2019

    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.