The phytoplankton of the Bering and Chukchi seas support highly productive ecosystems characterized by tight benthic-pelagic coupling. In this study, we focus on the northern Bering and Chukchi seas, considering them as one ecosystem. This community has historically been dominated by diatoms; however, climate change and accompanying warming ocean temperatures may alter primary producer communities. Using metabarcoding, we present the first synoptic, high-throughput molecular phylogenetic investigation of phytoplankton diversity in the Bering and Chukchi seas based on hundreds of samples collected from June to September in 2017. We identify the major and minor taxonomic groups of diatoms and picophytoplankton, relative abundances of genera, exact sequence variants (201 for diatoms and 227 for picophytoplankton), and describe their biogeography. These phylogenetic insights and environmental data are used to characterize preferred temperature ranges, offering insight into which specific phytoplankton (Chaetoceros, Pseudo−nitzschia, Micromonas, Phaeocystis) may be most affected as the region warms. Finally, we investigated the likelihood of using shipboard CTD data alone as predictive variables for which members of phytoplankton communities may be present. We found that the suite of environmental data collected from a shipboard CTD is a poor predictor of community composition, explaining only 12.6% of variability within diatom genera and 14.2% variability within picophytoplankton genera. Clustering these communities by similarity of samples did improve predictability (43.6% for diatoms and 32.5% for picophytoplankton). However, our analyses succeeded in identifying temperature as a key driver for certain taxa found commonly throughout the region, offering a key insight into which common phytoplankton community members may be affected first as the Alaskan Arctic continues to warm.

The Alaska Halibut and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program is one of the largest and most successful catch share programs of the United States and the world. It has been successful in maintaining the economic value and owner-operated characteristics of these fisheries for the past 25 years. While most of the federal fisheries off Alaska have already transitioned to catch-share management systems, the development of new catch share programs for other regions could benefit from lessons learned in the development and evolution of the Alaska halibut and sablefish IFQ program. One of the main concerns of the policymakers with implementing an IFQ program was the potential loss of halibut and sablefish QS held by residents of remote communities in the Central Gulf of Alaska and the Southeast Alaska regions and the resultant long-term social changes. That concern remains, along with a related concern about perceived financial barriers to entry the Alaska Halibut and Sablefish IFQ program. The resilience of fishery-dependent communities depends on the state of the available fish resources as well as the extent to which community residents are vested in the fishery through ownership of limited license permits and quota share. This thesis consists of five chapters. The first is an overall introduction, which summarizes the entire thesis, and the final chapter is an overview conclusion of the research that was conducted. The three central chapters review the history of the fishery, gauge stakeholder attitudes about aspects of the program, and explore limitations to the successful adoption of measures intended to empower community engagement in these fisheries. Chapter 2 describes the evolution of the Alaska region Pacific halibut and sablefish fisheries over the past 139 years. This history can be divided into seven eras, each characterized by unique opportunities, challenges, and management innovations. The chapter shows that fluctuations in fish populations have been influenced by the interplay of management actions and environmental variation. The third chapter is a survey of Pacific Halibut and Sablefish Quota Share (QS) holders. This survey gathered information on crewmembers and operating costs in the Alaska halibut and sablefish fisheries. The results indicate that, on smaller vessels in certain areas, crewmembers tend to be drawn from the local region. In comparison, the crewmembers on larger vessels that fish in more remote areas tend to be drawn from outside those fishing areas. Results also indicate that residents of small fishing communities in remote areas had difficulty in obtaining financing to purchase QS for halibut and sablefish. In contrast, residents of larger communities expressed less concern about access to financing for QS purchases. The fourth chapter focuses on the evolution of the Alaska halibut and sablefish IFQ program. The impacts on the small communities following the transitions from open- to limited-access or share-based management were negative for some communities and positive for other communities. Over the past 16 years, several programs have been established to benefit fishery-dependent communities. Chapter 4 provides an overview of community-support measures developed for these fisheries and describes similar programs created for other Alaska region fisheries. These programs are not being fully utilized. In order to build their local fleets, communities need to increase cooperation and coordination to establish quota. Chapter 4 establishes a "roadmap" for sustaining and rebuilding community-based fisheries in Alaska. It requires the community to focus on its cooperative goals to enable them to take advantage of the community support measures included in fisheries regulation. There seems to be more interest in the younger generation in Alaska wanting to get involved in commercial fisheries. Evidence includes the popularity of the apprenticeship program developed by the Alaska Longline Association in Sitka and the keen interest in the annual Alaskan Young Fishermen Summit hosted by the Alaska Sea Grant. Rural communities could encourage the development of the next generation of fishermen by nurturing their youth's interest in fisheries and reestablishing their cultural heritage. This could be done by using the Federal halibut special permits for Ceremonial, Celebration, and Education fisheries. These permits are free and require a minimal amount of paperwork through the NOAA Fisheries Restricted Access Management program. The State of Alaska also has an educational permit program that is currently underutilized but has been successfully used in the past. Reestablished of these programs in local schools could foster youth's interest in their cultural heritage in fisheries. The positive outcome of this research is the information provided for rural communities to engage in more opportunities to generate fishing income for their community. Communities could have a real opportunity to bring commercial fisheries back into their rural areas. If the communities can navigate through all the regulations, it could provide a positive economic stimulus for the next generation of youth in their communities.

Since the late 19th century, higher education has played three different roles in the Alaska Native rights movement: nurturing Native political leaders towards the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (1891-1971), teaching Alaska Native peoples how to manage their land and resources (1971-1990), and developing Native academic leadership from within universities (1991-2013). The previous studies revealed Alaskan universities' inadequate and discriminatory responsesto Alaska Native peoples' educational needs/wants after the 1960s, and further identified a wide range of factors affecting Alaska Native college students' academic achievement and wellbeing. The historical examination and the literature review collectively delineate Alaska Native peoples' experiences with universities in the past. In order to understand the status quo of Alaska Native higher education, three Alaska Native college students were interviewed about their college experiences and thoughts on higher education during the spring of 2019. All three students mentioned the benefit of having an Indigenous community on campus, and giving back as a reason to pursue postsecondary education. Each student also had a unique perspective that the other students did not share, which included the importance of Alaska Native language courses for cultural well-being, place identity crisis caused by the relocation from a home village to an urban campus, and the prejudice against the services Alaska Native college students receive. These findings can be used as a starting point for a discussion on how to improve higher education for future generations of Alaska Native peoples. As the very persons experiencing the long-standing effect of colonization, Alaska Native college students have a strong power to transform higher education. Hearing their stories is the key to achieving multicultural higher education and creating an equitable society in Alaska.

The territories that comprise the Arctic region are part of some of wealthiest and most advanced countries on the planet; yet, rural Alaska, northern Canada, the Russian Far East and Greenland--characterized by off-grid communities, regional grids, and higher degrees of energy insecurity--have more in common with the developing world than the southern regions of their own country. This thesis explains this paradox of energy development in the Circumpolar North and tackles the issue of developing renewable energy in remote areas where technical and socioeconomic barriers are significant. The primary research questions are two-fold: 1) Why did the Alaska electrical system develop as a non-integrated patchwork of regional and isolated grids? and 2) What are the major factors in Alaska that have resulted in a greater uptake of renewable energy systems for remote communities, compared to other similar places in the Arctic? This thesis demonstrates that state-building theory provides a cogent framework to understand the context of electrical build-out in the Circumpolar North. A major finding of this thesis is that the buildout of electric infrastructure in the non-Nordic countries, including Alaska, exemplifies a process of incomplete nation-building. Interconnected regional grids, where they exist, are largely due to the twin national priorities in infrastructure development in the north: extracting natural resources and enhancing national security. This thesis also draws on sociotechnical transition theory to explain why Alaska exhibits such high levels of energy innovation when compared to other similar regions across the Arctic. This research concludes that drivers such as extremely high energy costs, a highly deregulated utility market with dozens of certificated utilities, state investment in infrastructure, and modest subsidies that create a technological niche where renewable energy projects are cost-competitive at current market prices have spurred energy innovation throughout Alaska's communities, remote or otherwise. Many of the evolving technical strategies and lessons learned from renewable integration projects in Alaska's remote islanded microgrids are directly applicable to project development in other markets. Despite differences in climate and geography, lessons learned in Alaska could prove invaluable in increasing resiliency and driving down energy costs in remote communities world-wide.

The discrepancy between science-based assessments of climate change and public acknowledgement of climate change has been extensively documented at a national level. The relationship of science-based assessments and public awareness of environmental change at the local community level is less studied. An understanding of how science-based information informs local perception is important to ensure that science communication effectively supports community decision making. This dissertation explores the gap between science-based assessments and local perception of environmental change within a framework of adaptive capacity. The research is divided into three interrelated studies that provide: 1) an assessment of community perception of local environmental change, 2) a local study that illustrates science-based assessment and reporting, and 3) an evaluation of the role news media plays in communicating science to the public. The first study implemented a survey of residents on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula to evaluate individual perception of environmental change as well as attitudes regarding climate change and natural resource management. Differences in perception of local environmental change were identified among respondents as well as shared perceptions. The use of property regulation to protect the Kenai River was identified as a divisive issue; however, there was a shared concern regarding the condition of local salmon populations. A second science-based ecological study was developed that examined those issues and linked conservation of riparian vegetation to juvenile salmon rearing habitat. This study examined the diet of stream-rearing juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and determined that the proportion of invertebrates which enter the stream from riparian habitats varied based on vegetation type for three streams in the Kenai watershed. The third study investigated how news media play a role in the interpretation of technical, science-based reporting for the public. It demonstrated that local news media provide a unique opportunity to promote communication of science-based information to their audiences by providing content that is familiar and relevant, offering a variety of topical framings, developing authoritative or trusted voices, and providing frequent exposure to content.

The United States has always been the top destination for international college students. However, the number of international students attending the United States higher institutions has decreased within the past three years, while the overall number of international students worldwide doubled in the same period of time. New international enrollments have also decreased in Alaska. This qualitative phenomenological study is an attempt to reveal some valuable insights into motivations, challenges and needs of Russian Far East international students who have studied and who are currently enrolled at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Based on the analysis of twenty one surveys and five in-depth interviews, this study provides some insights into factors that informed the decision of international students to pursue higher education in the United States, such as the high quality of education and international recognition of the American diploma, a chance to improve English skills, an opportunity to build international network and to secure potential career abroad, etc. For the American universities, and especially for University of Alaska, this research is an opportunity to better understand the needs of international student community. Also, it can designate areas and potential ways to create a safer and more productive academic environment and increase the international enrollment impacted by shifting social-political environment.

The patient-provider relationship may significantly impact a variety of health-related factors, ranging from the experience of chronic pain. (Jonsdottir, Oskarsson, & Jonsdottir, 2016) to overall healthcare outcomes (Beach, Keruly, & Moore, 2006). Patient demographics and previous medical history can influence patient perceptions of providers (Marchland, Palis, & Oviedo-Jones, 2016; Dennison et al., 2019), with previous studies exploring differences in the patient experience as a function of race, ethnicity, gender, location, socioeconomic status, and experience of chronic pain. However, few studies have assessed the interaction of multiple demographic and medical factors with patient perceptions of their interactions with providers. This study evaluated whether young adult patients’ demographic, medical, and gender-related factors were associated with perceptions of their most recent Primary Care Provider (PCP) interaction. Participants were surveyed regarding their medical history, experience of chronic pain, patient trust in physicians, patient-provider depth of relationship, quality of interactions with their PCP, and view the overall healthcare experience. Results indicate that women and participants with chronic pain disorders, mental health disorders, and sexual health disorders reported lower levels of satisfaction with interactions with providers. Moreover, inconsistency between quantitative ratings of recent PCP relationship quality and open-ended qualitative responses indicate a potential lingering effect of prior poor provider interactions on participants’ perceptions of health care providers.

Once abundant in the Arctic, bison (Bison bison) declined almost to extinction in the North but have subsequently been reintroduced into Alaska. The predecessors of these modern bison were the ancient steppe bison (Bison priscus), which were abundant throughout the Northern Hemisphere before their extinction during the Holocene. This thesis investigates the ecology and landscape-use of both the present-day wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) and the ancient steppe bison in Alaska using stable isotopes, among other methods. The stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of animal tissues are traditionally used to investigate diet. However, this thesis uses the isotope composition of tail hairs from present day wood bison as a proxy for their nutritional stress. Nutritional stress of some wood bison appears to be influenced not only by food shortage during hard seasons, but also due to long-distance mobility. This insight provides a key to understanding the challenges of reintroduction of the species into Alaska today, and can also be applied to understand the nutritional stress and cost of dispersal by ancient animals. Whereas the mobility of present-day bison can be tracked using sophisticated satellite tracking technologies, studies of the paleo-mobility of ancient bison rely on isotopic markers such as strontium and oxygen isotope ratios preserved in their teeth. To aid this approach using isotopic geolocation, this thesis creates a map of bioavailable strontium modeled and based on strontium isotope composition of present-day rodent teeth from across Alaska. It then compares this map, together with an existing oxygen isotope map of precipitation in Alaska, with the strontium and oxygen isotopes preserved in a suite of ancient bison from Northern Alaska. This comparison brings to light some of the major habitation regions used by Bison on the North Slope of Alaska over the last ~50,000 years. Finally, these findings subsequently contribute to a detailed paleoecological investigation of a mostly articulated and complete ancient steppe bison found on the North Slope of Alaska. This final study reveals the life-history of an individual bison that dispersed from the coastal plain to the foothills of the Brooks Range early in his life, and shows that the trip was nutritionally costly. This information is combined with a suite of other paleoecological methods to provide a vivid life history of this ancient bison. We introduce new methodologies for studying these ancient animals that seek to bridge the gap between how we study present-day and the past.

Understanding the potential effects of harvest on wildlife populations is fundamental to both theoretical wildlife science and applied wildlife management. The effects of harvest on wildlife populations vary dramatically and depend on the timing and magnitude of harvest, as well as population-specific states and vital rates. Demographic compensation plays a key role in models of wildlife population dynamics and in developing harvest strategies. However, the degree and form of compensation in a given population depends on its particular ecological and life history characteristics, resulting in the need for population-specific assessments of responses to harvest. Ptarmigan (Lagopus spp.) are ecologically important species and are culturally valued for subsistence and recreational hunting throughout the Holarctic. In Alaska, willow ptarmigan (L. lagopus) are among the most commonly harvested small game species, but the population-level effects of harvest are not well understood. Investigating the population level effects of harvest on these populations would aid harvest management and increase general understanding of the ecology of the species. To this end, I studied the population ecology of willow ptarmigan in a region of Alaska with spatially concentrated harvest along access corridors. I investigated: (1) the effect of harvest, season, and demographic group on survival, (2) the effect of harvest on breeding densities, (3) dispersal and seasonal movements patterns in relation to harvest, and (4) temporal and observer effects on ptarmigan survey efforts. I found that survival rates and breeding densities of willow ptarmigan in heavily hunted areas were substantially lower than those in remote sites without hunting. We did not observe seasonal compensatory mortality and the potential for permanent immigration (i.e., breeding/natal dispersal) to compensate for harvest appeared limited. However, seasonal movements away from breeding territories appeared to distribute the effects of harvest more evenly among ptarmigan from accessible and remote areas during winter and early spring. This suggests that the timing of hunting seasons may play a critical role in determining effects on ptarmigan densities in accessible breeding areas, with early autumn (prior to initiation of seasonal movements) harvest likely having the greatest impact. In addition, when examining ptarmigan survey methodology, I found substantial temporal heterogeneity in the availability of ptarmigan for detection during surveys, as well as variation in observer-specific detection rates. This underscores the importance of investigators considering the role of imperfect and heterogeneous detection when designing ptarmigan monitoring strategies to avoid inaccurate conclusions about abundance and trends.

The citizens of Fairbanks, Alaska are exposed to high levels of air pollutants throughout the winter months, causing the city to violate the Fine Particulate Matter (PM₂.₅) National Ambient Air Quality Standards set in place by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Previous studies have shown the significant amount of sulfate aerosols particles observed in Fairbanks winters, but the formation mechanism of aerosols containing sulfate in the atmosphere is still unknown. While sulfate aerosol particle formation is commonly driven by oxidants including ·OH, H₂O₂ and O₃, these photochemical species are limited in Fairbanks winter months. This indicates sulfate aerosol particle formation may occur through a nontraditional pathway, and this project investigates one proposed mechanism in which transition metals may catalyze sulfate aerosol particle formation. We collected twelve full diurnal cycles over the winter months of 2019, using a particle-to-liquid sampler (PILS) at hourly time resolution. This PILS instrument creates an aqueous extract containing only the water-soluble components of the aerosol particles. These aqueous extracts were analyzed offline for inorganic and metal concentrations by ion chromatography (IC) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This hourly dataset provides new insights in emissions, chemical processing and their coupling with boundary layer dynamics. We find a strong correlation between hourly sulfate and PM2.5 mass concentrations, but we do not find the strong evidence of transition metal ion (TMI) catalysis on sulfate formation. We also collected twelve sets of aerosol filters using Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) throughout the winter of 2019. These size-resolved filter samples suggest the presence of hydroxymethane sulfonate (HMS) in submicron particles when temperatures are below -30 °C (-22 °F), suggesting a new reservoir for sulfur compounds in Fairbanks winter and warranting further investigation.