animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Developing a research project proposal is hard work. In order to receive funding for their project, scientists must be able to explain what they hope to learn and why their proposed question is worth answering. For Antarctic research, scientists must have their project selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which coordinates all United States research in Antarctica. As you can imagine, it's a competitive application process! In 21st-century science, it's all about collaboration. The NSF knows that scientific discoveries are made when scientists with different skills team up to answer a question. Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish and her colleagues, Dr. Horning and Dr. Hindle, agree. This team of physiologists have worked together before and value the expertise each individual brings to the group. Without Dr. Horning's special knack for engineering instruments, Dr. Hindle's expertise in modeling data, or Dr. Mellish's skill at assessing animal health, this project would never have made it past the proposal stage. In addition to the benefit of varying skill-sets, working as a team gives scientists a chance to bounce ideas off one another. Talking about ideas leads to better research questions - and to successful collaborations like this one, carried out with support from the National Science Foundation (award #1043779). VIDEO: RESEARCH QUESTIONS Dr. Allyson Hindle explains the team's research questions for the Weddell seal project. (1:23) Video Transcript Dr. Allyson Hindle: “ My name is Allyson Hindle, and I’m a post doctoral researcher. I’m one of the Co-PI’s (Co-Principal Investigators) on this project. I work with a lot of the data on the back end. “One of the questions that we asked was whether changing sea ice conditions might have an impact on seals that depend on the ice. One of the first things that we needed to do, and really the central piece to this project is to look at how much it costs: How much energy does it cost a seal to stay warm in the water compared to on the ice? So in cold water, or in cold air. “I’m an animal physiologist, so I’m interested in the processes that help an animal function, the internal biology of the animal. All of those internal processes help animals do different things that are necessary for survival, like digesting food, staying warm (thermoregulation), contraction of their muscles so that they can swim, all those types of things. “I’m really interested in taking our data and trying to get as many numbers as I can for all of those biological, physiological processes, and then putting it together so that we can make some estimates and predictions about how these animals will live if the environment changes.” Understanding how changes in sea ice cover will impact polar seals hinges on a broader understanding of how different conditions change a seal's ability to thermoregulate. People have known for a long time that water and air have very different physical properties. One difference is in the way that water and air conduct heat. Scientists have calculated that water pulls heat away from a seal's body as much as 4.5 times faster than air. Brrrr! Knowing this, Dr. Hindle and the team believe that polar seals' ability to thermoregulate will be negatively affected if changing sea ice conditions alter the way these species budget the time they spend on ice and and in water. Further, the team hypothesizes that changes in sea ice will affect some animals more than others. They expect that larger animals with more blubber will have a greater buffer against environmental change, while smaller, leaner animals may face more challenges. VIDEO: RESEARCH METHODS Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish describes why McMurdo Sound's Weddell seals were the perfect population to study to test the team's hypotheses. (1:33) Video Transcript Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish: “Weddell seals were perfect for this project because we have an enormous size range to work with. We’ve got weaned pups all the way up to adult females. Not only do we have this body mass range, but during the breeding season we can also get animals that are in really good condition, so one size and really, really fat and those are our weaned pups. “We can get the same size animal that’s really, really lean and that’s our first year or second year juveniles, who are about the same size but they’ve just had their first year of foraging by themselves and they’re not quite as chunky. “Then we’ve got adult females who are enormous. Some of these females are back just to breed, they don’t have a pup that year so they are in ridiculously good health, they have more blubber than you can shake a stick at! Then you’ve got these other females that are the same frame size, but they just finished supporting a pup for the last four to six weeks. So there can be a 100 kilogram (220 pounds) difference in two animals of the same age and the same frame size. So we’ve got big and small, and lean and fat. We've got these four groups of animals that we can look at differences in how they forage, differences in how much energy they burn in a day, and differences in what kind of buffer they might have to adapt to a changing environment.“ In order to test their hypotheses, the team needed to develop a plan. Among the questions they needed to answer were: How would they determine which seals to study and what tools would they use to study the seals once they'd chosen them? These challenges had to be carefully considered before the team traveled to the ice. After all, once you board the plane for Antarctica, there’s no going back for something you forgot!       WHO IS STUDYING SEALS?   PHYSIOLOGIST (n) - a biologist who studies the processes that help living things function   COLLABORATION (n) - the action of working with others to do or create something   ENGINEER (v) - to design or build something   MODEL (n) - in science, a representation of data that makes something easier to quantify, predict, or understand   THERMOREGULATION (n) - the ability to maintain a constant body temperature under changing conditions   DATA (n) - values for something measured   HYPOTHESIZE (v) - to propose an anwer to a scientific question   BLUBBER (n) - an insulating fat possessed by many marine mammals    

          WELCOME, TEACHERS! The Alaska SeaLife Center and COSEE-Alaska are excited to present "Southern Exposure", a virtual field trip (VFT) to one of the most remote regions on Earth. Join Dr. Jo-Ann Mellish and her team as they travel to Antarctica's McMurdo Sound to investigate how changing sea ice conditions may impact ice-dependent polar seals, like Antarctica's Weddell seals. GRADE LEVEL: 5th-8th TIME NEEDED: Between one and four 1-hour class periods (teachers may choose to use all or part of the supplementary lessons) NUTSHELL: Students will learn about animal physiology while exploring how changing sea ice conditions may affect ice-dependent Weddell seals. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After completing this virtual field trip, students will be able to: - Highlight two ways that habitat conditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic are different - Define the term energy budget and explain how living things earn (gain) and use energy to meet the requirements of life - Describe the relationship between the depth of a seal's blubber and the animal's mass BACKGROUND: VIDEO: RESEARCH PROJECT PROMO Use this short research promo video to get your class excited about Southern Exposure. (0:56) In this virtual field trip, students will meet Drs. Jo-Ann Mellish, Markus Horning, and Allyson Hindle - a team of animal physiologists collaborating on a project about Antarctica's Weddell seals. Your students will follow Dr. Mellish's research team into the field as they work to answer the questions "What is the 'cost of living' for a polar seal?" and "How will the lives of these seals be impacted as their habitats continue to change?" This VFT can be used in a number of ways. Individuals may navigate through the pages on their own. Self-guided exploration can be completed in about an hour. Alternately, teachers may facilitate a structured experience, working through each page of the VFT together as a class. Lesson plans (included in the right-hand column of this page) are available to supplement online content. For a thorough introduction to Weddell seals, we recommend that teachers check out the PolarTrec webinar The Life Science of Weddell Seals with Dr. Jennifer Burns of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Though not affiliated with this project, Dr. Burns' presentation gives teachers a nice overview of current behavioral and physiological research on Weddell seals in Antarctica (40 minutes). TO USE THIS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP YOU WILL NEED: - Internet access, video-streaming capabilities - Access to Southern Exposure - Projection system (with audio) to display content or a computer lab (with headphones) - Corresponding lesson plans (arranged as PDFs in the right-hand column of this page) UNABLE TO RUN THE STREAMING VERSION? REQUEST A FREE COPY OF ALL MATERIALS ON CD BY EMAILING: education@alaskasealife.org ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Weddell seal specific Resources : Weddell Seal Science Project, YouTube Channel ARKive Weddell Seal Species Profile General information about Sea Ice: National Snow and Ice Data Center: Sea Ice Introduction National Snow and Ice Data Center: Arctic Vs. Antarctic NASA Earth Observatory: Sea Ice Education Resources Related to Climate Change: NOAA Education Resources: Climate Change Impacts   Contact Us: If you have any questions about this virtual field trip, please contact the Alaska SeaLife Center Education Department at education@alaskasealife.org or 907-224-6306. For more information on classes we offer, including our inquiry-based Distance Learning programs, visit our website at www.alaskasealife.org.       LESSON PLANS Use the .pdf links below to access classroom activities for each section of the virtual field trip. Lesson Plan One.pdf Lesson Plan Two.pdf Lesson Plan Three.pdf Glossary.pdf Guide to Standards Addressed All research was conducted under National Marine Fisheries Service Marine Mammal Protection Act authorization 15748 and Antarctic Conservation Act permit 2012-003.           

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Many of the species of birds, mammals, and fish that live in Prince William Sound hunt for food far from shore. Gulf Watch Alaska scientists are working hard to understand the productivity of these offshore areas. But it’s more than just learning how much food is available. Understanding what might cause the amount of food to change from year to year can help scientists predict impacts on the animals that depend upon offshore resources of the Gulf of Alaska. Productivity is influenced by a lot of factors: temperature (both air & water), salinity, tides, currents, rain, wind, the sun, water turbidity and, especially, the amount of plankton. These factors are also called environmental drivers and drivers are key indicators of the overall status of the Gulf of Alaska. Five Gulf Watch Alaska projects are collecting long-term physical and biological data. Several of the Environmental Drivers projects even pre-date EVOS. Some already have up to 30 years of data! Scientists are using this data to answer the following questions: • How exactly does the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem function? • What are the climate trends? • What is the influence of environmental drivers on the recovery of species impacted by the oil spill? Click on the images below to learn about the tools that researchers use to sample environmental drivers. Monitoring marine plankton is central to the Environmental Drivers research. Phytoplankton are the primary producers of the sea. Just like larger plants, they convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into energy. Zooplankton are the primary consumers of the sea. They feed on the phytoplankton. Zooplankton are a critical food source for a lot of marine animals. Watch the video below to learn more about plankton! VIDEO: Introduction to Plankton "Plankton" (on Vimeo). Plankton are a multitude of living organisms adrift in the currents. Our food, our fuel, and the air we breathe originate in plankton. From the Plankton Chronicles series by Christian Sardet (CNRS), Sharif Mirshak and Noé Sardet (Parafilms). (2:02) Video Transcript “Plankton” comes from the Greek word planktos, which means “wandering.” Any living creature carried along by ocean currents is classified as plankton. It ranges in size from the tiniest virus to siphonophores (the longest animals in the world) and also includes microscopic algae, krill or fish larvae. Some plankton, like these salps, drift all their lives; others, like mollusks and fish, are only planktonic during their embryonic or larval stage. When they reach adulthood, they settle or swim freely. Planktonic organisms play important roles in human life. Many microscopic species get their energy from photosynthesis. They absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen; thus, they constantly renew the air we breathe. Plankton has also been a great provider of fossil energy. When it dies it sinks to the sea bed. This layer of sediment has fossilized for more than a billion years, producing our precious oil. Finally, plankton nourishes us. It’s the basis of the food chain, in which the large eat the small. Without plankton there would be no fish. Scientists are using Environmental Drivers’ data to find answers to vital questions such as: • How do springtime conditions in the Gulf of Alaska influence the phytoplankton bloom? • How does this bloom of phytoplankton affect the numbers and location of zooplankton from year to year? The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) is a tool made to sample plankton from ships sailing across the Gulf of Alaska. A CPR is designed to be towed from merchant ships as they follow their scheduled routes. These ships are not research vessels, but they use CPR instruments during their voyages to help researchers gather data. The cargo vessel Horizon Kodiak is one ship that tows a CPR northbound towards Cook Inlet about once a year. View the video below to discover more about the benefits of using CPR on vessels like the Horizon Kodiak. VIDEO: Continuous Plankton Recorder Sonia Batten describes the use of Continuous Plankton Recorders in the Gulf of Alaska. (1:53) Video Transcript Plankton are considered one of the environmental drivers, so they’re the link between what happens in the ocean – in terms of water chemistry, temperature, the water conditions – and the fish, because plankton respond to their environment really quickly, and fish feed on plankton and larger organisms feed on fish, so the plankton are the link between the oceanography and the fish. We know that plankton respond really quickly because they have life cycles that are really short, sometimes even days, but all of them less than a year or at least a year is the longest life cycle. So if changes happen in their environment they respond quite quickly, and you can see that in changes in their numbers, and the types of plankton and where they’re at. So by monitoring them it gives you a really rapid response to a change in the environment. In the early part of the twentieth century in the UK, it was kind of hard to know where to send the fishing boats, you know, where they were going to find the herring, and Alister Hardy invented this instrument that could be towed behind ships, measuring the plankton, and it’s called the continuous plankton recorder. Continuous because, rather than taking a sample as a snapshot across, it continuously samples the plankton as it goes. His idea was that if you could understand the food of the herring, the food of the fish, maybe you could predict where they were going to be and then send the fishing boats there. You would build a map, a bit like a weather map, of where plankton were and when they were, and then you could send the fishers. So that was his idea, back in the early part of the early part of the twentieth century. And it took a few years to get routine, but from the 1930s onwards they were using this instrument to do that – to build up a picture of plankton meteorology, basically.         Who is watching the Gulf?   Biological (adj): pertaining to the science of life or living matter   CTD (n): acronym for Conductivity, Temperature, Depth. An oceanography instrument that records the salinity (conductivity) & temperature at a prescribed depth of seawater   Consumer (n): a living thing that eats other living things to survive. It cannot make its own food.   Buoy (n): a fixed-in-place, floating device that can serve many purposes in the sea. The GAK1 Data Buoy is fitted with many different oceanographic instruments.   Physical (adj): pertaining to the properties of matter and energy other than those distinctly related to living matter   Phytoplankton (n): freely floating, often minute plants that drift with water currents   Plankton (n): organisms that swim weakly, or not at all, and drift with water currents   Primary producer (n): an organism that makes its own food from light energy or chemical energy   Salinity (n): the saltiness of a body of water   Zooplankton (n): freely floating animals that drift with water currents  

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Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         On March 24, 1989, an oil tanker leaving the port of Valdez, Alaska hit a shallow reef and spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the sea. This spill spread southwest, covering nearly 1,300 miles of coastline in thick, sticky oil. Oil was even found washed up near the village of Chignik, 470 miles away from the spill site. It is estimated that 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, up to 22 orcas, and billions of salmon and herring eggs were lost in the spill. It is difficult to know how many intertidal plants and animals, such as barnacles, sea stars, and hermit crabs, were also impacted. The Gulf of Alaska is part of the North Pacific Ocean. It stretches from the Alaska Peninsula in the west to the islands of Alaska’s southeast. The coast includes mountains, glaciers, forests, towns, and cities. The waters are full of life and support one of the country’s largest fishing industries. Powerful currents circulate marine life and bring up nutrients from deep waters. Seabirds and marine mammals feed in the many bays and estuaries of the gulf. These areas also provide nursery habitats for fish. So many factors influence the Gulf of Alaska! The major factors include: Precipitation in the form of snow and rain Freshwater runoff from rivers, glaciers, and melting snow The upwelling & downwelling of water carrying nutrients that get mixed by the tides and currents Click the image below for a closer look at some of these factors. Be sure to use the vocabulary list at the right if you run into any terms you are not familiar with! Thousands of workers, volunteers, and community members worked together to clean up the spill. However, oil still remains hidden below the sand and rocks on the beaches and scientists want to know what this means for the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem. Since 1989, scientists have continued to study how the Gulf of Alaska's ecosystem is responding to the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS). All of Earth’s ecosystems are affected by both natural changes and human activities. After the 1989 spill, scientists realized something important. We did not have enough data to fully understand how complex the northern Gulf of Alaska ecosystem really is. We were lacking what researchers call “baseline” data. A baseline is a measure of how things are (or were) at a particular time. Without baseline data, it is hard to understand how ecosystems respond to changes in environmental conditions, which can occur naturally or as a result of human activities. Think of a baseline like this: If you measure your heartbeat when you are resting, it’s beating regularly and probably pretty slowly. This is your baseline to measure from. If you suddenly run up a long flight of steps, your heart starts beating much faster and you are probably out of breath. If you count your heartbeat now, you can measure how much it changed from the baseline. That change is the impact caused by running up the steps. For example, in the Gulf of Alaska it is difficult to know exactly how the 1989 oil spill changed sea otter population numbers. This is hard to measure because baseline data for the number of sea otters living there before the spill doesn't exist. In order to improve our understanding of baselines and change for the entire Gulf of Alaska ecosystem, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council created and continues to fund the work of the Gulf Watch Alaska long-term monitoring program. Gulf Watch Alaska is a team of scientists and researchers who work together to measure and monitor different parts of the ecosystem in the spill area. They compare their data to get a “bigger picture” about how the ecosystem works and how healthy it is. VIDEO: Introduction to Gulf Watch Alaska Introduction to the Gulf Watch Alaska ecosystem monitoring program. (1:14) Video Transcript On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Alaska. Today, more than 26 years after the accident, scientists are still trying to understand the full impacts of the spill on the waters and wildlife of the Gulf. To that end, Gulf Watch Alaska has brought together twelve different organizations and over 40 scientists to study all aspects of the Gulf of Alaska and its state of recovery from the spill. Monitoring the lasting effects of the oil spill is no small task. Like a large puzzle, the Gulf of Alaska is a complex system made up of ever smaller components. The four main components being studied by Gulf Watch Alaska are the driving environmental forces of the Gulf, the pelagic ecosystem of its waters, the nearshore ecosystems of its coast, and the lingering oil that still remains from the Exxon Valdez spill. By closely monitoring these components simultaneously, the scientists of Gulf Watch Alaska hope to better understand the whole picture of the Gulf of Alaska and its continuing recovery from the spill.   The Gulf Watch Alaska monitoring program is organized into four related ecosystem monitoring components. Click below to discover each component.       Who is watching the Gulf?   Baseline data (n): a measure of normal or how things usually are before change   Carbon pump (n): the ocean's biologically-driven transfer of carbon from the atmosphere to the deep sea   Detritus (n): waste or debris of any kind, but especially organic matter produced by the decomposition of organisms   Downwelling/Upwelling (n): the downward (or upward) movement of fluid, especially in the sea   Ecosystem (n): a community of living things and its nonliving surroundings linked together by energy and nutrient exchange   Eddy (n): a circular movement of water counter to a main current   Estuary (n): where the salty ocean tide meets freshwater from the land at the mouth of a river, stream, creek, or the toe of a glacier   EVOS (n): Exxon Valdez oil spill   Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (n): organization formed after EVOS to oversee the restoration of the injured ecosystem   Habitat (n): a place that provides an animal or plant with adequate food, water, shelter, and living space to feed, breed, seek shelter, and raise young   Impact (n): a powerful or major influence or effect   Lunar forcing (n): the effect that the gravitational pull of the moon has upon the oceans, creating the tide cycles   Monitor (v): to observe and check the progress or quality of (something) over a period of time; keep under systematic review   Photic boundary (n): the depth of the ocean that indicates the division between the photic (or sunlight) zone and the aphotic zone where photosynthesis becomes impossible  

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Thousands of individual animals died as a result the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Some died soon after contact with the oil. Others died more slowly as a result of the toxins. It is difficult to measure how animal populations continue to be affected by contact with oil after the cleanup. The long-term harm from chronic exposure to the chemicals in oil remains a problem in some areas, especially where oil can still be found under rocks. Since 1990, scientists have been gathering data about locations where oil continues to linger, as well as the movement of toxic chemicals throughout the Prince William Sound ecosystem. The Lingering Oil project is studying the recovery of harlequin duck and northern sea otter populations in Prince William Sound because there are long-term health concerns for both of these populations. The Gulf Watch Alaska team is collecting data by taking samples in both oiled and non-oiled sites in Prince William Sound. Click on the images below to learn more about these two species. Scientists use a variety of skills to capture ducks and otters in order to collect tissue samples. These methods are designed to safely capture the animals and then release them unharmed. According to Dr. Esler, “It might not be the greatest day for the animals, [but] their long-term survival is not compromised.” To capture harlequin ducks, the team uses a floating mist net. This net sits above the water like an invisible wall. As the ducks come in for a landing, they are trapped in the net. Researchers can then safely remove the ducks and take them to the veterinarian for sampling. Capturing sea otters is a bit more challenging. These cute and fuzzy creatures are, in fact, the largest member of the weasel family (the Mustelids). This is a group of animals who are not known for their sweet and cuddly personalities. Think of a sea otter as a floating badger or wolverine! Watch the video below to see divers use a Wilson Trap to safely capture and handle sea otters for sampling. VIDEO: Capturing Sea Otters United States Geological Survey (USGS) video showing how divers use Wilson traps to capture sea otters in the wild. (3:53) Video Transcript (This video contains music and some ambient sounds but no dialogue.) Watch the video below to learn more about the scientists' field work as they monitor the effects of lingering oil in Prince William Sound. VIDEO: Lingering Oil Dan Esler describes how scientists are studying the effects of lingering oil on harlequin ducks and sea otters. (1:48) Video Transcript The lingering oil studies occur in western Prince William Sound, which is where the oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill landed, and actually there’s still some oil out there today – small pockets of oil that’s buried in sediments on beaches, throughout western Prince William Sound. So that’s where the lingering oil issues are still important to track. From the USGS perspective, we’re looking at effects of that lingering oil on wildlife. So considering effects of exposure to that lingering oil, and also to understand what that might mean to individuals and populations of the wildlife that live out there. The main species that we’re thinking about in terms of lingering oil are harlequin ducks and sea otters, and that’s because there’s a long history of understanding that lingering oil’s been an important constraint on population recovery of those two species, and so we’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand the timeline and the mechanisms by which those species are recovering from the oil spill. We’ve measured exposure in a number of different ways. For example, with harlequin ducks we’ve used an enzyme called cytochrome P450 1A. It’s a long word basically for an enzyme that gets induced when any vertebrate’s exposed to hydrocarbons. So if you and I were exposed to oil, we would have an induction of that enzyme that would be measurable and then could tell us whether one has been exposed to that. The enzyme itself is part of a cascade of physiological processes that any vertebrate goes through once they’ve been exposed to oil. And it could be indicative of physiological harm, or it could be indicative of just exposure without physiological harm. So we’re not inferring harm from induction of the enzyme, what we’re inferring is that they’re still exposed to oil with the potential for harm.         Who is watching the Gulf?   Concentration (n): the amount of something in a specific place or given volume   Recovery (n): a return to a normal state of health   Tissue sampling (n): various procedures to obtain bodily fluids, muscle, skin, fur or feathers for testing  

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()           Nearshore and benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms are good gauges of change in the environment. Many are sedentary, sensitive to change, and easy to access for study. Scientists are usually more able to discover the source of change in this kind of habitat. Once those sources are found, they can identify and compare changes that are natural from those that are man-made. Click the image below to discover the different zones of the nearshore ecosystem. The Nearshore Ecosystems team collects data in the tidal areas. Researchers are focused on learning about the variety and abundance of the species living at sites in Prince William Sound, the outer Kenai Peninsula, and Lower Cook Inlet. This data will help scientists find answers for questions like: • Is the nearshore environment changing significantly from year to year? • Have resources in this environment recovered from the 1989 oil spill? If not, are there reasons other than the oil spill? • Are changes in offshore conditions also causing changes in the nearshore habitats? This project focuses on organisms that are considered crucial to the nearshore ecosystem’s health. One such key species is the black oystercatcher. These shorebirds are good candidates for monitoring projects because they have a long lifespan. Over that lifetime, the oystercatcher lives in and depends upon intertidal habitats. This is where they mate, nest, and raise their young. Even though black oystercatchers aren’t benthic animals, they eat a diet of creatures that are. Their menu of mussels, limpets, and chitons are easily effected by changes in the environment. If oystercatchers aren’t healthy, it probably means that something significant has happened to the shellfish that they eat. Click on the image below to learn more about the black oystercatcher, a critical species of the Nearshore Benthic Systems in the Gulf of Alaska project. Click the audio icon to hear the call of the black oystercatcher. Scientists, like the National Park Service’s Heather Coletti, are trying to address the following questions: • Are the numbers of black oystercatcher nests changing from year to year? • Is the number of eggs or chicks in each nest changing? • Are chicks supplied with the same variety and amount of food each year? • Does this data change from one location to another? Heather and her team monitor the habitat of black oystercatchers using a variety of methods, including the use of shoreline transects to survey nest sites and sample prey remains at oystercatcher nesting sites. VIDEO: Monitoring Nearshore Systems Heather Coletti describes her work studying black oystercatchers for the nearshore systems component of Gulf Watch Alaska. (1:50) Video Transcript The nearshore is that interface between the terrestrial system – land – and the oceans. And there are several influences from the ocean that meet at the nearshore and then we have anthropogenic and natural influences from the terrestrial, and in some heavily populated areas that’s pollution and runoff, and how the nearshore really is affected by all those influences. And it’s essentially where the densest human populations live, along the coasts. Our program is essentially monitoring the nearshore food web. So we start out at the sea grasses and algae, which are the primary producers of that system. And then we look at invertebrates – benthic invertebrates – whether it’s mussels, clams, limpets… And then we have surveys for higher trophic level predators, like your sea ducks, sea otters, sea stars. We monitor oystercatchers, which are a pretty charismatic shorebird that is essentially confined to the nearshore and the intertidal. They feed exclusively in the intertidal on benthic invertebrates. So that’s your mussels, your limpets, that’s their two primary food sources, but they’ll eat some barnacles and some worms. So we have several aspects of their biology that we are monitoring. The goal of any monitoring program is to look at change over time and understand change over time, what’s driving it and if there’s any way to predict what those outcomes may be. That’s ultimately the goal and we are in our first few years of monitoring, and right now looking at what the natural variation in these systems is like. That hasn’t been fully documented yet.       Who is watching the Gulf?   Abundance (n): the quantity or amount of something   Benthic (adj): pertaining to the seafloor and the organisms that live there   Data (n): values for something measured   Density (n): the number of inhabitants per unit of area   Distribution (n): the way in which something is spread over an area   Intertidal (n): the benthic shore area between the extreme reaches of high and low tides   Nearshore (n): the marine zone that extends from the high tide line to depths of about 20 meters   Organism (n): an individual life form   Prey (n): an animal taken by predators as food   Riparian zone (n): the area of land next to a lake, river, stream, or wetland   Subtidal (n): the benthic area below low tide that is covered by water most of the time and exposed briefly during extreme low tides   Tide (n): the alternate rising and falling of the sea at a particular place, due to the gravitional attraction of the moon and sun   Transect (n): a path along which scientists count animal populations and plant distributions    

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('C', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Pelagic animals live in the open seas, away from the coast or seafloor. The Pelagic Ecosystem team has the task of studying these predator and prey species in Prince William Sound. Despite the challenge, scientists have already managed to collect decades of data that focus on the interactions between whales, seabirds and their prey. This information is useful in answering questions such as: • What are the population trends of key open-ocean predators, such as orcas, tufted puffins, and humpback whales? • Are the numbers of forage fish, like herring, sand lance, and capelin, going up or down? • Is it possible to monitor forage fish population trends? • If it is possible to monitor them, what is the best way to do so? Forage fish have a big impact on marine ecosystems. They convert a huge amount of energy from lower trophic levels and this energy is transferred into food for larger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds. Forage fish have great numbers of offspring and short lifespans. These traits can cause major changes in their abundance from year to year. If the abundance of forage fish increases or decreases significantly, the predators that eat them will also experience shifts in their population numbers. Humpback whales are predators of herring. Many humpback whales migrate from Prince William Sound to Hawaii for the winter. Some humpback whales, however, stay in or near the Sound. During the winter, there is not much plankton for humpbacks to feed on, and fish like herring become a good alternative source of food for these whales. Watch the video below to see how the predators of the pelagic hunt their herring prey. VIDEO: Bait Ball Feast - BBC One In late summer, the plankton bloom is at its height and vast shoals of herring gather to feed on it. Diving birds round the fish up into a bait ball and then a humpback whale roars in to scoop up the entire ball of herring in one huge mouthful. From "Nature's Great Events: The Great Feast" by BBC. (1:14) Video Transcript The murres only attack from beneath, trapping the fish against the surface. But they push the herring within range of the gulls. It’s a feeding frenzy. The table is set for the mightiest predator of them all: the humpbacks have reached their feeding grounds. Scientists want to know the best way to estimate the numbers of specific fish species, such as herring. They get the data they need using a combination of aerial surveys, hydroacoustics, and various fish-capture techniques. Check out the video below to hear Mayumi Arimitsu explain some of these techniques. VIDEO: Forage Fish Studies Mayumi Arimitsu describes the methods scientists use to monitor forage fish populations. (0:55) Video Transcript We have observers in a plane that are looking at schools of fish in the ocean very close to the shoreline. We do a couple of things. One is use hydroacoustics from the boat, and with basically a scientific fish finder we’re able to quantify the biomass and density and depth distribution of these different forage fish. We also are trying to validate the aerial survey observations so we have a team in a skiff that are communicating with the pilot in the plane, and they are trying to catch what the observers in the plane are seeing. Scientists working on the humpback whale monitoring project are trying to understand if the whales are having an impact on the recovery of herring populations in Prince William Sound. An important part of this project is maintaining an up-to-date humpback “fluke identification catalog,” a kind of “Who’s Who?” in the Gulf of Alaska whale world. Watch the video below to learn about how scientists observe and photograph whales included in the fluke identification catalog. VIDEO: Tracking Humpback Whales John Moran describes how scientists are studying the importance of humpback whales in the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem. (2:08) Video Transcript (Narrator) These small silver fish are Pacific herring, one of the many species being monitored by Gulf Watch Alaska. Scientists are monitoring their population for signs of recovery after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. They are also interested in other potential factors that could be affecting their recovery. One of these potential factors may be humpback whales. (John Moran) We want to know if humpback whales are having an impact on the recovering herring population in Prince William Sound. Basically we want to know how many herring are whales eating, and is that important. So the first thing we need to do is figure out how many whales are there, so we use Photo ID. All the whales have unique patterns on their flukes. When the whale dives it shows the underside of its fluke, and we’ll take a picture of that and that can identify the individual whale. So basically we get on the boat and we go look for whales. That the base of our research is getting the fluke IDs. And from that you can get a lot more information out of it. We need to figure out what they’re eating, so we use the echo sounder on the boat, we’ll use nets and jigs, so we’ll see whatever prey is around the whale and try to catch that. Or if there’s any scales that slip out of their mouth, or any kind of sign of things on the surface, or fish jumping out of the whale’s mouth, we’ll try to document that. And we also use biopsies. We have a cross bow or a rifle that takes a little blubber plug out of the whale. So we approach the whale and get a little sample, and from that we can use stable isotopes or fatty acids to get at what the diet’s been from that whale. Humpbacks are kind of new players on the scene, they’re population was really low. In the late sixties & early seventies, there may have been 1,500-2,000 humpbacks in the North Pacific. And then there was this survey called the SPLASH survey that took place in 2006 that put the population at over 20,000. So that’s a huge increase. It impacts managers. If you’re managing a herring fishery and you have these humpbacks population weren’t really there 20, 30, 40 years ago, you’ve got to account for these new predators, how many herring are they taking, it’s all important to know if you’re trying to manage a fishery. We haven’t had them there, so how they impact the ecosystem is going to be new to us.       Who is watching the Gulf?   Biomass (n): the amount of living matter in a given habitat (i.e. the weight of organisms per unit area, or the volume of organisms per unit of habitat)   Forage fish (n): small schooling fishes that feed on plankton and are eaten by larger predators   Hydroacoustics (n): the study of sound in water   Pelagic (adj): the open sea, away from the coast or seafloor   Trophic level (n): the position of an organism or species in a food web or food chain    

          WELCOME, TEACHERS! The Alaska SeaLife Center and Gulf Watch Alaska are excited to present this virtual field trip (VFT). Join the Gulf Watch Alaska team of scientists as they investigate the long term effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the ecosystems of the Gulf of Alaska. Learn about the work of a collaborative team of scientists from many different ocean science disciplines, who represent over 15 different government agencies, non-profit research institutions, and universities. GRADE LEVEL: 6-8th TIME NEEDED: Between one and four 1-hour class periods (teachers may choose to use all or only some of the supplementary lessons). NUTSHELL: Students will learn about the long-term monitoring projects that have been studying the effects of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound and the northern Gulf of Alaska. They will explore the various projects and how, collectively, they can inform us about the overall ecosystem. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After completing this virtual field trip, students will be able to: • Explain how the long-term monitoring project called Gulf Watch Alaska was founded and what its overall goals are. • Understand the collaborative nature of science and how researchers from various disciplines working together can provide a ‘big picture’ view of a massive project. • Explain the various levels of a biome and how all components of an ecosystem depend upon each other for a healthy environment. BACKGROUND: In this virtual field trip, students will meet various scientists and researchers working for the Gulf Watch Alaska long-term ecosystem monitoring program, a project of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, encompassing the marine ecosystems affected by the 1989 oil spill. This program is organized into four related ecosystem monitoring components, with data management, modeling, and synthesis components providing overall integration across the program. This VFT can be used in a number of ways. Individuals may navigate through the pages on their own and meet the scientists through the links provided on the right-hand bar. Self-guided exploration can be completed in a couple of hours. Alternatively, teachers may facilitate a structured experience, working through each page of the VFT together in a class. Lesson plans (links included on the right-hand column of this page) are available to supplement online content. TO USE THIS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP YOU WILL NEED: • Internet access, video-streaming capabilities • Projection system (with audio) to display content or a computer lab (with headphones) • Corresponding lesson plans (linked as PDFs in the right hand column of this page) UNABLE TO RUN THE STREAMING VERSION? REQUEST A FREE COPY OF ALL MATERIALS ON CD BY EMAILING education@alaskasealife.org. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: • Gulf Watch Alaska • Alaska Ocean Observing System • Nearshore Ecosystem Projects • Ecological Trends in Kachemak Bay • Nearshore Benthic Systems in the Gulf of Alaska • National Park Service SWAN Nearshore Monitoring • Environmental Drivers Projects • Continuous Plankton Recorder • Gulf of Alaska Mooring (GAK1) Monitoring • Oceanographic Conditions in Lower Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay • Oceanographic Conditions in Prince William Sound • The Seward Line: Marine Ecosystem Monitoring in the Northern Gulf of Alaska • Lingering Oil Projects • Weathering and Tracking • Harlequin ducks and sea otters • EVOS Status of Injured Resources and Services • Pelagic Ecosystem • Detection of Seabird Populations • Fall and Winter Seabird Abundance • Forage Fish • Humpback Whales • Killer Whales • Prince William Sound Marine Bird Population Trends   Contact Us: If you have any questions about this virtual field trip, please contact the Alaska SeaLife Center Education Department at education@alaskasealife.org or 907-224-6306. For more information on classes we offer, including our inquiry-based 50-minute Distance Learning programs, visit our website at www.alaskasealife.org.         CURRICULUM SUPPLEMENTS Use the .pdf links below to access classroom activities for each section of the Gulf Watch Alaska virtual field trip experience. Lesson 1 Nearshore.pdf Lesson 2 Drivers.pdf Lesson 3 Lingering_Oil.pdf Lesson 4 Pelagic.pdf Gulf Watch Whale Fluke ID.pdf Who's that Whale? slideshow          

animatedcollapse.addDiv('1', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('2', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() Who is watching walrus? CONTINENTAL SHELF - the area of shallow ocean water around the edge of a continent before the seabed slopes down into the deep ocean HAUL OUT (v) - to leave the water and rest on land, rocks, or floating ice HAULOUT (n) - a place where marine mammals leave the water to rest STAMPEDE - a sudden rush of many individuals, usually in a panic DISTURBANCE - when an animal or group of animals changes its behavior as a result an event           In the cold northern ocean between Alaska and Russia, freezing weather is possible during any month of the year. Throughout the long winter, temperatures in the Arctic are so cold that the surface of the ocean freezes for millions of square miles! Remarkably, animals like the Pacific walrus are adapted to live in this chilly climate, and they use sea ice as part of their habitat. In recent summers, scientists and local residents have noticed less sea ice than normal in the Arctic. In September 2009, sea ice in the Chukchi Sea melted past the edge of the continental shelf. As a result, 3,500 walruses who usually rest in small groups on floating sea ice were forced to haul out together on land at Icy Cape. Something startled the walrus while they were resting there. When startled, walrus will leave their haulout and rush into the water. As the huge group of walrus at Icy Cape rushed to the water, younger and smaller animals were trampled. Alaska SeaLife Center scientists and veterinarians were on the team that was sent to Icy Cape after the stampede. They found more than 130 young walrus dead on the beach. This dramatic scene sparked their interest in studying walrus. Land-based haulouts in the Chukchi Sea were first seen in the United States less than ten years ago. A walrus's choice to haul out on land is directly linked to the availablity of sea ice. If ice is available within their range, they will haul out on it. If ice is not available, they will haul out on land. Scientists fear that, if we continue to have summers with less-than-normal sea ice, events like the stampede at Icy Cape will become more common. Scientists at the Alaska SeaLife Center want to understand how walrus use these new land haulouts. They also want to learn how walrus will respond to disturbances while they are on land. The challenge is that walrus live in isolated, wild areas spread across a huge region. To study walrus, scientists must find a way to observe them closely without causing any disturbance events themselves. How will the scientists do it? Join our team as they come up with a plan. To get started, let's learn more about the Icy Cape stampede by checking out the videos and news release below. You'll be amazed how crowded the walrus haulouts can get! VIDEO: Icy Cape Stampede 2009 When large numbers of walrus haul out together on land, a disturbance event can mean disaster. This video, including images from the 2009 Icy Cape stampede, examines what can happen when walrus haul out on land in large groups. (1 minute) Video Transcript Over the past few decades, sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking at increasing rates. When the ice recedes past the continental shelf, walrus females and calves are forced to leave the ice and haul out on shore to stay near their feeding grounds. As you can see in this video taken near Point Lay in 2011, conditions on shore can get very crowded. If the walruses are disturbed, they may rush to the water in a massive stampede. In September 2009 scientists observed thousands of walruses hauling out together on land near Icy Cape on the shore of the Chukchi Sea. When researchers surveyed the area a few days later, they found over 130 walruses dead on the beach. Veterinarians and scientists from the Alaska SeaLife Center and other organizations investigated the event and determined that most of the fatalities were young animals that had died as a result of a stampede. Though the cause of this disturbance at Icy Cape is unknown, the number of fatalities can be attributed to the crowded conditions at the haul out.   Click here for more information on walrus haulout events in Alaska's North Slope Borough, including the 2009 Icy Cape event.   Now that we've observed the same event that sparked the interest of our Alaska SeaLife Center marine mammal research team, let's learn more about Pacific walrus and what they need to survive.      

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('1', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('2', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Before setting out to explore what's living within the Bering Sea's annual sea ice, scientists need to understand the sea ice itself. The first important step is to understand how sea ice forms. When we think of the world’s oceans, we usually imagine large bodies of blue-green salt water. However, in the polar regions of our planet, conditions can be so cold that the surface of the ocean freezes. This happens when cool air temperatures and wind combine to chill the top layer of seawater to less than 28.8°F (-1.8°C). Take a look at the videos below to learn more about how sea ice forms and how it fits into the Bering Sea ecosystem: VIDEO: THE SCIENCE OF SEA ICE This video explains how sea ice differs from ice formed on fresh water lakes and describes why sea ice is an important part of the Bering Sea ecosystem. (1:55) Video Transcript Salt water and fresh water have very different physical properties.  You may have noticed one example of this already- seawater freezes at a cooler temperature.    This is because of the dissolved salt that makes sea water salty. When ocean water freezes, only the fresh water forms ice crystals leaving the salts behind in concertrated liquid droplets called brine. As the water continues to freeze, the brine droplets grow and accumulate to form tiny passageways called brine channels. So instead of being solid like an ice cube, sea ice is laced with these little brine channels that are filled with extremely salty water.  Because sea water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water, sea ice can only exist in very cold locations.  The National Snow and Ice Data Center estimates that only about “15% of the world’s oceans are covered by sea ice during part of the year”.  Most of this sea ice is in the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.  Some areas of the ocean are covered with sea ice all year, while in other areas sea ice is only present during the coldest months of the winter. The Bering Sea is an example of a region that only has sea ice during part of the year.  Arctic sea ice begins to grow in September, extending South into the Bering Sea as the winter continues.  The maximum sea ice extent is in March, and in the spring ice begins to melt away.  Plants, wildlife and humans all rely on the timing of the Spring sea ice melt. For plants, melting ice means access to light for photosynthesis.  For animals and humans it means access to the food resources they depend on.  Scientists expect that changes in the timing and extent of sea ice cover in the Bering Sea may impact the whole ecosystem. Brine channels inside the sea ice provide a unique habitat for ice algae. When sea ice melts in the spring, this algae is released into the water below. In areas like the Bering Sea, where sea ice is not always present, the spring sea ice melt is an important annual event for the ecosystem. VIDEO: SEA ICE ALGAE THROUGH THE SEASONS This animation illustrates how sea ice algae in the Bering Sea varies through the seasons. (0:55) To help them describe different parts of the ocean from the top down, scientists divide it into zones based on types of habitats. In the Bering Sea, three habitat zones exist: the sympagic, the pelagic and the benthic. Dr. Gradinger and his team believe that, in the spring, plants and animals in the sympagic, pelagic and benthic zones are all impacted by sea ice.  What they want to better understand is exactly how these species are impacted, by learning how they fit together in the food web. Understanding what life is like in different areas of the Bering Sea ecosystem during the springtime helps Dr. Gradinger and his team begin to predict how the ecosystem might respond if Arctic sea ice coverage continues to recede.  The research team's curiosity with this previously understudied ecosystem led to the development of specific research questions and a project proposal that took them out on the ice!       WHO IS STUDYING SEA ICE?   POLAR (adj)- Describing the area of the Earth's surface around the North and South poles.   BRINE (n)- very salty water   PELAGIC (adj)- in the open ocean environment   BENTHIC (adj)- in the sea floor environment   SYMPAGIC (adj)- in the ice environment   PRIMARY CONSUMER (n)- an animal that feeds on plants; an herbivore   LARVAL STAGE (n)- a juvenile stage many animals go through before they grow into adults  

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('1', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('2', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Three years of spring sampling trips resulted in thousands upon thousands of data samples. Back at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the scientists resettle into their lab. Now with all their samples in front of them, they work to draw meaning from these snippets of information. It's like putting together a puzzle, but this one will take years to finish! Dr. Rolf Gradinger quickly discovered that there was a huge amount of ice algae production happening in the Bering Sea, even more than the team had hypothesized! Dr. Gradinger found that as much as 50% of all the algae growing in the Bering Sea in spring was growing with the sea ice. Armed with this knowledge, Dr. Bluhm and Dr. Iken set to work decoding the food web. First, they wanted to figure out which animals in the Bering Sea feed directly on ice algae. The two scientists are especially interested in animals that feed directly on the sea ice, because changes in the food available for these species will impact animals all the way up the food chain. To study the diet of these primary consumers they used a process called stable isotope analysis. VIDEO: BUILDING A FOODWEB USING STABLE ISOTOPES Learn about how researchers can piece together the marine food web by looking at muscle tissue (1:35) Video Transcript You might have heard the saying before, "you are what you eat". It turns out it's true! Certain chemicals from the foods we eat stay inside our body's tissue long after the food has been digested. Because different foods have different chemicals in them, each type of food has its own chemical signature, it's kind of like a fingerprint. Scientists can look at these signatures inside an animals tissues to see what kinds of food the animal has been eating. The chemicals that scientists look for are called stable isotopes.   In marine ecosystems like the Bering Sea, scientists use this technique to figure out which animals are eating certain types of algae. Imagine you're a clam. You live in the silty sediments at the bottom of the Bering Sea. In the springtime you eat 10 units of food in a day. Of these ten units, eight are of sea ice algae and two are from phytoplankton from the pelagic zone. You go along like this, every day eating eight units of sea ice algae and two units of phytoplankton, until one day.... SCOOP... you end up in our researchers sediment grab sampler. You're hauled up to the surface and taken to the laboratory where a sample of your muscle tissue is removed and tested for stable isotope signatures. The scientists recognize the signature of the stable isotopes from the algae you ate, so they can tell that the ice algae was an important part of your diet. This same techique can be used on animals higher up the food chain. Even the walrus who ate the clam who ate the sea ice algae will have muscle tissue with the sea ice algae's special signature. With the help of stable isotope analysis, the pieces begin falling into place. Dr. Bluhm and Dr. Iken are able to connect primary consumers to the ice algae they ate using their muscle tissue. The food chain doesn't stop there! These primary consumers can be connected to secondary consumers, who can be connected to one of the ecosystem's top predators: the polar bear. Suddenly, scientists are able to show that sea ice isn't just important to a few species; it connects animals throughout the food web! Navigate through the food web below to see what scientists have learned about how arctic organisms are interconnected: The evidence collected as part of this project clearly supports the team's hypothesis that sea ice is an important food source for pelagic and benthic Bering Sea communities during the springtime. The question now is: What will it mean for marine life as sea ice conditions in the Bering Sea continue to change? Scientists aren't sure yet, but they know that research projects like this one are important because they will provide baseline information which will help the science community quantify ecosystem changes over time.       WHO IS STUDYING SEA ICE?   ISOTOPES (n)- different forms of the same chemical   INTERCONNECTED (adj)- connected with each other   CLIMATE (n)- the general weather conditions in an area over a long period of time   BASELINE (n)- a starting value that is used for comparison to future values   QUANTIFY (v)- to assign a quantity to something              

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('1', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('2', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         WELCOME TEACHERS! The Alaska SeaLife Center and COSEE-Alaska are excited to present the second in a series of virtual field trips. Meltdown is a virtual field trip (VFT) designed to immerse students in the important field of polar research as they learn about how a changing climate is impacting sea ice ecosystems in the Arctic. Educators and scientists from across Alaska have teamed up to bring you this new and innovative teaching tool. Meltdown takes students on an Arctic expedition where they'll connect with researchers studying the marine foodweb in the Bering Sea. Throughout this exploration, students will watch videos, examine images, and piece together foodwebs as they follow Dr. Rolf Gradinger and his team of real-life scientists out onto the ice. OVERVIEW FOR TEACHERS This VFT can be used in a number of ways. Teachers may facilitate a structured experience using the curriculum supplements included on this page. Alternatively, individuals may choose to navigate through the pages on their own, learning about sea ice ecosystems and why changes in arctic climate have scientists concerned. Self-guided exploration can be completed in about an hour.  GRADE LEVEL: 5th-8th TIME NEEDED:  One to eight 1-hour class periods (teachers may choose to use all or some of the supplementary lessons- see teachers guide for details). NUTSHELL: Students will learn about the role of sea ice in the Arctic ecosystem while studying the Bering Sea food web. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After completing this virtual field trip, students will be able to: - Illustrate how changes in the population of one species may affect population dynamics throughout a food web. - Differentiate between the physical properties of sea ice and freshwater ice and justify the reason for these differences. - Describe the conditions necessary for sea ice algae to grow and explain the role of sea ice algae to the Bering Sea in spring. BACKGROUND: At the Northern fringe of the Pacific Ocean, along the United States’ most remote boundary, lies the Bering Sea. Covering an area more than three times the size of Texas (nearly 900,000 sq. mi.), and supporting some of the most valuable fisheries in the world, the Bering Sea’s remote waters have attracted explorers for thousands of years. Now your students can join in the process of discovery as they accompany modern-day explorers onto the ice! In this virtual field trip, students will meet Dr. Rolf Gradinger, a Sea Ice Biologist conducting research in the Bering Sea. They will follow his research team into the field as they work to answer the question 'What does sea ice mean to the Bering Sea ecosystem?' and 'What would it mean if arctic sea ice were to disappear as a result of climate change?' Their quest for answers leads the researchers to look under the ice, where they'll investigate the role of sea ice algae (tiny marine plants that grow on the bottom surface of sea ice during the spring) in the spring Bering Sea foodweb. As your class navigates through this field trip they'll be introduced to the process of science: from initial questions, through development of hypotheses, data collection and, finally, data analysis. Watch as an unfamiliar world unfolds, revealing a complex spring foodweb all stemming from the sea ice algae. The research of Drs. Rolf Gradinger, Katrin Iken and Bodil Bluhm inspired this virtual field trip. Join us as we explore how climate change may impact one of the world's most productive marine ecosystems, the Bering Sea. We also recommend listening to Encounters Radio: Ice Algae, a recorded interview in which host Elizabeth Arnold interviews Rolf Gradinger about this research project. (10 minutes) TO USE THIS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP YOU WILL NEED: - Internet access, video-streaming capabilities - Access to Meltdown the virtual field trip - Projection system (with audio) to display VFT content or a computer lab (with headphones) - Teacher's guide and corresponding curriculum supplements (arranged as PDFs in the right hand column of this page) UNABLE TO RUN THE STREAMING VERSION? REQUEST A COPY OF ALL MATERIALS ON CD BY EMAIL: education@alaskasealife.org SPECIAL NOTES FOR TEACHERS: Guide to State & National Standards addressed in this field trip (Click to download .pdf) Using Curriculum Supplements We encourage teachers to read through all Curriculum Supplements before beginning Meltdown with your students.  Some projects, like the invertebrate research project, will be completed over the course of several sections.  Videos and weblinks Many sections of Meltdown include embedded videos and weblinks.  All weblinks require internet access.  In the CD version of the virtual field trip, all videos will play without internet, unless noted.  In the online version of Meltdown, all videos will stream from YouTube.  Each video is less than 3 minutes long (exact durations can be found in the description below each video).  Video transcripts are available for each video and can be accessed by clicking the ‘Video Transcript’ button below each clip.  Vocabulary Important vocabulary terms are included in the VOCABULARY box in the lower right-hand corner of each section.  A complete glossary of terms is included as a .pdf in the FOR TEACHERS section.  Age appropriateness This virtual field trip is designed to meet Alaska state and National science content standards for students in grades 5-8.  We understand that students in grades 5-8 may display a variety of skill sets and reading levels, therefore this grade distinction is designed only as a guideline.  The scientific process discussed in this virtual field trip is appropriate for and may be enjoyed by older students as well.  Older students may progress through this virtual field trip at a faster rate than that outlined above.  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Resources for Invertebrate Research Project: OCEANUS: Arctic Ecosystem Interactive Arctic Ocean Diversity Project: Species Info ARKive: Marine Invertebrates Info General information about Sea Ice: National Snow and Ice Data Center NASA Earth Observatory: Sea Ice International Polar Year: Sea Ice Fact Sheet Resources highlighting Bering Sea & Arctic Ocean research and education: BEST-BSIERP-Bering Sea Project Bering Sea Project: Profile on Sea Ice Arctic Ocean Diversity Project Education Resources Related to Climate Change: NOAA Education Resources: Climate Change Impacts Contact Us: If you have any questions about this virtual field trip, please contact the Alaska SeaLife Center Education Department at education@alaskasealife.org or 907-224-6306. For more information on classes we offer, including our inquiry-based 50-minute Distance Learning programs, visit our website at www.alaskasealife.org.         CURRICULUM SUPPLEMENTS Use the .pdf links below to access classroom activities for each section of the MELTDOWN virtual field trip. Teachers Guide.pdf Introduction_Activities.pdf Background_Activities.pdf Questions_Activities.pdf Plan_Activities.pdf Action_Activities.pdf Results_Activities.pdf Glossary.pdf        

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Eiders are sea ducks, which means that they live in coastal areas where they dabble for small invertebrates or dive for crustaceans and molluscs. Steller's eiders nest on the arctic and subarctic tundra. These birds are sexually dimorphic, so males generally look very different from females. Click on the images below to discover the advantages of different colors on the tundra: Steller's eiders are migratory and winter comes early on the Alaskan tundra. Before ice covers the ponds and coastal waters near the Steller's beeding grounds, the birds must travel south to areas where the coast doesn't freeze over, allowing them to access food resources in the ocean. Watch the video to learn where the Steller's eiders of Alaska travel throughout the year. VIDEO: Annual Cycle of Steller's Eiders in Alaska Discover the life history of Steller's eiders in Alaska. (2:44) Video Transcript In Alaska, Steller’s eiders spend the winter on the coast along the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Kodiak Archipelago. As spring arrives, the birds wait for the sea ice to melt along their migratory paths. Before they migrate, the males begin to dance. All efforts are geared toward finding a mate. Then, the Steller’s eiders that winter in Alaska diverge into two separate breeding populations. Most of them fly northwest to breed and nest in Russia. Others fly north to breed and nest near Barrow, Alaska. These birds comprise the Alaskan breeding population. Historically, Steller’s eiders also nested on the Yukon-Kuskokwim, or Y-K Delta. Now Steller’s eiders are a rare sight on the Y-K Delta, and very few Steller’s nests have been discovered there in the past several decades. In late May or early June the Steller’s Eiders reach their breeding grounds on the arctic tundra. By late June the hens are ready to make a nest on the tundra in close proximity to tundra ponds. The males stay around to guard while the females construct elaborate grass nests lined with cozy down feathers. The end result is so well camouflaged that it virtually disappears into the tundra. By early July the Steller’s hens will lay up to 9 olive-brown eggs. While the females tend to their eggs, the males leave to travel south and return to their molting grounds. Adult eiders molt their flight feathers once each year, leaving them unable to fly for about a month as they grow new feathers. Males travel to protected bays and lagoons to molt before continuing on to their wintering sites. Meanwhile, on the tundra the hens incubate their eggs up to 26 days before the ducklings hatch. Within 24 hours of hatching the ducklings leave the nest to follow their mother around the coastal tundra. In 5 to 7 weeks the young birds are able to fly. Fall will soon give way to winter, so the mothers and their young must fly south to the molting and wintering grounds. The females reunite with the males and with the breeding population that spent its summer in Russia. And the annual cycle of the Steller’s eiders begins again. Every species of bird has different requirements for successful nesting but, with so few of these birds in the wild and so little known about them, how will researchers know what Steller's eiders need? In captivity, these birds won’t have to worry about predators or the challenges of migration. But will the scientists be able to provide them with requirements they need to nest and raise ducklings hundreds of miles away from the tundra?       CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   CAMOUFLAGE (n) - concealment that alters or obscures the appearance; helps an organism to hide from its predators.   FORAGE (v) - to search for and collect food.   INCUBATE (v) - to keep an egg or organism at an appropriate temperature for it to develop.   IRIDESCENT (adj) - shining with many different colors when seen from different angles.   LIFE HISTORY (n) - the series of changes a living thing goes through during its lifetime.   MIGRATION (n) - seasonal movement from one area to another.   MOLT (v) - to lose a covering of hair, feathers, etc., and replace it with new growth.   PLUMAGE (n) - the feathers that cover the body of a bird.   SEXUAL DIMORPHISM (n) - when the male and female of the same species look distinctly different from one another.  

  animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Every step is an act of balance in a vast land full of ponds, rivers, and streams where more than half the landscape is water. There are no roads and your tent could be the highest point on the horizon. Trekking though the swampy tundra of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta), scientists are on the lookout for nests. Counting every species they encounter, one bird eludes them all: the Steller's eider. This mysterious bird is a rare sight for researchers across Alaska. Surprisingly, one of the best places to observe these birds in Alaska is at a facility that is located hundreds of miles from their natural habitat. Watch the video for a glimpse into the strange lengths that scientists are going to in order to learn as much as possible about the elusive Steller's eider. Can you guess what the researchers are doing - and why? VIDEO: Mystery on the Tundra Scientists are going out of their way to learn more about Steller's eiders. (1:34) Why are scientists going to such great extents to learn more about the Steller’s eider? The number of Steller's eiders in the wild are declining. While two breeding populations exist in northern Russia, the breeding population of Steller’s eiders in Alaska has all but vanished and is now classified as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. No one knows why these birds started disappearing in the 1970's. Scientists have proposed a few possible explanations, such as lead poisoning from ingestion of spent lead shot; increased predation from gulls, foxes and ravens; and changes in the coastal environment. As temperatures warm and sea levels rise near the eiders' preferred habitats, will the few remaining pairs of birds continue to be successful nesting in Alaska? Concerned for the Alaskan population, scientists collected Steller’s eider eggs from Barrow, Alaska in an effort to prevent a complete disappearance of breeding eiders. With these eggs, the scientists have created a captive-breeding “reservoir” population. This breeding population resides at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, where researchers and aviculturists have the skills to keep the birds healthy while they learn more about this rare species. VIDEO: Introduction to the Research Project Dr. Tuula Hollmen describes the Steller's eider research project and its overall goals. (1:51) Video Transcript My name is Tuula Hollmen and I am a research professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks and a scientist at the SeaLife Center. I have been working with birds for, I think it is over 25 years now. The main goal of the eider research program is to help support the recovery of eiders in Alaska and the main focus of the program at the SeaLife Center facility right now is the captive breeding program. One of the main goals of having the eiders here is to help buffer the species against extinction. We are also collecting a lot of data throughout the year to help learn more about the basic biology and physiology of the species. The third big goal for that program is to develop captive breeding techniques for Steller’s eiders with the potential that those methods that we develop could be used in the future in a field program to help augment or reestablish a population by using reintroduction as a tool. The Steller’s eider is a unique arctic species. It is the only species in its genus, Polysticta. There is no other Polysticta species. So if we lose the Steller’s eider we lose not just a species but a genus. I think that everything that I have been learning about the species just makes me more convinced that they are a unique species. I think the world will be a different place if we lose this unique species that is not necessarily similar to any other species. Dr. Tuula Hollmen has been studying Steller's eiders at the Alaska SeaLife Center since 2001. Her project allows scientists to keep their eyes on eiders, to observe and learn about a bird rarely seen nesting in the wild.       CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   AVICULTURE (n) - the raising and care of birds (especially wild birds) in captivity.   ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT (n) - signed on December 28, 1973, this act provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend.   ECOSYSTEM (n) - a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment.   INGEST (v) - to take something into your body (such as food).   LEAD SHOT (n) - small pellets of lead that are shot from a shotgun; used for hunting birds and small game.   PHYSIOLOGY (n) - the way in which a living organism or bodily part functions.   RESERVOIR (n) - an extra supply of a resource to be used when needed.   SPECIES (n) - a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young.   THREATENED SPECIES (n) - any species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future.   TUNDRA (n) - a flat or rolling treeless plain that is characteristic of arctic and subarctic regions; subsoil is permanently frozen and dominant vegetation consists of mosses, lichens, herbs, and dwarf shrubs.    

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         MEET DR. TUULA HOLLMEN Science Director at the Alaska SeaLife Center and Research Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks WHAT SHE STUDIES: - Breeding ecology - Toxicology - Avian physiology EDUCATION: D.V.M. and Ph.D. in Physiological Ecology from the University of Helsinki, Finland HOMETOWN: Helsinki, Finland   "YOU GET TO A POINT... where you can say it is over 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years...well it’s over a quarter century now. I have been working with marine birds for over a quarter century." "I THINK THE WORLD... will be a different place if we lose this unique species that isn’t necessarily similar to any other species." Dr. Tuula Hollmen explains her interest in science and in Steller's eiders. (1:00) Video Transcript I think as long as I remember I have always been interested in the natural environment and that just developed into an interest in science. I was the kid who was collecting mussels and counting things from as long as I remember and I don’t remember a time when I haven’t been interested in science. I think it was just the career that was always there for me. If you see a Steller’s eider in a picture or in the wild even better they’re really beautiful, they’re really a beautiful bird and it really is a cool duck. It is oftentimes just a big challenge to work with because it is so unique. We’re learning new things and we’re learning that things that apply to some other waterfowl species don’t necessarily apply to Steller’s eiders because they have their own ways of doing things, their own biology, ecology and I would say to some degree physiology as well. So they are really a unique species and sometimes they cause some head scratching and probably caused a few of my gray hairs just thinking about how to deal with some of these challenges but it also makes them really interesting to study. I think that everything that I am learning about the species just makes me more convinced that they are a unique species.   CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!  

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         All research starts with one or more questions. Dr. Tuula Hollmen and her team are tackling a broad question: What do Steller’s eiders need to breed successfully? The team isn't going to find the answer just by looking in a textbook. Steller’s eiders are unique. Little is known about their needs and they don’t follow the same breeding behaviors of other well-studied waterfowl like domestic ducks. So, why is Dr. Hollmen interested in this particular question when it comes to eiders? VIDEO: STELLER'S EIDERS RESEARCH QUESTIONS Dr. Tuula Hollmen discusses the factors that led to her research questions and how she plans to investigate those questions. (1:46) Video Transcript The eider is a long-lived species that has a high adult survival but very variable and potentially low annual productivity or reproductive success. And it works because the species lives a long time, so each individual can have a really long reproductive career, and they don’t have to be successful every year, because they have (in eider’s case) they potentially have at least 15 years to breed. Reproductive success is really one of the key questions for the recovery. If that continues to be low or doesn’t reach some certain threshold, recovery will either not happen or take a really long time. But if they can increase productivity then we might see recovery. I would like to ask the question: what does an eider need to breed successfully? We have a suite of sub questions: What makes an eider pairing successful? What kinds of nests are successful? How do you set the incubation conditions for successful hatching? So those are sub-questions. So when we set up to answer the question in our program here, we think about all these factors that the eiders are faced with in the wild and we transfer that to our own virtual reality that we are creating here. The habitat is not the natural habitat, but we are learning from the wild birds as to what are the key features of their habitat that they need to go through all the different steps of the reproductive cycle. So we would try to mimic the available nest sites, the privacy, the ponds, the water quality, all those kinds of things to the best we can and match them to the natural environment. Dr. Hollmen has to think about how to convert the complex, wild system that the eiders come from into a virtual habitat at the Alaska SeaLife Center so that her team can learn from the captive reservoir population. With little existing research, a small wild population in Barrow, sporadic nesting on the Y-K Delta, and hundreds of variables, how will the scientists figure out what a pair of Steller’s eider needs to breed successfully? Here’s the benefit of science: they can try out different materials and techniques (experimentation!) and use careful observation to figure out a strategy that works for the captive eiders. The research question cannot be answered in one year. Every breeding season tests if the scientists’ current arrangement helps the birds breed successfully. Scientific inquiry is a process, and the eider team knows it well as they continue to learn, question, and adapt. It's what they've been doing for over a decade!        CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   ADAPT (n) - to change behaviors or physical traits to survive in a specific environment.   BROOD (n) - the offspring of an animal, especially of a bird.   BROOD (v) - to sit on eggs to hatch them.   EXPERIMENT (v) - to do a scientific test in which you perform a series of actions and carefully observe their effects.   INQUIRY (n) - an act of asking or searching for information.   THRESHOLD (n) - a level, point, or value above which something is true or will take place.   VARIABLE (n) - an element, feature, or factor that can vary or change.   VIRTUAL (adj) - very close to being something without actually being it.    

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         The Steller's eiders kept the team busy during the 2014 breeding season. The combination of nesting materials, nest placement, privacy, mate choice and staffing worked for the eiders! For the first time in the program’s history, two Steller’s eider hens, Scarlet and Eek, incubated their eggs for the full 26 days and hatched ducklings. Scarlet had three ducklings and Eek had one. Four other ducklings hatched after artificial incubation and were raised by people for a total of eight Steller’s ducklings. The hens fully incubating their eggs was a grand achievement for the eider team! In the early stages of the project, hens would only lay infertile eggs, or not build a nest, or not stay on their nest through the whole incubation. In captivity, Steller’s eider hens had never incubated their eggs completely on their own before now! In addition to the eight ducklings of 2014, the eider team had many eggs that were infertile or that were fertile but never hatched. All the eggs that do not hatch go to the lab where Dr. Katrina Counihan and her lab technicians get to work. Every egg provides further data for researchers to use to learn more about eiders. VIDEO: DATA FROM EGG DISSECTIONS Discover what Dr. Katrina is learning in her eider lab. (1:40) Video Transcript I do various projects with the eiders. The major one is I oversee the processing of the eggs every summer. We get eggs from the captive spectacled and Steller’s eiders. For this summer we got over 300 eggs from both species, so we have help usually in the summer from interns and also volunteers which are often college students. Without them we wouldn’t be able to get through all these samples, because it takes about 30-45 minutes per egg to process it. As you can see here we use a variety of tools: digital calipers to measure the width and length of all of our eggs, and then we have a scale that we [use to] weigh the eggs before we start the dissection. The first thing we do is we’ll use these little just basic knitting scissors and we cut around the center of the egg. And then we’ll dump out as much of the albumen as we can into a large dish and then the yolk into a second one of the large Petri dishes. And then we’ll use really simple things, like just plastic forks to mix up albumen and yolk before we take samples, and then spatulas to scrape up every last little bit to make sure we get the samples. And then just little plastic syringes to suck up the samples into the vials. And then we weigh out the yolk and the albumen. So we literally save every bit of every egg we get. Dr. Katrina Counihan uses parts of the eggs she dissects to study eider health. We know a lot about how people deal with being sick, but not much about what eiders do to stay healthy. One part of the egg she is interested in is the yolk because it contains immunoglobulin (or antibodies) which would help the duck fight off diseases. Dr. Counihan looks at the immunoglobulin in the eggs to understand how the eiders are able to fight diseases. Thanks to Dr. Counihan’s work, if the eiders are reintroduced, the scientists will understand how healthy the captive birds are and how the eiders will be able to handle any diseases that they might encounter in the wild. Dr. Hollmen believes that the collaboration and communication between the research and husbandry staff is the key to the team’s success. The husbandry staff works to make the eiders feel at home and healthy so they lay eggs. Some of those eggs hatch into ducklings that increase the captive reservoir population. Researchers in the lab use the other eggs to find information on the health of the birds. The field team tries to find a wild habitat where the eiders could survive. Each team member contributes a specialized set of skills and everyone is united by the goal of learning about and helping a unique arctic species.       CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   ALBUMEN (n) - the white of an egg.   CALIPER (n) - a tool with two moveable arms that is used to measure thickness, diameter, length or width.   COLLABORATION (n) - the action of working with someone to do or create something.   IMMUNOGLOBULIN (n) - also called antibody; a protein that helps the immune system find and get rid of foreign objects like bacteria and viruses.   PETRI DISH (n) - a shallow plastic or glass dish often used in labs to culture bacteria or collect samples.   YOLK (n) - the yellow center of an egg that supplies food to a growing bird before it hatches.    

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         At the Alaska SeaLife Center, Dr. Hollmen's team provides all the necessary care for the Steller's eiders in their virtual habitat. The eider team monitors the birds’ behaviors and health on a daily basis and makes sure the birds have the proper space and food. The enclosures for the birds aren’t exactly like the habitats they typically live in, so it is up to the husbandry team to figure out what the Steller’s eiders need to succeed. Dr. Tuula Hollmen and her crew work hard to create a habitat that suits the eiders. Remember, Steller’s eiders are migratory birds, so the habitat at the Alaska SeaLife Center has to change season to season, especially during breeding season! VIDEO: Creating a Virtual Habitat Tasha DiMarzio explains how the Steller's eider enclosures at the Alaska SeaLife Center can be altered to create a virtual tundra habitat. (2:19) Video Transcript The area we are sitting in now we call our breeding units. There’s ten individual units or one large unit, and we can create smaller flocks or individual breeding units or one big pen for if we want to winter everybody in this unit, we can do that. Starting in January through March, we’ll really start watching the birds and seeing who is courting with who and who’s pairing off, and then we’ll move them from what we call the non-breeding or wintering unit and they migrate over to our breeding units (which is just across the walkway). In the winter time we switch them all to salt water because that is where they would be in the wild, out in the ocean, and in the summertime they come to these freshwater tundra ponds. When we were in full breeding season we had covers over one of the pools and it was tundra and then pond on the other side. But now since we are in duck rearing mode we have two ponds and they’re both fresh water. Getting birds to breed in captivity is always a big challenge. Luckily we are in a state where these birds are actually from, and so we can go out and see what they are using as nest materials and what sites they prefer, if its grass or lichen, and then we try and replicate that the best we can. We don’t have these big vast tundra fields, so we try and create areas that they can feel secluded and have privacy, but then have it look a little bit like what maybe they would see in the wild. We go to the beach and we collect a lot of driftwood to create visual barriers and blinds and areas that they can be private. Because each female is picky about where she likes, we try and provide each pair with at least three different nesting options. So a nesting option can be a manmade wooden structure that looks like nothing that you would see in the wild, and then another open tundra-like moss nest, and then a combination of the two: maybe driftwood around a plexiglass-covered structure. And then the biggest key is just keeping it dry so that the down in the nests stay dry. Because the areas that they are nesting, even though it is Arctic tundra, it’s actually a desert and so there is very little water and rainfall but here we’re in a very rainy climate and so that’s a big challenge we have, is keeping their nests dry while they’re going through the egg laying process, so we come up with different things to try and tackle that challenge. By altering the virtual habitat, the husbandry staff can try to match the eiders’ needs for the breeding season. Each year, the husbandry team continues to offer the eiders a variety of space and nesting configurations in the habitat, in an attempt to promote successful breeding. If something doesn’t work, they try something different the next year! After years of trial and error, favorable conditions have been created, allowing some of the eiders to feel comfortable enough to nest! As a result, the team is faced with hundreds of eggs. Some of the Steller’s eider hens incubate their own eggs, but many eggs end up in the care of the husbandry staff when hens don't prepare an appropriate nest. See how scientists can try to play the role of a hen incubating her eggs. VIDEO: ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION Nathan Bawtinhimer describes the process involved when humans incubate eider eggs. (1:32) Video Transcript It's a fun challenge trying to get the artificial incubators to accurately mimic the hen incubating which is very tricky. So we’ve been messing around with a lot of different humidity settings and different methods of turning to more accurately imitate the hen and promote better development within the egg during the incubation process and successful hatching. It’s important that we candle the eggs regularly so we can keep track of the development inside the egg. By candling them with a bright LED flashlight we can actually see inside the egg and just by looking we can tell how long it’s been incubating for, if it’s on the right track developmentally, and what the estimated hatch should be. When we are candling the eggs it is actually an important cool down time for the eggs, because we’ll have the top off the incubator which simulates the hen getting off the nest and foraging. And we also weigh the eggs everyday because during the course of incubation there is a certain range that the egg is supposed to lose to hatch successfully, usually between 12 and 16% of its weight. So we watch their weight loss and we adjust the humidity accordingly. The amount of weight they lose is critical for successful hatching. We’ll record and enter all the data in the spreadsheet so we can track the weight loss and the development of the eggs. And we keep very detailed records of everything we see every day when we candle. While scientists are learning about the Steller's eiders at the Alaska SeaLife Center, they also need to learn more about the natural habitat of these birds. If researchers are hoping to increase the nesting population of Steller's eiders in Alaska, there has to be suitable nesting habitat available in the wild. To determine what is available for these birds in the wild, the scientists head out into the field...       CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   COURTSHIP (n)- the behavior of male birds and other animals aimed at attracting a mate.   HABITAT (n)- the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.   HUSBANDRY (n)- the care, cultivation, and breeding of crops or animals.   INCUBATE (v)- to keep an egg or organism at an appropriate temperature for it to develop.   MIMIC (v)- to imitate something.   MONITOR (v)- to keep surveillance over something.    

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         A typical day doesn’t exist on the Arctic tundra. Even in the summertime, you could wake to a day of hail, snow, fog, rain, or 70-degree sunshine. Luckily, on good weather days there is a lot of daylight when scientists can get their work completed. With a flat landscape, light from the sun lasts almost 24 hours. Researchers sometimes work until one o'clock in the morning! In the 2014 season, Alaska SeaLife Center scientists traveled to the Y-K Delta twice; once in June to investigate habitat for nesting pairs and once in July to study conditions during brood rearing. This fieldwork helped determine if there is suitable habitat on the Delta for the potential rearing of Steller’s eider ducklings in the upcoming years. If the team can hatch and raise Steller's eiders on the Y-K Delta, this may be a way to reintroduce Steller's eiders to that area. The prospective Steller's rearing location needs to have quality habitat for the eiders, but it also needs easy access for the scientists to come and go with supplies. VIDEO: STUDYING SITES FOR REINTRODUCTION Sadie Ulman explains what information the field team gathered in 2014 and why. (1:48) Video Transcript One of the primary goals of my work right now is to help with the reintroduction of Steller’s eiders on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and our focus is on this particular central Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta: Kigigak Island down on the further south, and then all the way up here on the Kashunuk River system were three different locations. We were looking for freshwater ponds, which happen to be mainly on top of these pingos which are essentially upraised tundra, kind of new tundra areas upraised with these deep, clear freshwater ponds on them with different vegetation than the lower, more grassland. This past season we were sampling a suite of habitat types, but a list of factors kept pointing toward these pingo ponds being the highest level of quality for habitat. We’re looking at salinity specifically because it’s been shown to affect the growth and mass of ducklings at an early age. Sea ducks in particular have salt glands that they don’t fully develop until anywhere from 3 to 6 days of age. After the salt glands have developed they can process salt water readily and it does not affect them. With the changing climate and weather there’s been a higher frequency of coastal storm surges coming in. So the seawater essentially is coming up and flooding a lot of the tundra area and therefore increasing the salinity in a lot of those ponds. That is very helpful to know for the reintroduction purposes, as we need to find a location where there’s plenty of freshwater available for these broods and these ducklings to be reintroduced. Click on the tools and equipment in the image below to learn more about what the research team does in the field. Can you find all six items to click on?         CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   CONDUCTIVITY (n) - the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity.   DATA (n) - values of something measured.   DELTA (n) - the area of land where a river splits into smaller rivers before it flows into an ocean.   HABITAT (n) - the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.   INVERTEBRATE (n) - an organism that doesn’t have a spine or spinal column; insects are one example of invertebrates.   pH (n) - a number between 0 and 14 that indicates if a substance is an acid or a base.   PINGO (n) - a hill of soil-covered ice pushed up in an area of permafrost.   QUADRAT (n) - a square or rectangular plot of land marked off for the study of plants and animals.   REAR (v) - caring for and raising (offspring) until they are fully grown, especially in a particular manner or place.   SALINITY (n) - the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water.   SEDIMENT (n) - matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid.   SLOUGH (n) - an inlet on a river or a creek in a marsh or tidal flat.    

Stranding Network The Alaska Stranding Network is a group of dedicated volunteers and organizations that help support rescue, stranding and rehabilitation efforts statewide. Participating organizations include the Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the North Slope Borough, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Southeast, as well as representatives from native communities and oil companies.   The Alaska Stranding Network works with the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program (MMHSRP) of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to maintain and meet the following objectives: Improve the rescue, care and treatment of stranded marine mammals. Reduce the health risk to animals, humans, and the ocean environment during response to, and rehabilitation and release of, stranded marine mammals. Collect life history, biological, and biomedical data from live and dead stranded marine mammals. Develop baseline reference data on the health of wild marine mammal populations, normal stranding rates, and causes of morbidity and mortality; improve the rapid detection of morbidity and mortality events. Collect archival samples for future retrospective studies on causes of mortality or illness, including genetics and genomics, and for placement in the National Marine Mammal Tissue (and Serum) Bank and other properly curated, professionally accredited archival facilities. Refine and/or utilize comprehensive and consistent guidance for the rescue and rehabilitation of stranded marine mammals, collection of specimens, quality assurance, and analysis of tissue samples.

ASLC Internship Program Are you looking for an exciting internship opportunity? The Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) is sponsoring internship programs for college students or graduates who are interested in gaining a one-of-a-kind experience in a world class marine facility. ASLC internships offer a well-rounded experience in a variety of areas within the Center. Depending on the type of internship, duties may include assisting aquarium, avian, or marine mammal staff with animal husbandry tasks; helping with marine-related research projects, or as support in our education department.  Our Internship Program includes: SUMMER Internships: May through early August FALL Internships: October through December WINTER Internships: January through April   Program Information The internships are unpaid.    Housing is provided.   Participation in the program requires 40 hours per week.   A background check will be conducted on all potential interns.   Interns will be required to sign a contract agreeing to a start and end date.   College credit can be earned but must be arranged by you and your college.   Interns are responsible for their own meals and travel expenses.   ASLC does not sponsor visas for foreign students.     Application Instructions Complete the application for no more than 2 positions. Be sure to provide us with the best e-mail and phone number for contacting you.   If you are applying for 2 internships, you must complete an application for each one.   Upload the required additional information to your application. Cover Letter(s) Resume At least 1 letter of recommendation   Incomplete applications will not be considered. For more information on becoming an intern, please email HR@alaskasealife.org.  Current Internship Openings:   

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()         Next year the eider team will still be hard at work. Each year presents a new opportunity to learn about Steller’s eiders and to grow from past successes and failures. Researchers are expecting another breeding season with hundreds of eggs. They are hoping that they have determined a good setup for the eiders at the Alaska SeaLife Center so more hens will be able to go through the complete incubation process, as Scarlet and Eek did in the summer of 2014. Dr. Tuula Hollmen is hoping to breed “tundra-ready” ducklings that would be able to survive on the tundra, should reintroduction become a reality. If wildlife managers decide that reintroduction is necessary to help these birds recover, the scientists at the Alaska SeaLife Center now have the tools of captive breeding necessary to help make this possible. Reintroduction would present a whole new set of questions for the team. How will they get their rearing techniques to work in the field? In a release facility, they would have to try to repeat what goes on at the Alaska SeaLife Center in the remote setting of the Y-K Delta. Since they would be on the tundra, there would be less manipulation of the habitat, but there wouldn’t be a lab nearby for immediate analysis. Also, Steller’s eiders are migratory birds, so they will travel from the place they are released. How will researchers help released ducklings establish winter and molting grounds? How will they get the eiders to return to the Y-K Delta for the next breeding season? Text goes here! Reintroduction of other bird species has been done successfully, but each species has its own specific needs. As this project continues its trek forward, Steller’s eiders will keep scientists questioning. There is a Facebook page for the Steller’s Eider Y-K Delta Reintroduction Program so you can stay up-to-date by clicking here.   Text goes here!         CLICK BELOW TO LEARN ABOUT SEADUCK SCIENTISTS!   REINTRODUCTION (n) - the relase of members of a species into an area where that species once lived but where there is no current population.                                

Giving Circle Levels and Benefits The Alaska SeaLife Center relies on a combination of grants, donations, and admission sales to operate at a world-class level. Donors like you support Alaska's marine wildlife by helping to fund research, education, and wildlife response programs. We invite you to join a Giving Circle at a level best suited to you. The SeaLife Circle begins at the $300 donation level and the Steller Circle begins at the $1,000 donation level. SeaLife Circle Level SeaLife Associate SeaLife Advocate Cost $300-$499 $500-$999 Family membership including 2 named adults and named dependent children/grandchildren ages 17 and under* Discounts for guests, tours, and gift shop Recognition on the Alaska SeaLife Center website and on the donor board at the Center Invitation to an annual virtual CEO update   Guest Passes 4 8 *Adults and dependent children/grandchildren must be in the same household. Steller Circle Level Steller Partner Steller Guardian Steller Patron Steller Champion Cost $1,000-$2,499 $2,500-$4,999 $5,000-$9,999 $10,000+ Family membership including 2 named adults and named dependent children/grandchildren ages 17 and under* Discounts for guests, tours, café, and gift shop Recognition on the Alaska SeaLife Center website and on the donor board at the Center Invitation to an annual virtual CEO update Guest Passes 8 8 8 8 VIP Tour  For 4 For 4 For 8 For 8 Invitation to quarterly VIP virtual programs   Breakfast or lunch with the CEO     Keeper for a Day, a 5-hour program for one or two people with minimum age of 16       *Adults and dependent children/grandchildren must be in the same household. Please contact the Development Office at development@alaskasealife.org or call Laura Swihart, Development Associate, 907-224-6337, if you have any questions about joining a Giving Circle.

animatedcollapse.addDiv('A', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('B', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init() animatedcollapse.addDiv('C', 'fade=1') animatedcollapse.ontoggle=function($, divobj, state){ //fires each time a DIV is expanded/contracted //$: Access to jQuery //divobj: DOM reference to DIV being expanded/ collapsed. Use "divobj.id" to get its ID //state: "block" or "none", depending on state } animatedcollapse.init()   While talking with Yosty, Sonia mentioned a lot of important processes that happen in the Gulf over the course of the year and described what was different during these strange years. During periods of warmer than average water offshore, species of phytoplankton that were indicators of lower nutrient conditions in the Gulf began to make up a large part of plankton blooms in the Gulf of Alaska. Some incidences of species of phytoplankton that can produce harmful toxins were reported in Alaska during those periods. If toxic phytoplankton were consumed by zooplankton, this could impact the higher levels of the food chain of the Gulf of Alaska. Sonia also pointed out that she expected the abnormally warm water that began at the end of 2013 to have an impact on the plankton, and did it ever! Picking up these clues, Yosty digs even deeper into the oceanic conditions in the Gulf when water temperatures were higher than average by talking to Seth Danielson, an Oceanographer with Gulf Watch Alaska. Watch the video below to hear about the ocean conditions Seth has observed in the Gulf of Alaska. VIDEO: Seth Danielson and Ocean Conditions Seth Danielson describes his observations of recent ocean conditions in the Gulf of Alaska. (4:28) Video Transcript Narrator: Okay, so clearly something was really different during these years and it affected the whole system. The clues led Yosty to talk to Seth Danielson, a Gulf Watch oceanographer with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Yosty: Hey Seth, so what do you mean when you use the term “oceanic conditions”? Seth: As oceanographers, we can measure the temperature and the salinity of the water column, and from temperature and salinity we can compute the water density. Just like warm air rises, the ocean is layered with colder, more dense water sitting below warmer and fresher waters near the surface. Yosty: Was there anything unusual about the oceanic conditions in 2015? Seth: 2015 was one of a number of years in a row where the ocean conditions in the northern Gulf of Alaska were particularly warm. We’ve been measuring temperature and salinity at the mouth of Resurrection Bay since 1970, and over the past 45 years we’re finding the warmest temperatures that we’ve ever seen. In the winter of 2013-2014, some scientists from Canada noticed that we had extremely strong temperature anomalies in the North Pacific. These were anomalies that were three to four standard deviations away from average, which is an anomaly that would happen once every couple thousand years if it was just a random event. So we assume that this is not just a random event, it’s been forced by something in the atmosphere. And through analysis of the sea surface data and our understanding of the weather patterns, we see that the North Pacific Ocean was able to retain a lot of heat in the last few winters, and that led to the creation of this “blob”. The blob is a feature that was created, in large part, by a lack of cooling during the winter months. Yosty: Anomalies? Deviations? Blob? Wait, did he say “blob”? Seth: An anomaly is a deviation from what we consider to be normal conditions. Cool anomalies are when the water is not as warm as we expect it to be. We had a prolonged period of cool anomalies in the early 1970s and another period of cool anomalies in the first decade of the 2000s. Interspersed between this long-term trend of warming over the Gulf of Alaska, we have periods of warm anomalies and cool anomalies. Often the warm anomalies are associated with events such as El Niño. That happened in 2015 for example: there was a large El Niño event. Yosty: How could this anomaly of warmer water – this “blob” – cause problems for animals living in the Gulf of Alaska? Seth: The temperature and the salinity both help regulate the “communication” of subsurface waters to the near-surface waters, and it’s the availability of nutrients and light up near the surface that make those waters productive for phytoplankton growth. By increasing our stratification – for example during years where it’s warmer than normal near the surface layers – you can cut down the communication between the subsurface waters and the near-surface waters, and that reduces the nutrient supply to the surface layers. So an increase of stratification would tend to reduce the amount of nutrients available for phytoplankton growth, and over the course of the last three years – 2014, 2015 and 2016 – we’ve seen stronger than average stratification across the Gulf of Alaska shelf. Below are two visuals of what Seth, and the other Gulf Watch Alaska Scientists, observed happening to the ocean conditions and organisms in the Gulf of Alaska. The first of two animations depicts what a normal calendar year looks like in the Gulf, while the second portrays how the Gulf was impacted by "The Blob". VIDEO: Normal Ocean Conditions Animation of oceanographic conditions in "normal" years. (4:47) Video Transcript As Yosty learned from Seth, the processes going on in the Gulf of Alaska can be quite complex. In the Gulf of Alaska during a normal cooling season from October to March, the water column is separated into an upper and lower section with a thermocline diving the two layers. Let’s pop over to the laboratories in the Alaska SeaLife Center to discover what a thermocline is. Hi everyone, and welcome to the laboratories here at the Alaska SeaLife Center. I’ve set up a quick demonstration to show you visually what a thermocline is. Bodies of water – like oceans or lakes – are broken up into layers, and these layers are determined by two different things: temperature and salinity. Variations in the temperature and salinity create variations in the density of water, and density is what determines whether some water will sink below or rise above other layers of water. Now warm water is generally less dense than cold water, which means that warm water will actually sit above cold water. And the area where the warm water and cold water meet – that’s called the thermocline. So the thermocline is just that layer between the two different densities of water. Have any of you ever jumped into a lake? If you have, when you were diving down deep – just a little bit below the surface – did you feel a large change in the temperature of the water? If so, then you’ve felt a thermocline! Over here, I have created a little demo to show us what that looks like. On one half of this container I have cool, blue water; and on the other half I have warm, red water. Now let’s watch what happens when I remove the divider and the two waters combine. As you can see here, the two layers of water are going to start to separate. And once they are separated this will be called “stratified” water. At the top we will have the warmer, less dense water; and at the bottom we will have the colder, denser water. And that purple layer that will form right in between? That will be the thermocline. So our thermocline is just the area of rapid transition between the two different layers. Now in bodies of water, the thermocline isn’t the only cline that exists. And that’s because there are many more factors that go into determining the density of water. For instance, in the ocean, salinity – or the salt content – actually plays a much larger role in determining density than does the temperature. Now these variations in density within the ocean actually drive a global pattern of ocean water mixing. And this global pattern of ocean mixing played a vital role in the cause and effect of the “blob”. So now back to our animation to learn just exactly what is happening in the Gulf of Alaska. As we begin the fall season, storms build, bringing with them a strong easterly wind, which causes a mixing effect in the water. As we take a closer look into the upper layer, we can see that important nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are delivered from the lower layer due to this strong mixing effect. Now we see a normal warming season. After the winter, the upper water layer is now rich with nitrogen and phosphorus. Combined with the increased amount of daylight, these increased nutrient levels create a phytoplankton bloom that depletes the surface nutrients by late spring. This abundance pf phytoplankton is met by an abundance pf zooplankton. Zooplankton feed upon the phytoplankton and recycle some of the nutrients back into the ocean. The abundance of phytoplankton and zooplankton allow for other animals in the Gulf to thrive. As zooplankton abundance increases, so does the abundance of fish in the Gulf that eat the zooplankton. Predators like common murres, marine mammals, and humans are then drawn into the Gulf to catch the abundant fish. As you can see, the nutrients that allow the phytoplankton to bloom are important for the health of the entire ecosystem. The unusual warming event in the ocean first detected at the end of 2014 was very different from the seasonal weather pattern of cooling and warming considered normal for the Gulf of Alaska. Watch the next set of animations below to observe the normal pattern of seasonal changes in the ecosystem that scientists have observed and what was different about the “blob” pattern and the effects it may have had on the Gulf of Alaska. VIDEO: Anomaly "Blob" Conditions Animation of oceanographic conditions in "Blob" years. (2:10) Video Transcript In the Gulf of Alaska, during a winter season with less-than-normal cooling, the upper water layer stays warmer than average leading to stronger separation between the upper and lower layers. During this period, there is a ridge of high pressure in the atmosphere that reduces the amount of winds in the winter leading to a weaker mixing effect between the lower and upper layers. Additionally, with less cooling there is glacial melt and river input into the Gulf year-round. This means that the upper water layer receives a lot of fresh water that is less dense than the salt water. Mixing between the upper and lower water layers weakens and the thermocline stratification of the water column strengthens, reducing the transport of nutrients from the lower to upper water layer. The lack of nutrient mixing over the winter leads to a nutrient-starved upper water layer in the spring. The lack of nutrients in the upper layer greatly reduces the bloom of phytoplankton. In 2014, 2015 and 2016 much of the phytoplankton left was a smaller, thinner variety that may have been less nutritious for the animal zooplankton that fed on them. This lack of nutrition would have worked its way up the food chain, with less nutritious plankton leading to malnourished and less nutritious forage fish – typically a large food source for marine birds like the common murre. A lack of these forage fish may explain the empty stomachs found by researchers examining the dead murres and why some murres were found inland. They may have been hopelessly looking for the food they weren’t finding in the ocean. The impacts of this unusually warm "blob" of water were not limited to the Gulf of Alaska. The blob was first seen along the coasts of California and Oregon, and the entire Northeast Pacific has been subject to its impacts. The Gulf Watch Alaska team has been able to piece together the mystery of these unusual events using the power of systems thinking. The lingering oil studies occur in western Prince William Sound, which is where the oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill landed, and actually there’s still some oil out there today – small pockets of oil that’s buried in sediments on beaches, throughout western Prince William Sound. So that’s where the lingering oil issues are still important to track. From the USGS perspective, we’re looking at effects of that lingering oil on wildlife. So considering effects of exposure to that lingering oil, and also to understand what that might mean to individuals and populations of the wildlife that live out there. The main species that we’re thinking about in terms of lingering oil are harlequin ducks and sea otters, and that’s because there’s a long history of understanding that lingering oil’s been an important constraint on population recovery of those two species, and so we’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand the timeline and the mechanisms by which those species are recovering from the oil spill. We’ve measured exposure in a number of different ways. For example, with harlequin ducks we’ve used an enzyme called cytochrome P450 1A. It’s a long word basically for an enzyme that gets induced when any vertebrate’s exposed to hydrocarbons. So if you and I were exposed to oil, we would have an induction of that enzyme that would be measurable and then could tell us whether one has been exposed to that. The enzyme itself is part of a cascade of physiological processes that any vertebrate goes through once they’ve been exposed to oil. And it could be indicative of physiological harm, or it could be indicative of just exposure without physiological harm. So we’re not inferring harm from induction of the enzyme, what we’re inferring is that they’re still exposed to oil with the potential for harm.         Who is watching the Blob?   Abundance (n): the number of individuals per population or per species   Anomaly (n): deviation from normal conditions   Density (n): measure of mass per unit of volume   Downwelling/Upwelling (n): the downward (or upward) movement of fluid, especially in the sea   El Niño (n): large climate disturbances in the tropical Pacific Ocean that occur every 3-7 years and affect ocean water temperature patterns   Inorganic (adj): not made of living matter   Near-surface (n): layer of water that lies just beneath the surface   Salinity (n): the saltiness of a body of water, usually measured in parts per thousand (ppt) by weight   Standard deviation (n): a measure of how different a set of numbers are   Stratification (n): when water masses with different properties form layers that act as barriers to water mixing   Sub-surface (n): layer of water below the surface   Thermocline (n): transition layer or boundary between two water layers of different temperatures