Tanner crab response to temperature change and Hematodinium Pamela Jensen | NOAA Fisheries | $305,234 The Alaska Department of Fish and Game considers bitter crab disease–caused by a parasitic dinoflagellate, Hematodinium–to be the ‘principle threat’ to Alaskan Tanner crab stocks as ocean waters warm. The disease potentially affects recruitment, growth, and natural mortality. This project will hold healthy and Hematodinium-infected Tanner crabs under different temperature regimes testing for genetic responses to infection and temperature. Spatio-temporal variation in forage fish body condition William Sydeman | Farallon Institute | $99,988 This project develops a better understanding of food web characteristics by addressing how climate variability and change affects forage fish body condition, an index of “prey quality” available to predators in the Aleutians and Bering Sea Islands ecosystem. The analysis will utilize a unique set of forage fish measurements obtained from puffin diet, sampling from across southeast Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
Spawning capelin in Norton Sound Trent Sutton | University of Alaska Fairbanks | $118,635 This research focuses on the distribution of spawning capelin, an important pelagic forage fish, within Norton Sound. It compares reproductive biology and habitat char- acteristics of these spawning aggregations to historical data using Local, Traditional Knowledge (LTK) on capelin harvest, usage, spawning activities, and locations in the region to help fill information gaps. Reproductive maturation of Pacific herring Sara Miller | Alaska Department of Fish and Game $193,124 The project will corroborate and expand existing studies using scale growth increments as an age-at-maturity estima- tion method in herring. Should scale growth prove to be an effective age-at-maturity estimation method, retrospective analyses of Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s scale archives will describe long-term variability in maturity of Sitka Sound Pacific herring and strengthen Pacific herring assessment models.
Physiological ecology of Neocalanus flemingeri Petra Lenz | University of Hawaii | $51,270
The preparation of winter dormancy among Neocalanus flemingeri will be explored in this study. High-throughput transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) will be used to char- acterize physiological state in pre-adult N. flemingeri , and the gene expression profiles generated from these data will determine any physiological and spatiotemporal differences. State-space model of factors affecting coho survival and abundance David Tallmon | University of Alaska Southeast | $82,195 Still unknown is how climate change and other factors will affect salmon abundance. This project utilizes more than thirty-five years of census data to investigate the factors that influence marine survival and life history strategies of coho ( O. kisutch ) salmon from Auke Creek, AK. It builds upon findings from previously funded NPRB research which has revealed dramatic shifts in Auke Creek juvenile and adult salmon run timing over the previous three decades.
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