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SITE NAME
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Arctic Coastal Plain, Chukchi Sea/Beaufort Sea Coastline, Alaska, USA
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| Contact details
(phone/fax//e-mail//address): |
| 907-786-3908/907-786-3641 // Christian_Dau@fws.gov // U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management Division, Mail Stop 201, 1011 E. Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503-6199, USA
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PROJECT DETAILS |
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Start of survey:
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End
of survey: |
Team
size: |
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22.06
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24.06
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WEATHER
CONDITIONS
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Weather conditions: |
| During coastal aerial surveys from 22-24 June 2007, ice conditions in the Chukchi Sea were similar to 2006 with open water and little shore fast ice. In the Beaufort Sea from Point Barrow to the Colville River, ice cover was similar to 2006 with extensive shore fast except near river mouths. Sea ice was broken and often covered with melt water and overflow indicating rapid disintegration. West and central Beaufort Sea estuaries were mostly ice covered (i.e. Elson Lagoon 98%, Dease Inlet 60%, Kogru Inlet 70%, Simpson Lagoon 50%, Stefansson Sound 70-80%) and open water offshore was 50-1500 meters in width. Eastern Beaufort Sea estuaries had variable ice cover and Arey Lagoon was ice free. From Barter Island eastwards estuarine ice cover ranged from 20-95 percent.
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| Date of ice-break on
rivers: |
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| Date of final loss of
snow: |
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BIOTIC
CONDITIONS
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| Rodents abundance evaluation: |
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Breeding conditions:
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Most Beaufort Sea barrier islands, which are favoured nesting sites of numerous waterbird species (e.g. Common Eiders, Glaucous and Sabine's gulls and Arctic Terns), were accessible by ice to terrestrial predators. Lesser Snow Geese on Howe Island were incubating suggesting a less than one week delay in nest chronology from 2006 and less delay from 2005. No indication of the hatching of Lesser Snow and Greater White-fronted geese along the Chukchi Sea coast was a further indication of a delay in nest chronology in 2007.
Snow was absent in onshore habitats throughout the survey area as in 2006. Some larger lakes along the Chukchi Sea coast had remnant ice and smaller ponds were ice free. Lakes and pond were ice free along the Beaufort Sea coast.
Snowy Owl and Pomarine Skua numbers were very low in 2007 indicating low microtine populations. Snowy Owls were abundant throughout the survey area in 2006 and Pomarine Skuas were locally common in the Barrow area indicating high microtine numbers.
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Rodent dynamics:
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Rodent species recorded:
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Summary
of fauna studies: |
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