Science of the Seasons: Bearing study

Photo courtesy of Dr. David Wartinbee. A polar bear rests on a gravel bar near Kaktovik during September 2010. Until sea ice reforms in the winter, bears are relegated to shore.
waiting for the sea ice to form.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are an iconic creature that most of us have experienced as cuddly children’s toys or as friendly family groups interacting with penguins in Coca-Cola commercials.

Much of what we commonly see portrayed about polar bears is quite distant from reality. When viewing TV ads, I always want to point out that polar bears and penguins live worlds apart, penguins in the Antarctic and polar bears only in the Arctic. They only meet in fairy tales. I am also bothered by the anthropogenic portrayal of large family units of polar bears because in the real world they are mostly solitary predators who actively avoid contact with their relatives.

Polar bears are found throughout the northern hemisphere Arctic. There are populations in Norway, Russia, Canada, Alaska and Greenland. Most of their lives are spent as ice-pack hunters, looking for seals that have created breathing holes through the ice, or those basking on the ice. When the sea ice melts in the summer, the bears hang out along shore areas. Typically they fast during this onshore time, although they are happy to take carrion or feed on whale carcasses from Native subsistence hunts. They head back out on the pack ice to hunt seals again, as soon as the sea ice starts to reform.

In Alaska villages, like Kaktovik, polar bears are spending more and more time on land due to the earlier and more extensive summer sea ice melting. And the sea ice is reforming later in the fall than it used to, so bears are onshore longer these days. In these situations, they are not usually feeding, so social interactions are less intense.

Tusks on the cusp of climate change in Arctic

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

Walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) are unique within the animal world because of their characteristic tusks. Their scientific name indicates a “tooth-walking sea cow” and may refer to the “head-high” position large males must maintain as they move about because of the long tusks projecting downward. The tusks are actually elongated canines from the upper jaw and can be nearly 4 feet long on some 2,500-pound males.

The tusks are used as a mating display or a weapon when dominance is being challenged. As well, these same tusks are used to carve out breathing holes in the ice packs where they are usually found. Contrary to long held thoughts, these large tusks are not believed to be used when feeding in bottom sediments.

The most important food sources for Pacific walruses are various bivalves (clams) from the ocean sediments. Apparently, walruses are able to sense clams with their stiff whiskers, called facial vibrissae. These vibrissae are actually about as thick as coat-hanger wire. They swim along the bottom sediments with their muzzle in the sediments and occasionally they will sweep water across the sediments with their front flipper.

In addition, it is believed that walruses may squirt water at the bottom sediments to uncover clams and marine worms. When a whole clam is taken into the mouth, walruses are able to use a powerful suction-squirt action within the mouth to separate clams from their shells. Supposedly, walruses can take in and shuck about six clams a minute. While their molar teeth show some wear, it is not believed to come from crushing shells during feeding, but rather from inadvertent sand taken in while feeding. Walruses are known to occasionally feed on seals and even some birds, but it is not known how important these other food sources are in their overall dietary scheme.

Danger in the deep — Invasive elodea plant threatens to strangle peninsula waterbodies

Photo courtesy of http://www.elodea.co.uk. Attempts to remove elodea from a lake in the United Kingdom. The plant was discovered on the Kenai Peninsula last year.

By Joseph Robertia

Redoubt Reporter

Hearing about invasive terrestrial plants is, unfortunately, getting to be routine on the central Kenai Peninsula, as residents are asked year after year to do their part to prevent invasives, such as dandelions, bird vetch and purple loosestrife, from spreading across the land.

Now a newly discovered invader — the first submerged aquatic — has upped the alarm in necessity of response, as it’s one that can cause so much damage, so quickly, that biologists are asking for everyone’s help to immediately start combating its spread.

“This is a really bad one. This is the one we were worried about because it could hurt the fisheries of the entire peninsula. It’s a really big deal,” said John Morton, supervisory wildlife biologist with the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

The aquatic invader is known as “elodea” and has recently been discovered in Stormy and Daniels lakes in Nikiski, as well as some slow-moving waters in other parts of the state, including Anchorage, Fairbanks and Cordova.

“We’re concerned because, not only was this stuff unheard of up here five years ago, but also because this stuff is spread so easily,” Morton said. “It reproduces asexually, so only a tiny little piece of it on a boot, fishing gear, a boat prop, a float plane — and it can take off again in a new waterbody.”

Science of the Seasons: Ring around the ice floes — Arctic ringed seals a study in adaptation

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

In March and April, the northern sea coasts of Alaska are covered with ice. The sea ice that is bound to the coastline is called fast ice, while that portion of the ice that breaks away and drifts about is known as pack ice.

Leads of open water between these two ice masses are used as swimming channels for whales, walrus, seals and, of course, travel by humans.

The abundant and relatively small ringed seals use their long and powerful claws to form a series of breathing holes in pack ice and some areas of fast ice. Between foraging for food in the ocean, they return to one of the holes about every 15 minutes. They prefer being farther away from the shoreline and will usually end up on pack ice as it drifts away from the shoreline in the springtime. Choosing to stay on pack ice separates them from many of the potential land-based predators.

In April or early May, female ringed seals carve out an ice and snow cave near a breathing hole. Completely covered within this ice lair, females can give birth to their single pup. When first born, the young seal has a thick, wooly coat called “lanugo” to keep it warm, since they do not arrive with a layer of blubber. The two-month nursing period takes place within the hidden chamber.

Science of the Seasons: Arctic sea ice is nice for many mammals

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

My first introduction to seals came on a grainy, black-and-white TV when trained seals performed on some variety show. They were a strange animal when first seen, since they didn’t look anything like the all familiar dogs, cats, horses or cows. They were awkward on land and I never got to see their graceful swimming motions until underwater cameras became popular. It took many trips to Alaska and several years as a volunteer at the Alaska SeaLife Center before I really had any understanding about these amazing creatures.

However, many Alaskans learn the ways of seals as they grow up because seals are a normal part of the rural subsistence lifestyle. Seals are hunted on a regular basis in many Native communities as a nutrient-rich food source. Seals are not only hunted for their meat. Seal oil, which is rendered from seal blubber, can be used as an additive to other traditional foods, for waterproofing skin boats or as a traditional fuel for oil lamps. Additionally, seal furs are treasured for garments like boots, hats, gloves and coats.

Along Alaska’s north and western coasts, two of the most commonly hunted seals are the bearded and ringed seals. These are commonly referred to as ice seals because they spend most of their time on or around ice. These seals mate, give birth, raise their young, and rest on or under Arctic sea ice. Only rarely do these seals actually come to shore.

Class visit a real hoot — Owls offer lessons on biology, ecology

By Joseph Robertia

Photos courtesy of Johnna Lemm. Bill and Sharon Larson, with the Bird Treatment and Learning Center, visited Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School recently.

Redoubt Reporter

The tiny owl craned its head 180 degrees to reveal its large, yellow, disc-shaped eyes. Its brown- and buff-colored feathers would normally help it camouflage into the tree cavities in which it typically roosts, but this 8-inch owl wasn’t hunting from a dense spruce forest. Rather, it was on display last week at Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School as part of an educational program put on by the Bird Treatment and Learning Center of Anchorage.

“They do an owl unit in second grade, but the best view they would normally see of an owl would be on a video, so this really engages them,” said school Principal Melissa Linton.
The diminutive owl, a Northern Saw-whet, was one of two owls that visited the school last week. The other was a much larger and diurnal Northern hawk owl. Though different in size, the two had something in common — they had both previously been injured in ways that prevented them from surviving on their own.

“The Saw-whet, now 2 years old, was attacked by ravens when it was about 4 months old. It’s now blind in one eye.

A Northern Saw-whet owl with an injured eye perches on the hand of Bill Larson.

The other owl was hit by a car about this time last year. It fractured its wing and it’s now pinned together. So neither bird will be released back into the wild,” said Sharon Larson.

She, along with her husband, Bill, are U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-permitted bird rehabilitators and the volunteer caretakers of the owls.

Larson said that the owls are great to bring to schools — as well as churches, scouting groups and other venues — because not only are they distinct and unique, but also because of all the lessons that can be taught in relation to the creatures.
“You can teach a lot about ecology by asking the kids about the bird’s color and why it might need to be that color to fit into its environment. It’s a good opportunity to teach about conservation, too, because if there are no trees or forests, there are no owls,” she said.

Career in the books — Mohorcich saw borough through youth of planning, river protection

By Jenny Neyman

Photos courtesy of Laura Mohorcich. John Mohorcich is planning out new endeavors after a 30-year career in planning and land management at the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Recreational opportunities on the Kenai Peninsula, such as rafting Six Mile Creek, is part of what cemented Mohorcich’s residency here.

Redoubt Reporter

For someone as closely involved in codes and regulations as John Mohorcich has been in his 30-year career in land planning and management on the Kenai Peninsula, he’s not as given to unyielding allegiance to doing things by the book as the nature of his job might indicate. Being the director of the Donald E. Gilman Kenai River Center — a hub of intersection between local, state and federal departments involved in managing the borough’s watersheds — makes Mohorcich sort of the broth that binds the alphabet soup of acronymed regulatory agencies together.

There are a lot of i’s to dot and t’s to cross in that role, but enforcing the rules has never taken priority over his own personal rule for doing his job — keeping open ears, eyes and mind in assessing situations as they come. As times change, so, too, do technology, knowledge, approaches and, eventually, the regulations for achieving the end goal of maintaining the health of the Kenai watershed.

“There’s been a learning curve. It’s important for the borough to be flexible and change those codes with that learning curve. We definitely didn’t have all the answers (when the river center began), and I still don’t think we do. If you’re not learning every day it’s time to look back a little bit and scratch the head and go, ‘Hmm, is this the right place to be?’” Mohorcich said.

It’s not that he’s against doing things by the book — he was a code enforcement officer at one point, after all. It’s just that he’s one of the people who helped write the book of land management on the Kenai. And he learned from that experience that throwing the book at someone is rarely a productive way to achieve long-term improvements.

“It goes back to him being able to get along with everybody and treat everyone fairly and explain things thoroughly,” said Max Best, planning director at the borough, and Mohorcich’s longtime colleague and friend. “He’s never demeaning anybody or giving somebody less importance than another. He treats everybody fairly.”

You catch more flies with honey, as the saying goes. In Alaska, where residents take very seriously their private property rights, you get more compliance with outreach, understanding, education and by sweetened positive reinforcements, like tax credits and streamlined permitting processes, than by a governmental representative telling people when, where and what they can and cannot do.

“It wasn’t the philosophy to point fingers or to identify faults and to write tickets for compliance. We wanted compliance, we needed compliance, but I really think that education and voluntary compliance goes much further,” Mohorcich said.

Common Ground: Hares snare populations of other animals

By Steve Meyer, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. High hare years can mean low grouse numbers, which appears to be the case this hunting season.

The varying hare, more commonly known as the snowshoe rabbit, is an influential little bugger. Their peculiar cycle is noticeable, in their absence when they are in a low cycle of abundance, and eating of all your flowers and vegetables when they are in an up cycle.

Their cycle is commonly thought to run in seven-year increments, which is only generally true. Until three years ago the hares had not shown a traditional up cycle since the 1980s. A traditional up cycle means the hares are everywhere, when you can’t throw the proverbial dead cat without hitting one. After so many years of seemingly low numbers, they have been prolific for three seasons now.

Nature, in its remarkable way, quickly detects when the hares are cycling up, and the result is a proliferation of predators. Lynx populations on the Kenai the past two seasons have exploded, resulting in record numbers of catches by trappers. Lynx sightings are common even in areas that support human populations.

The astonishing increase in the number of hawks, falcons and owls on the Kenai in the past two years is no coincidence, either. Coyote numbers are clearly up, as well. Again, the hares are to blame, or to thank, depending on your perspective.

All of this abundance of predators is great for wildlife viewers, fur trappers and predator hunters. It isn’t so great for young hunters out learning the ropes on spruce grouse, big game hunters looking for camp meat or upland bird hunters and their dogs.

Science of the Seasons: Depth of study — Stonefly nymphs an integral part of ecology of peninsula streams

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo courtesy of Dr. David Wartinbee. A Pteronarcella stonefly, common to the Kenai Peninsula, seen under magnification.

This spring I was waiting for the ice to melt and for the water levels to drop enough that I could get into some of the deeper sections of the Anchor River. A colleague from Utah had asked if I had ever found a particular genus of stonefly on the Kenai Peninsula, and the place where I had found them in greatest abundance was the North Fork of the Anchor River. So I headed just south of Anchor Point and collected a few Pteronarcella nymphs.

My friend had a graduate student who was interested in determining which species of Pteronarcella are found in our area and was using a new technique to determine the species. Instead of using the more common presence or absence of specific anatomical structures, the species would be determined by differences in DNA.

In the past 20 years, scientists have refined their abilities to determine DNA sequences, and it can now be done relatively rapidly. Using a series of known DNA sections, called “probes” for comparison, similarities and differences in organisms can be quickly examined. These techniques have identified different species when only one was previously recognized and synonymized (joined together) species that were previously thought to be different.

There are a couple different species of Pteronarcella that might be found here, but for most folks, the species delineation isn’t all that important. The Pteronarcella nymph, no matter what its real species name, is quite an interesting creature.

First, Pteronarcidae stoneflies are some of the largest stoneflies and some members of the family can get to 2 inches or more in length.

They often have a multiple-year life cycle and some may take four years to go from an egg to an adult. I found two distinct size classes when I was sampling and that suggests that they have a two-year life cycle in the Anchor River. Some nymphs had well-developed wing pads and were getting ready to emerge while others probably had another year to go.

Science of the Seasons: Evergreen, except when rusty red

By Dr. David Wartinbee, for the Redoubt Reporter

Photo by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Tree needles show the effect of “spruce rust,” a fungus that only affects the growth of the year. Needles are discolored, but the tree generally isn’t harmed overall.

Recently, I put my boat in at the upper launch of Skilak Lake. The water around the launch area, and all along the rocky shoreline, was covered with a bright, Creamsicle-orange layer. Immediately, I guessed that this was a layer created by spruce needle rust spores, remembering that similar orange-colored floating masses were reported in Kivalina and at Twin Lakes last year.

I photographed the large floating layer and collected samples to examine in the lab. Then I set about to see if many of the surrounding spruce trees showed the characteristic infection of yellowed needles at the tips of the branches. In the areas near the boat launch, I found no trees showing the infection. However, when I went to the far side of the lake, I found a large number of heavily infected trees. The winds had been from the southwest for a couple days and had apparently blown the spores to this northern shoreline.

The following day I was approached by two different individuals who asked about cream-colored or orange-colored layers they had seen on lakes near their particular homes. A day later, while fishing the Kenai River below Skilak Lake, I encountered thinner layers of the orange mass floating downriver. Because the brightly colored collections of spores have recently been seen on Skilak Lake, Arc Lake, the Kenai River and other lakes, I decided to revisit the topic of spruce needle rust.

Rust no fuss — Spruce fungus blight not harmful to trees

Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Tree needles show the effect of “spruce rust,” a fungus that only affects the growth of the year.

By Joseph Robertia

Redoubt Reporter

As summer gives way to fall, seeing the trees change color is a common seasonal occurrence across the Kenai Peninsula. But, typically, it isn’t the evergreens that are transforming from green to orange, yet that is what is happening in many areas on the peninsula. Spruce tree needles are staring to rust at their tips, due to a form of fungus that utilizes black, white and Sitka spruce needles for a portion of its life cycle.

“The scientific name is Chrysomyxa ledicola. It has two stages, one on spruce and one on Labrador tea. So, typically, it affects spruce only in wetter areas where you have Lab tea as an understory plant,” said Todd Eskelin, of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, where the rust has been observed in several locations.

Labrador tea is a small, ground-dwelling, evergreen shrub with fragrant, white flowers. It has small, leathery leaves that are shiny-green on the topside, and reddish-brown with hairs on the underside. The flowers grow in clusters, and the plant height is typically between 1 and 3 feet tall.

The refuge isn’t the only place it grows, however, nor the only spot where the rust has been showing up on spruce. According to Janice Chumley, integrated pest management technician at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, in Soldotna, many questions have come in from peninsula residents wondering about the growing orange color at the tips of spruce trees around their homes and neighborhoods.

“I’ve had a lot of calls from people curious about what it is. It’s dominant in some areas, absent in others. Areas in Clam Gulch and Homer have been well-coated, but there are good amounts reported in Ninilchik and Nikiski, as well,” she said.

Cat, debris fished from river — Funding enables Kenai watershed restoration projects

By Joseph Robertia

Photos by Joseph Robertia, Redoubt Reporter. Jerry Holly, with Soldotna-based Specialty Excavating, digs junk out of a jetty at mile 22.5 of the Kenai River on April 26, while Josh Holly, at left, inspects some of the debris up close.

Redoubt Reporter

When people think of the world-famous Kenai River, it is often a pristine image of sapphire blue waters bordered by a smooth-stoned shoreline that comes to mind, not a jetty made up of hulking pieces of rusty metal parts, as was the case at river mile 22.5 until two weeks ago.

“You could see Cat tracks and junk sticking out at low water. It didn’t look good,” said John Czarnezki, resource planner with the Kenai Peninsula Borough at the Donald E. Gilman River Center, who was the project manager overseeing recent cleanup efforts of this area just downstream of the center.

This was the first project of a much larger peninsulawide debris removal program utilizing Coastal Impact Assistance Program funding, as well as donations from federal, state and local conservation-related agencies and organizations. The program authorizes funds to be distributed to outer-continental-shelf oil- and gas-producing states, including Alaska, Alabama, California, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — for the conservation, protection and preservation of wetlands.

“To determine how the funds should be used, we solicited comments from the public and

Remnants of D8 and D6 Cats were dug out of the river near the Donald E. Gilman River Center on Funny River Road.

various area agencies with working knowledge of rivers, streams and coastline conservation and management. We received 30 different project ideas and ranked them based on priority. This project on the Kenai River was actually the second-ranked project on the list,” Czarnezki said.

The highest-ranking project is currently the removal of a fence erected long ago by a homesteader that has, over the years, collapsed into Soldotna Creek, and now is partially blocking this waterway.

“Soldotna Creek is running very high from the spring melt-off, so we’re waiting for the water to drop a bit, but we anticipate getting in there in mid-May,” Czarnezki said.