Recent Articles

ACRC Postdoctoral Researcher Megan Behnke models the future of Alaska rivers

Through a new project with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center, the University of Alaska Southeast, and the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station, Megan Behnke is working to understand the impacts of changing river conditions on aquatic flows and freshwater habitat quality for fish across Alaska. Behnke rejoined ACRC last year as a postdoctoral researcher funded through the Coastal Rainforest Margins Research Network over five years after first engaging with ACRC as a research technician. In the fall of 2022, she began a new postdoctoral position with the Climate Adaptation Science Center Future of Aquatic Flows cohort, which is bringing early career researchers together to explore the effects of climate change on aquatic flows across the nation and how climate can be integrated into aquatic ecosystem management.

‘Adaptive Leadership’ Led to Successful COVID-19 Response in Alaskan Capital

Early action, effective communication and collaboration between emergency response and healthcare providers enabled Juneau’s successful pandemic response, study finds

Digging for the future of shellfish: UAS and Tribal researchers work together to understand changes to a valued subsistence resource

As the tide creeps up the shoreline at Juneau’s Amalga Harbor, ACRC researcher John Harley works shoulder to shoulder with collaborators from the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (CCTHITA), digging shallow holes in search of clams. By the end of the day, the group will have uncovered nearly 500 clams. Most of the bounty will be weighed and reburied for a large-scale survey of the abundance of clams in the region, but the remaining clams will travel to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska Environmental Research Lab to be tested for toxins that can accumulate in shellfish.

In the Gulf of Alaska, snow and glacier loss could mean fewer food options for salmon

Cool, clear snowmelt, icy, turbulent glacial runoff, and dark wetland rainfall streams meet among Alaska’s coastal mountain watersheds, providing diverse food sources, plant and animal communities, and habitat types. But the mountain glaciers surrounding the Gulf of Alaska have some of the highest rates of mass loss on Earth, and as snowmelt and glacial influences fade, watersheds are losing the diversity of stream conditions brought about by cryospheric –or frozen water–contributions. The result is rivers that look more alike in their hydrology, temperature, and importantly, the structure of food webs that salmon rely on.

ACRC Launches Report on Juneau’s Changing Climate and Community Response

Today, the Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center at the University of Alaska Southeast (UAS) released a comprehensive report on the impacts and response to climate change in Juneau titled, Juneau’s Changing Climate and Community Response. From more frequent intense rainfall events to the response of local wildlife, the report features accessible information from twenty-three local experts, scientists, and managers on the historic impacts, expected trends, and community response to climate change in the City and Borough of Juneau.

ACRC’s Jason Fellman assumes acting director role

UAS Research Associate Professor of Environmental Science Jason Fellman has stepped into the role of Acting ACRC Director, leveraging his coastal research expertise and history as a guiding force within the Center to drive ACRC’s mission and strategic activities going forward.

ACRC welcomes postdoctoral researcher Megan Behnke

For Megan Behnke, Juneau’s coastal temperate rainforest represents the familiar and the unknown all at once. Behnke, who was born and raised in Juneau, rejoins ACRC this month as a postdoctoral researcher funded through the Coastal Rainforest Margins Research Network over five years after first engaging with ACRC as a research technician. Realizing a long-held goal of living and conducting research on the microscopic ongoings of carbon in her own backyard has given Behnke a new lens to view the familiar settings of her past.

Assessing the value of “forest fish” in Alaska’s national forests

Containing some of the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforests, Alaska’s national forests are valued for the ecosystem services they provide, forest products, and the recreational and cultural value they offer. But the streams of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska and Chugach National Forest in southcentral Alaska hold a living, migrating resource that is harder to put a number on. ACRC research technician Emily Whitney and affiliates Ryan Bellmore and Di Johnson at the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station and Stormy Haught with the Forest Service in Cordova are working to quantify the number of “forest fish” originating from Alaska’s National Forestlands in the last decade. 

Linking Traditional Ecological Knowledge and herring spawn records to predict the future of Harmful Algal Blooms

Harvesting shellfish is a practice that dates back thousands of years in Alaska, but it can also be a risky one. Toxins can accumulate in shellfish following certain phytoplankton growth bursts known as Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs), making them toxic for human consumption, causing illness and fatalities. While shellfish are often harvested in the winter and spring when phytoplankton activity is low, warming ocean temperatures have lengthened the season where HABs can occur in Southeast Alaska putting coastal communities relying on shellfish harvest at greater risk.

Climate Change Impacts and Solutions in Southern Alaska

Join us to discuss key climate change issues affecting communities in our region of Alaska and explore specific mitigation and adaptation strategies being pursued in our coastal forest and ocean environments as climate change policy takes center stage at this year’s UNFCCC 26th COP (Conference of Parties) gathering in Glasgow, UK in November.