Series: Alaska Park Science Volume 20 Issue 1 - Parks as Proving Grounds

Parks in Alaska pose special challenges to researchers: they are large, remote, and less is known about them. This makes it all the more important that tools and techniques we use here are practical, effective, and impactful. While researchers often focus on sharing the findings from their work, here we shine a light on the devices and approaches used by researchers with attention to the innovation needed to work in Alaska. Alaska Park Science 20 (1), 2021

• Article 1: Parks as Proving Grounds: Research Tools and Techniques

  

  Parks in Alaska pose special challenges to researchers: they are large, remote, and less is known about them. This makes it all the more important that tools and techniques we use here are practical, effective, and impactful. While researchers often focus on sharing the findings from their work, here we shine a light on the devices and approaches used by researchers with attention to the innovation needed to work in Alaska. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

  Article 2: New Approaches to Study Interactions Among Climate, Environment, and Humans in Arctic Alaska

  

  Lake sediments accumulate for thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, serving as a geological record or environmental archive of long-term climate change and ecological variability. Paleoclimatologists and paleoecologists are examining lake sediment cores to deduce environmental changes of the past. This understanding will allow us to make more informed predictions about future change. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 3: Clues from Glacier Debris: Dating and Mapping Glacial Deposits Since the Last Ice Age in the Western Alaska Range

  

  Moraines are the footprint of past glacier positions and, if the age of the moraine is known, they can record the timing and rate of glacier change. Carefully reconstructed glacier histories are used as archives of past climate change. Cosmogenic isotope exposure dating is a new technique being used in the Revelation Mountains that could tell us about glacier and climate history of the Alaska Range. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 4: High-definition Laser Scanning for Documenting Cultural Resources

  

  High-definition laser scanning is a recently adopted technology to collect highly accurate and detailed spatial data that can be processed into a three-dimensional digital model. It is a powerful tool to quickly and accurately document historical buildings and sites, which can facilitate conservation and restoration of these cultural resources. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 5: Unmanned Aerial Systems as a Tool for Natural Resource Applications

  

  The use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) is rapidly expanding as a tool for resource management. Employing UAS to collect data can result in more accurate mapping, decreased cost, and increased personnel safety. Applications of UAS in Alaska parks are demonstrating the benefits and defining best practices for its continued and enhanced use. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 6: Mapping and Monitoring Landscape Changes Using Structure from Motion from Aircraft

  

  Aerial SfM is an accessible tool for mapping and monitoring landscape changes for a wide range of applications and disciplines across parks in Alaska. The success of the Alaska Region aerial SfM system during the first four years of testing and deployment has demonstrated its value to park mangers to address rapidly changing park landscapes. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 7: Repeat Photography: A Visually Compelling Tool for Documenting Natural Resource Change

  

  Repeat photography is an effective method to qualitatively and quantitatively assess landscape change over time. From shrinking glaciers to changing vegetation to changes in the built environment, comparing historical and contemporary photos can help us identify specific features or processes that may require more intensive monitoring and research and can serve as a valuable tool for education, outreach, and resource management. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 8: Making Sound Decisions Using Bioacoustics in Alaska’s National Parks

  

  Animals are continuously immersed in acoustic signals. Acoustic recording devices allow us to extend our sense of hearing to remote places, times, and even frequencies we normally cannot access. By studying the sounds animals make, and the sounds in their environment, we can better understand their conservation needs. Presented here are examples from bats, birds, frogs, and whales. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 9: An Introduction to Some of the High-flying Technology Used to Study the Movements of Alaska’s Migratory Birds

  

  There are many tools available to study the movements of birds and the technology is evolving rapidly. Explore how satellite telemetry, global system for mobile communications telemetry, archival light-level loggers, and GPS data loggers are used in migratory bird research and what we are learning as a result. Alaska Park Science (20)1, 2021 Read more

• Article 10: New Insights from an Enduring Tool: Using GPS Data to Detect Calving Events in Alaskan Caribou Herds

  

  Since movement is the norm for caribou, it is noticeable when an animal changes its movement pattern—especially when it slows down or stops. By using GPS collar data, biologists have been able to detect when female caribou slow down long enough to give birth to a calf. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Denali National Park & Preserve

  Article 11: Using GPS Units to Understand Where Backpackers Travel in Denali National Park

  

  Visitor use in national parks is dynamic. By examining different aspects of visitor use, such as where people go, managers are better prepared to address issues such as potential resource damage and crowding. But learning where people go in a large wilderness park poses some challenges. When backpacking parties used GPS tracking devices, the data clearly showed where they went, how far they traveled, and how long they stayed. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more

• Article 12: Using Aquatic Invertebrates to Measure the Health of Stream Ecosystems: New Bioassessment Tools for Alaska’s Parklands

  

  Aquatic insects are good indicators of stream ecosystem health because they are common, reasonably well understood, easy to collect and analyze, and sensitive to the environment in which they live. We can determine the relative health of a stream by comparing what insects we find to what we would expect to find in a similar healthy stream. This straightforward approach can be used in all kinds of settings and compared across a region. Alaska Park Science 20(1), 2021 Read more