Geology topics

Margaret C. MacCluskie

Publications and source records attributed to Margaret C. MacCluskie.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2015

A formalized approach to making effective natural resource management decisions for Alaska National Parks

A fundamental goal of the National Park Service (NPS) is the long-term protection and management of resources in the National Park System. Reaching this goal requires multiple approaches, including the conservation of essential habitats and the identification and elimination of potential threats to biota and habitats. To accomplish these goals, the NPS has implemented the Alaska Region Vital Signs Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program to monitor key biological, chemical, and physical components of ecosystems at more than 270 national parks. The Alaska Region has four networks—Arctic, Central, Southeast, and Southwest. By monitoring vital signs over large spatial and temporal scales, park managers are provided with information on the status and trajectory of park resources as well as a greater understanding and insight into the ecosystem dynamics. While detecting and quantifying change is important to conservation efforts, to be useful for formulating remedial actions, monitoring data must explicitly relate to management objectives and be collected in such a manner as to resolve key uncertainties about the dynamics of the system (Nichols and Williams 2006). Formal decision making frameworks (versus more traditional processes described below) allow for the explicit integration of monitoring data into decision making processes to improve the understanding of system dynamics, thereby improving future decisions (Williams 2011).

Alaska↗

USGS2009

Dynamic multistate site occupancy models to evaluate hypotheses relevant to conservation of Golden Eagles in Denali National Park, Alaska

The recent development of multistate site occupancy models offers great opportunities to frame and solve decision problems for conservation that can be viewed in terms of site occupancy. These models have several characteristics (e.g., they account for detectability) that make them particularly well suited for addressing management and conservation problems. We applied multistate site occupancy models to evaluate hypotheses related to the conservation and management of Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in Denali National Park, Alaska, and provided estimates of transition probabilities among three occupancy states for nesting areas (occupied with successful reproduction, occupied with unsuccessful reproduction, and unoccupied). Our estimation models included the effect of potential recreational activities (hikers) and environmental covariates such as a snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) index on transition probabilities among the three occupancy states. Based on the most parsimonious model, support for the hypothesis of an effect of potential human disturbance on site occupancy dynamics was equivocal. There was some evidence that potential human disturbance negatively affected local colonization of territories, but there was no evidence of an effect on reproductive performance parameters. In addition, models that assume a positive relationship between the hare index and successful reproduction were well supported by the data. The statistical approach that we used is particularly useful to parameterize management models that can then be used to make optimal decisions related to the management of Golden Eagles in Denali. Although in our case we were particularly interested in managing recreational activities, we believe that such models should be useful to for a broad class of management and conservation problems.

Alaska↗

USGS2005

Central Alaska Network vital signs monitoring plan

Denali National Park and Preserve, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve have been organized into the Central Alaska Network (CAKN) for the purposes of carrying out ecological monitoring activities under the National Park Services’ Vital Signs Monitoring program. The Phase III Report is the initial draft of the Vital Signs Monitoring Plan for the Central Alaska Network. It includes updated material from the Phase I and II documents. This report, and draft protocols for 11 of the network’s Vital Signs, were peer reviewed early in 2005. Review comments were incorporated into the document bringing the network to the final stage of having a Vital Signs Monitoring Plan. Implementation of the program will formally begin in FY 2006. The broad goals of the CAKN monitoring program are to: (1) better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems; and (2) provide reference points for comparisons with other, altered environments. The focus of the CAKN program will be to monitor ecosystems in order to detect change in ecological components and in the relationships among the components. Water quality monitoring is fully integrated within the CAKN monitoring program. A monitoring program for lentic (non-moving water) has been determined, and the program for lotic systems (moving water) is under development.

Alaska↗

USGS1995

A device for simultaneously measuring nest attendance and nest temperature in waterfowl

Previous studies of waterfowl have measured nest attendance and nest temperature separately using a variety of methods. A device was developed that monitors nest attendance and temperature simultaneously. The device consists of an artificial egg with a microswitch that records nest attendance and a thermistor probe that records temperature. Data are stored in a single-channel data logger. The device described measures the length of incubation breaks, and nest cooling and warming rates.

Journal of Field Ornithology↗