Pacific salmon as indicators of ecosystem health
Project ID: J9W88040015
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Partner Institution: University of Alaska Southeast
Fiscal Year: 2004
Initial Funding: $26,000
Total Funding: $40,460
Project Type: Research
Project Disciplines: Biological
National Park: Alaska Region
Principal Investigator: Hood, Eran
Agreement Technical Representative: Gende, Scott
Abstract: Pacific salmon are an important biotic resource to many national parks in both southeast and southwest Alaska, and may be an indicator of the health of these ecosystems and thus a candidate ‘Vital Sign’. However, the metric and life-history stage of salmon that would reflect park ‘health’ needs clarifications. Furthermore, current methods used to examine the quantity and importance of salmon in freshwater and riparian biota requires further validation and refinement. This project is intended to examine the efficacy of using salmon as an indicator of riparian ecosystem health, and thus its potential use a park Vital Sign. A literature review will be coupled with several experiments that will examine salmon-soil-plant interactions and processes to assess how salmon can be adequately measured and whether this measurement reflects the importance of salmon to these ecosystems.
Deliverables: