RUSALCA Arctic Food Web Structure and Epibenthic Communities in a Climate Change Context
Project Description
The goal of the RUSALCA program is to gather climate quality long-term physical, chemical and biological observations of the northern Bering and Chukchi Seas ecosystems to document the status quo and potential change in this region. We analyze benthic food web structure and epibenthic community as meaningful key variables for long-term climate observations, because they reflect water mass properties and the extent of pelagic-benthic coupling on the Arctic shelf, as well as habitat characteristics (community measure).
Project Funding
NOAA
Amount: $601,000
Start Date: 2004-06-00
End Date: 2016-06-00
Iken K, Bluhm BA, Dunton KH. (2010). "Benthic food web structure under differing water
mass properties in the southern Chukchi Sea". Deep Sea Research II. 57:71-85.
Bluhm, B., K. Iken, S.M. Hardy, B. Sirenko, B. Holladay. (2009). "Community structure
of epibenthic megafauna in the Chukchi Sea". Aquatic Biology. 7:269-293.
Research Team
Katrin Iken
Principal Investigator
Professor
Specialties:
- Trophic interactions and food web analysis
- Benthic diversity and communities
- Stable isotope analysis
- Phycology and invertebrate ecology
- Shallow water ecology and deep-sea biology
- Polar marine biology
Bodil Bluhm
Carlos Serratos
UAF
serratos.carlos@gmail.com