News

Here’s a concept: Food webs–those simple drawings of algae, fish, eagles, and bears that most of us first encounter in elementary school–describe a key component of ecosystem dynamics. The interactions of individuals in food webs define ecosystems, and when changes occur to one species, there are broader implications for the entire web.

WERC’s assistant research professor Dr. Nicole Misarti is researching this concept by studying one keystone predator species, the sea otter, and how it impacts sub-arctic island food webs. (more…)

“Cold, harsh and beautiful” is the title of a short scientific documentary put on by University of Alaska researcher Alessio Gusmeroli (IARC). The 9-minute YouTube video portrays the unique workplace of scientists doing fieldwork in Northern Alaska: the windy, frozen landscape of the Arctic tundra. Among the scientists featured in this video is WERC researcher Christopher Arp. (more…)

Methane’s role as a greenhouse gas and its potential to impact global climate change has catapulted it into the mainstream media and dinner table conversations, but fewer people have considered its potential as an underutilized resource. A lack of understanding and quantifying sources of methane presents an opportunity for research which is an advantage for PhD exchange student Karla Martinez-Cruz. Martinez-Cruz recently joined the WERC staff to pursue her research on methane cycling. (more…)

Join us this Friday, April 19, 2013, for the last seminar of the spring semester. Karla Martinez-Cruz will present her research on methane cycling in aquatic ecosystems and present current findings from Mexico City and Alaska.

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Graduate student Jessica Starsman will discuss her research on the effects of felt leaf willow, and more specifically salicylic acid, on the remediation of soils contaminated with diesel and 1-chlorooctadecane at this week’s WERC seminar, April 5, 2013,

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Please join us at this week’s WERC seminar, March 29, 2013, as Ph.D. student Eric Lamb presents her research on suspended sediment transport in rivers on the North Slope of Alaska.

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UAA Civil Engineering professor Aaron Dotson will present his research on protein recovery from stickwater through ceramic membranes, and what it means for the Alaska fish processing industry at this week’s seminar, Friday, March 22, 2013.

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At this week’s seminar, Friday, March 8, 2013, WERC student Chas Jones will discuss fluctuations in groundwater flow and how these changes affect the seasonal ice dynamics on the Tanana River.

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WERC graduate student Nathan Stephan will discuss methods of using fluorescent tracers to collect river discharge information at this week’s seminar, Friday, March 1, 2013.

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WERC graduate student Edda Mutter will discuss her research on using pharmaceuticals as tracers to identify pollution sources in the local water supply at this week’s seminar, Friday, February 22, 2013.

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