ACCAP Mini-Grant Projects 2015

ACCAP solicited proposals as part of a mini-grant competition. Proposals were for salary support for one month of summer faculty support or three months of summer graduate student support. We funded a total of six projects which all began in May 2015. The projects cover the full breadth of ACCAP foci and all have a significant stakeholder engagement component aimed at promoting use-inspired science.

Informing Fisheries Adaptations to a Changing Climate

Terry Johnson, Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program
Goal: to provide the public and concerned stakeholders the information on the effects and potential adaptations to climate change and ocean acidification that they need to influence policy, develop technologies, and change behaviors.

Improving understanding of ringed and spotted seal sea ice habitat for resource managers

Olivia Lee, UAF International Arctic Research Center
Goals: To improve partnerships between cryosphere researchers, resource managers, and local stakeholders to better understand data products of greatest use to resource managers and subsistence hunters, and to improve the understanding of sea ice habitat use for ringed and spotted seals.

Improving scientific understanding of the changing hydrologic system of the Jarvis Creek watershed and its impacts on the ecosystem

Anna Liljedahl, UAF Water and Environmental Research Center & UAF International Arctic Research Center
Goal: to develop a comprehensive understanding of how recent and projected climate warming have and will affect glaciers and permafrost and its cascading effects on the larger-scale hydrologic system of Interior Alaska.

Blue carbon: the role of marine predators in carbon storage and sequestration

Heidi Pearson, Assistant Professor of Marine Biology, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast
Goal: To determine the capacity for marine mammals to sequester carbon in Southeast Alaska via whale pump and trophic cascade carbon processes.

Climate-induced changes to trophic interactions of top predators and forage fish species in a sub-Arctic ecosystem

Courtney Pegus, UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
Goal: To develop a productive research-oriented working relationship with the National Park Service that will be mutually beneficial for the research objectives of this study as well as the long-term monitoring efforts of the NPS. The specific research objectives are to determine if climate-driven changes to glacial ice are related to declines in harbor seal populations in Glacier Bay and to investigate the possibility of inter-specific competition occurring between harbor seals and humpback whales because of reduced glacial ice habitats.

Sustainable Engineering Techniques for Rural and Traditional Arctic Infrastructure

Rorik Peterson, UAF Institute of Northern Engineering
Goals: Stemming from previous work in the Arctic coastal community of Kaktovik, to perform high-resolution numerical modeling of this community’s ice cellar in in order to provide guidance for future monitoring and design, and to use the existing numerical model to identify the impact of different food storage techniques. Additionally, on a broad scale, to identify new hydrothermal infrastructure challenges that can be addressed using novel engineering solutions that utilize sustainable techniques.