NORTH PACIFIC RESEARCH BOARD - 2015-2016 Biennial Report

the Arctic Program to advance understanding of linkages processes and to advance hypothesis-driven, multidis- between the northern Bering Sea and the Arctic, produc- ciplinary research that explores the structure, processes, The multi-year IERPs are implemented with a three-stage tivity and rate processes in the Bering Strait, physical and interactions within the marine systems of the North approa. [...] • Along-shore connectivity and regional variation in the Gulf of Alaska; • In and out of bays: connecting inshore areas to the open waters of the Gulf of Alaska; Oceanographic and biological sampling occurred in spring, summer, and fall of 2011 and • Trophic structuring in the Gulf of Alaska: salmon as predators and competitors; and 2013, from southeast Alaska westward to southern Kodiak Island. [...] Bureau of Ocean Energy The Arctic IERP will address the following question: Management, Collaborative Alaskan Arctic Studies Program (formerly the North How will reductions in Arctic sea ice and the associated changes in the physical environ- Slope Borough/Shell Baseline Studies Program), and Office of Naval Research Marine ment influence the flow of energy through the ecosystem in the Chukchi Sea. [...] The Arctic • Distribution, condition, and standing stocks of large crustacean zooplankton that IERP seeks to better understand the mechanisms and processes that structure the serve as the prey base for upper trophic level fishes and seabirds; ecosystem and influence the distribution, life history, and interactions of biological • Assemblages, distributions, abundances, and condition of larval and. [...] The focus of the program was tion, abundance, and diet of Pseudocalanus; (3) feeding and lipid storage in to improve understanding of the response of the Bering Sea ecosystem and communities euphausiids (krill); and (4) several syntheses of literature involving top-down and to climate change and variation—in particular, patterns in seasonal sea ice coverage and bottom-up controls on several specie.