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  • Investigating the Relative Roles of Natural Factors and Shoreline Harvest in Altering the Community Structure, Dynamics and Diversity of the Kenai Peninsula’s Rocky Intertidal 040647

Project Information

Title: Investigating the Relative Roles of Natural Factors and Shoreline Harvest in Altering the Community Structure, Dynamics and Diversity of the Kenai Peninsula’s Rocky Intertidal 040647

Project Year and Number: 2004: 040647

Other Fiscal Years and Numbers for this Project: 2003: 030647

Principal Investigator (PI): Jennifer Ruesink (University of Washington)

Managing Agency: NOAA

Assisting Personnel: None

Research Location: Kenai Peninsula

Restoration Category: Research

Injured Resources Addressed: Intertidal Organisms, Subsistence

Abstract: The surf swept rocky shores of the outer Kenai Peninsula are the home of three Sugpiaq native villages where the black chiton (Katharina tunicata) remains an important traditional subsistence food source. This benthic invertebrate is also a competitively dominant herbivore known to have dramatic impacts on the structure, dynamics and diversity of the rocky intertidal. In collaboration with tribal members, we will evaluate the relative roles of natural factors (predation/grazing & natural variability) and anthropogenic impacts (Katharina harvest) in altering intertidal community structure. The project addresses the core GEM hypothesis of human versus natural impacts on the structure and productivity of coastal ecosystems. It will also provide an additional field season (2004) of valuable baseline monitoring in the intertidal zone that could be continued in the future as part of a long-term time series. Local tribes will be involved in both developing and carrying out research which will match the GEM commitment to community based science.


Proposal: View (286 KB)

Information and/or Products produced by this project:
Title Description Type Document(s)
Draft TEK Final Report Draft TEK Final Report Additional Report View (23 KB)

Reports:
Annual Report FY04: View (309 KB)
Final Report: See Project 030647

Publications from this Project: None Available