Linking landscape attributes to salmon and decision-making in the southern Kenai Lowlands, Alaska, USA

Ecology and Society: a journal of integrative science for resilience and sustainability

article

Coowe M. Walker¹  Dennis F. Whigham³  I. Syverine Bentz¹  Jacob M. Argueta¹  Ryan S. King⁴  Mark C. Rains⁵  Charles A. Simenstad⁶  Chris Guo¹  Steven J. Baird¹  Conrad J. Field¹ 

[1] Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve;Alaska Center for Conservation Science, University of Alaska Anchorage;Smithsonian Environmental Research Center;Department of Biology, Baylor University;School of Geosciences, University of South Florida;University of Washington

关键词: Alaska;    communities;    conservation;    salmon;    sustainability;    watersheds;   

DOI  :  10.5751/ES-11798-260101

学科分类：生物科学（综合）

来源: Resilience Alliance Publications

【 摘 要 】

While Pacific salmon are economically and culturally important worldwide, Alaska, USA is one of the few remaining places on earth where sustainable management of salmon is possible, even in the face of wide-ranging threats, including overharvesting and the impacts of climate change. A continuing challenge that we face is to understand the ecological processes that result in sustainable salmon populations and report that science to stakeholders in a way that promotes decision-making to avoid the destruction of salmon populations that has occurred in most areas of the lower 48 states. To address this challenge, our studies in the southern Kenai Lowlands of Alaska are designed to understand the ecological linkages between the landscape and salmon-bearing streams. Our focus on headwater streams that are essential habitat for juveniles of several salmonids demonstrates multiple connections between uplands, wetlands, and the headwater streams. These ecological linkages have been mapped across the watersheds of the southern Kenai Lowlands and used to create spatial tools for communicating with stakeholders who are making land-use decisions that affect salmon-supporting habitats. We present how the main findings of our research, i.e., the influence of alders, peatlands, and groundwater flows on riparian and headwater streams, were incorporated into a spatial tool that was used in case studies with user groups and in outreach efforts. We include evidence that these efforts to engage with stakeholders are resulting in attitudinal shifts as well as on-the-ground changes in peoples’ decision-making.

【 授权许可】

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