Geology topics

Anne H. Beaudreau

Publications and source records attributed to Anne H. Beaudreau.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2026

Community perspectives on the role of power and place-based knowledge at the frontline of gray wolf (Canis lupus) return

Conflict and coexistence between large carnivores and human communities can be shaped by tolerance , or people’s willingness to absorb the impacts and benefits of large carnivores within shared landscapes. In the last decade, hazard acceptance models (HAMs) have become one of the most popular psychological models for characterizing the drivers of an individual’s tolerance of large carnivores. However, quantitative psychological models designed for individuals do not fully capture the influence of power and local context on community-level tolerance of threats and hazards. Here, we examined the importance of power, cultural context, and hazard psychology in southwestern Washington communities, where a wolf pack established in 2022 after an 80-year absence in an area with a divisive history of human-carnivore conflict. We interviewed 37 residents spanning a range of political and economic backgrounds to understand the willingness of people to tolerate wolves at this early stage of reestablishment. Qualitative analysis of themes from these interviews revealed strong support for elements of individual psychological drivers captured in HAMs. However, they also point to the importance of power relations and local economic and cultural contexts within a community in creating the conditions for intolerance, which can be hard to overcome once entrenched. Our results show how HAMs developed for individuals are embedded within critical, community-wide sociocultural and political contexts. We therefore propose several complements to existing HAM frameworks and argue that while quantitative measures are valuable for testing individual psychological variables, these quantitative examinations will be most robust when they are accompanied by qualitative approaches capable of capturing the more complex dynamics of power, community cohesion, and economic transformation. We also show that community-engaged research can help build trust and create pathways for tolerance at the earliest stages of carnivore recovery.

Washington↗

USGS2016

Prey partitioning and use of insects by juvenile sockeye salmon and a potential competitor, threespine stickleback, in Afognak Lake, Alaska

Freshwater growth of juvenile sockeye salmon ( Oncorhynchus nerka ) depends upon the quality and quantity of prey and interactions with potential competitors in the foraging environment. To a large extent, knowledge about the ecology of lake-rearing juvenile sockeye salmon has emerged from studies of commercially important runs returning to deep nursery lakes, yet information from shallow nursery lakes (mean depth ≤ 10 m) is limited. We examined seasonal and ontogenetic variation in diets of juvenile sockeye salmon ( N = 219, 30–85 mm) and an abundant potential competitor, threespine stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ; N = 198, 42–67 mm), to understand their foraging ecology and potential trophic interactions in a shallow Alaska lake. This study revealed that adult insects made up 74% of all sockeye salmon diets by weight and were present in 98% of all stomachs in Afognak Lake during the summer of 2013. Diets varied temporally for all fishes, but small sockeye salmon (<60 mm) showed a distinct shift in consumption from zooplankton in early summer to adult insects in late summer. We found significant differences in diet composition between sockeye salmon and threespine stickleback and the origin of their prey indicated that they also separated their use of habitat on a fine scale; however, the two species showed overlap in size selectivity of zooplankton prey. Considering that aquatic insects can be a primary resource for juvenile sockeye salmon in Afognak Lake, we encourage the development of nursery lake carrying capacity models that include aquatic insects as a prey source for sockeye salmon.

Alaska↗

USGS2015

Icefield-to-ocean linkages across the northern Pacific coastal temperate rainforest ecosystem

Rates of glacier mass loss in the northern Pacific coastal temperate rainforest (PCTR) are among the highest on Earth, and changes in glacier volume and extent will affect the flow regime and chemistry of coastal rivers, as well as the nearshore marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Alaska. Here we synthesize physical, chemical and biological linkages that characterize the northern PCTR ecosystem, with particular emphasis on the potential impacts of glacier change in the coastal mountain ranges on the surface–water hydrology, biogeochemistry, coastal oceanography and aquatic ecology. We also evaluate the relative importance and interplay between interannual variability and long-term trends in key physical drivers and ecological responses. To advance our knowledge of the northern PCTR, we advocate for cross-disciplinary research bridging the icefield-to-ocean ecosystem that can be paired with long-term scientific records and designed to inform decisionmakers.

Pacific coastal temperate rainforest↗