Kickstarter Update-- 30 days remaining!

Hi everyone!

We have just 30 days left for our Kickstarter project. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out our Kickstarter page!

A huge thank-you to those of you who have pledged to support us. We're nearing 15% of our funding goal. We have a long way to go, so the coming month will be extremely important. Please help us spread the word through Facebook, Twitter or personal emails to individuals who might be interested in salmon, wildlife, Alaska, or science. Even if they don't choose to donate, we want people to learn about our project and get excited about our research!

Please help us continue to spread the word about our work, and of course,  consider contributing if you can! Donations as small as $1 are accepted, and every little bit helps.

Keep checking back for regular updates.

Cheers,
Rachel, Yiwei and Taal

Taals talk on Amazonian hunting, salmon, and Lyme disease

Looking very sauve in his sea otter tie, Taal just presented his exit talk (last talk before being rewarded a PhD) to the department today!

He gave an amazing lecture on his work on hunting in the Amazon, balancing ecosystem and human needs for salmon harvests, and how the decrease of small predators might be linked to increased lyme disease in humans.



Truly a very diverse and exciting dissertation! Congratulations to Taal!!!

Why do eagles migrate thousands of miles to feed on salmon?

Check out the feeding frenzy when the chum salmon arrive in the fall. This is only one half day of footage from our motion detecting cameras! Eagles pull out the salmon and other birds can access whatever is left.

But why do eagles migrate by the thousands to the Chilkat River from distant locations?
Read more »

Kickstarting Science!

Hi everyone!

We are very excited to announce the launch of our Kickstarter fundraising page!

Kickstarter is a website that helps projects get started with donations from all over the world. We have set a goal to reach $10,000 by June 30th, 2012. Funding is awarded all or nothing, which means if we don't reach our fundraising goals, we get nothing. So please consider donating if you are interested in supporting science and conservation.

Read more »

Who are we? (Part 3)

Hey there! My name is Rachel Wheat. I grew up on the front range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and have long been fascinated with wildlife and the natural world. I've worked on a variety of field projects, from researching tree squirrels in Colorado to sage-grouse in Wyoming to gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to be starting this newest research project to study salmon-wildlife interactions near Haines, Alaska!
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Who are we? (Part 2)

Hello folks, I'm Taal Levi...

I'm about to finish my PhD (7 days until my exit talk!) and begin a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellowship to study how interactions among carnivores influence ecosystems and the emergence of human diseases.

Read more »

Photos from the field (Summer 2011)

The magic of Alaska is difficult to convey in words alone. Check out some photos from the field from summer 2011 below!

Who are we? (Part 1)

Hello visitors! My name is Yiwei Wang and I am one of the researchers on the Ecology Alaska project.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Like many suburban kids, I didn't pay much attention to the natural world around me (although I always loved wildlife) and never imagined that I would grow up to be a conservation biologist!
Read more »

Our new video

Check out the video we made for our upcoming Kickstarter fundraising campaign! We are so excited to be returning to Alaska this summer!

Welcome to Ecology Alaska!

Welcome to the Ecology Alaska blog! We are Rachel Wheat, Yiwei Wang, and Taal Levi.

Here, we will be recording our adventures studying the wildlife of Alaska, starting summer 2012. Check back often as we begin preparations for our research...