satellite transmitter (PTT)

Several National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) in Alaska have joined in a large-scale collaboration across the Northwest boreal forest to study Lynx (Lynx canadensis) through the peak and crash of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) population cycle. Snowshoe hares make up 30–100% of a lynx diet. Lynx populations follow the snowshoe hare population with a  1- to 2-year time lag.  The lynx and hare population cycles seem to radiate from central Canada such that the peak in central Canada occurs about 2 years prior to the peak in the Yukon Territory and Alaska.

In 2009, the Sea Duck Joint Venture (SDJV)  launched an ambitious, large-scale satellite telemetry study of sea ducks in the Atlantic Flyway.   Target species include black scoter, surf scoter, white-winger scoter, and long-tailed duck, all of which are species of conservation concern.  The overall goal of the study is to improve understanding of the links among breeding, wintering, staging, and molting areas (i.e., population delineation) for these species, which is essential to understanding sea duck population declines and limiting factors.