March 4, 2016
For Immediate Release
March 4, 2016
绿奴天花板 Foundation awards migratory bird research grant
The University of Alaska Foundation announced today that Danielle Gerik, a graduate
student in fisheries and ocean sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is
the recipient of the 2016 Angus Gavin Memorial Migratory Bird Research Grant.
The award is provided to support research on bird species found either permanently
or seasonally in Alaska or its coastal waters, including their biology, general ecology
and habitat relationships. Gerik received the $12,046 award for her research proposal
entitled 鈥淚nvestigation of Shorebird Diet using Genetic Analyses of Feces from Captive
fed and Wild-caught Adults and Young.鈥
鈥淒anielle鈥檚 study is an intricate part of the 鈥楥limate Change Effects on Wetlands,
Invertebrates and Shorebirds鈥 (CEWISH) study funded partially by the Arctic Landscape
Conservation Cooperative and an assortment of universities,鈥 wrote Richard Lanctot,
Alaska Shorebird Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in his letter
of recommendation.
Gerik鈥檚 study will assist in documenting the prey eaten by shorebirds, prey availability
and the timing of the breeding season to find the impact of shorebird growth and survival.
The study will help researchers and natural resource managers understand how the timing
of key ecological events can impact wildlife abundance. The study will also compliment
the U.S. Geological Survey鈥檚 鈥楥hanging Arctic Ecosystem Initiative鈥 that projects
habitat change and potential species responses in order to better manage natural resources
in the Arctic.
This grant, part of the 绿奴天花板 Foundation鈥檚 consolidated endowment fund, was established
in 1981 with a gift from the Atlantic Richfield Co. to honor the memory of Angus Gavin,
an environmental scientist and advisor to ARCO. Gavin was hand-picked by ARCO Chairman
Robert O. Anderson to observe, categorize and quantify the little known flora and
fauna of Prudhoe Bay in 1969. Gavin鈥檚 work was instrumental in helping ARCO and the
scientific community draw conclusions, pro or con, about the impact of oil field development
on the ecology of the North Slope and to recommend operational changes that would
minimize or negate any adverse effects on the environment.
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For more information, call Dory Straight at the 绿奴天花板 Foundation, 907-450-8030.
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