Research Interests

Our research describes the impacts of climate warming during the 20th century on various components of the arctic ecosystem, including the snow, vegetation, permafrost, hydrology, wildlife, and people. My interests lie more in the linkages between these components than in any isolated component. Recently we used satellite images to show that beavers are moving from the forest and colonizing tundra regions, so we are studying the profound implications for arctic stream and riparian ecosystems, including permafrost and fish. In 2020 we founded the Arctic Beaver Observation Network to integrate circumarctic efforts to understand this complex and exciting issue (contact me if you'd like to join); we had a virtual meeting in March 2022 and an in-person meeting in Nov 2022.

I have used repeat photography to document landscape change in northern Alaska, which appears in my book (The Changing Arctic Landscape) and traveling museum exhibit (Then & Now, The Changing Arctic Landscape), which traveled nationally 2010-2020. I teach a course called Climate Variability and Northern Ecosystems, as well as Snow in the Environment. I enjoy boating, skiing, snowmachining, dog-mushing, photographing, studying, and writing about the arctic environment.

For more about my research interests, please peruse my Google Scholar list of publications or my active projects.

Selected Press:

• Check out Ben Goldfarb's Audubon article about our research program.

• See the breadth of perspectives at our recent A-BON meeting.

• Peruse a summation of press from a recent paper on beavers and permafrost.

• Read a Knowable Magazine piece about beavers in the Arctic.

• Listen to a radio report on NPR covering some recent wildlife research.

• Read a Science News article about beavers colonizing the Arctic.

• Read a National Geographic Magazine story related to our terrestrial change research.