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Climate change can affect habitat availability and species interactions at several spatial and temporal scales. I explored niche partitioning and spatial variation of Rock (Lagopus muta) and White-tailed Ptarmigan (L. leucura) in southwest Yukon. I examined habitat selection of foraging areas within a population and patches within foraging areas in a sympatric population of Rock and White-tailed Ptarmigan. At the larger foraging area scale, Rock Ptarmigan used areas with greater shrub cover compared to White-tailed Ptarmigan. At the smaller patch scale, both species selected patches with greater rock cover, but differed in other patch features. Second, I examined spatial variation in abundance of both ptarmigan species between the Ruby and Kluane Ranges using pellet count and transect surveys. Relative abundance was lower in the Kluane Range based on pellet counts, but transect surveys proved inadequate as a measure of population density. The Kluane Range also had fewer positive degree days above 0 C and a greater mean standard deviation of NDVI, and was composed of finer textured colluvium compared to the Ruby Range, which could influence relative abundance of ptarmigan. / Ecology

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1986. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-140).

Laser altimetry and satellite gravity surveys indicate that the St Elias Icefields are currently losing mass and are among the largest non-polar sea level contributors in the world. However, a poor understanding of glacier dynamics in the region is a major hurdle in evaluating regional variations in ice motion and the relationship between changing surface conditions and ice flux. This study combines in-situ dGPS measurements and advanced Radarsat-2 (RS-2) processing techniques to determine daily and seasonal ice velocities for the Kaskawulsh Glacier from summer 2009 to summer 2011. Three permanent dGPS stations were installed along the centreline of the glacier in 2009, with an additional permanent station on the South Arm in 2010. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method is used to process the dGPS data using high accuracy orbital reconstruction. RS-2 imagery was acquired on a 24-day cycle from January to March 2010, and from October to March 2010-2011 in a combination of ultra-fine and fine beam modes. Seasonal velocity regimes are readily identifiable in the dGPS results, with distinct variations in both horizontal velocity and vertical motion. The Spring Regime consists of an annual peak in horizontal velocity that corresponds closely with the onset of the melt season and progresses up-glacier, following the onset of melt at each station. The Summer Regime sees variable horizontal velocity and vertical uplift, superimposed on a long-term decline in motion. The Fall Regime sees a gradual slowing at all stations with little variation in horizontal velocity or vertical position. Rapid but short accelerations lasting up to 10 days were seen in the Winter regimes in both 2010 and 2011, occurring at various times throughout each regime. These events initiated at the Upper Station and progress down-glacier at propagation speeds up to 16,380 m day-1 and were accompanied by vertical uplift lasting for similar periods. Three velocity maps, one from the winter of 2010 and two from the fall/winter of 2011, produced from speckle tracking were validated by comparison with dGPS velocity, surface flow direction, and bedrock areas of zero motion, with an average velocity error of 2.0% and average difference in orientation of 4.3º.

Laser altimetry and satellite gravity surveys indicate that the St Elias Icefields are currently losing mass and are among the largest non-polar sea level contributors in the world. However, a poor understanding of glacier dynamics in the region is a major hurdle in evaluating regional variations in ice motion and the relationship between changing surface conditions and ice flux. This study combines in-situ dGPS measurements and advanced Radarsat-2 (RS-2) processing techniques to determine daily and seasonal ice velocities for the Kaskawulsh Glacier from summer 2009 to summer 2011. Three permanent dGPS stations were installed along the centreline of the glacier in 2009, with an additional permanent station on the South Arm in 2010. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method is used to process the dGPS data using high accuracy orbital reconstruction. RS-2 imagery was acquired on a 24-day cycle from January to March 2010, and from October to March 2010-2011 in a combination of ultra-fine and fine beam modes. Seasonal velocity regimes are readily identifiable in the dGPS results, with distinct variations in both horizontal velocity and vertical motion. The Spring Regime consists of an annual peak in horizontal velocity that corresponds closely with the onset of the melt season and progresses up-glacier, following the onset of melt at each station. The Summer Regime sees variable horizontal velocity and vertical uplift, superimposed on a long-term decline in motion. The Fall Regime sees a gradual slowing at all stations with little variation in horizontal velocity or vertical position. Rapid but short accelerations lasting up to 10 days were seen in the Winter regimes in both 2010 and 2011, occurring at various times throughout each regime. These events initiated at the Upper Station and progress down-glacier at propagation speeds up to 16,380 m day-1 and were accompanied by vertical uplift lasting for similar periods. Three velocity maps, one from the winter of 2010 and two from the fall/winter of 2011, produced from speckle tracking were validated by comparison with dGPS velocity, surface flow direction, and bedrock areas of zero motion, with an average velocity error of 2.0% and average difference in orientation of 4.3º.

Decadal changes in the surface area of small ponds in the Kluane region, Yukon were quantified from remote sensing and dendrochronological techniques. Both dead and live shrubs from the genus Salix were sampled and cross-dated from a total of 28 pond ecotones in two different study areas. The rate of ecotone shrub colonization was calculated for each pond by determining the minimum age of Salix spp. in ten zones extending from forest edge to shoreline. Changes in the surface area of 20 ponds in each study area, for a total of 40 ponds, since 1948 were measured using multi-temporal remote sensing analysis. Measured changes were then validated using colonization rates derived from the dendrochronological analysis. Results were compared with meteorological records to elucidate the connection between climate change and shoreline dynamics. Ponds experiencing similar rates of ecotone colonization exhibited similar changes in shoreline position over the last 60 years. Ponds measured with remote sensing showed an overall decline in surface area since 1948; however, direction and extent of change varied within and between the two study areas. Colonization rates also varied within and between study areas. This corresponded to differences in pond ecotone population structure as well as relative extent and direction of changes in surface area, and supported the changes observed in the low-resolution remote sensing time series data. Changes in ponds tended to correspond to increases in annual temperatures which, when combined with a longer growing season and stable precipitation, may have accelerated evaporation potential causing ponds to decrease. The negative consequences of surface area decline are exacerbated by the potential increases in evapotranspiration and the much less extensive wetland system in southwest Yukon relative to other regions in the North. The successful implementation of remote sensing and dendrochronological techniques has value for remote areas that are sensitive to climate change, yet lack direct measurement of changing environmental conditions. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2012-09-28 13:03:05.43

Laser altimetry and satellite gravity surveys indicate that the St Elias Icefields are currently losing mass and are among the largest non-polar sea level contributors in the world. However, a poor understanding of glacier dynamics in the region is a major hurdle in evaluating regional variations in ice motion and the relationship between changing surface conditions and ice flux. This study combines in-situ dGPS measurements and advanced Radarsat-2 (RS-2) processing techniques to determine daily and seasonal ice velocities for the Kaskawulsh Glacier from summer 2009 to summer 2011. Three permanent dGPS stations were installed along the centreline of the glacier in 2009, with an additional permanent station on the South Arm in 2010. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method is used to process the dGPS data using high accuracy orbital reconstruction. RS-2 imagery was acquired on a 24-day cycle from January to March 2010, and from October to March 2010-2011 in a combination of ultra-fine and fine beam modes. Seasonal velocity regimes are readily identifiable in the dGPS results, with distinct variations in both horizontal velocity and vertical motion. The Spring Regime consists of an annual peak in horizontal velocity that corresponds closely with the onset of the melt season and progresses up-glacier, following the onset of melt at each station. The Summer Regime sees variable horizontal velocity and vertical uplift, superimposed on a long-term decline in motion. The Fall Regime sees a gradual slowing at all stations with little variation in horizontal velocity or vertical position. Rapid but short accelerations lasting up to 10 days were seen in the Winter regimes in both 2010 and 2011, occurring at various times throughout each regime. These events initiated at the Upper Station and progress down-glacier at propagation speeds up to 16,380 m day-1 and were accompanied by vertical uplift lasting for similar periods. Three velocity maps, one from the winter of 2010 and two from the fall/winter of 2011, produced from speckle tracking were validated by comparison with dGPS velocity, surface flow direction, and bedrock areas of zero motion, with an average velocity error of 2.0% and average difference in orientation of 4.3º.

Since the signing of their Final Agreement and Self-Government Agreement in 2003, Kluane Fist Nation (KFN), located primarily in the southwestern Yukon, has been navigating their post-settlement realities as an autonomous self-governing First Nation. According to the Canadian state, these Agreements intended to achieve certainty for all Parties, including certainty over jurisdiction, and KFN's ability to govern their own land and peoples. Two decades into the implementation of their Agreements, I ask, what has been achieved in actuality? In partnership with Kluane First Nation, this research sought to produce results KFN desired and found valuable. As such, it explores KFN's chosen topic of Traditional Leases, alongside essential entwined elements such as KFN's enactment of value, their navigation of uncertain and precarious land claim legislation as techniques of jurisdiction and territoriality, and taking control of research within their Traditional Territory. This exploration stems from our research partnership, my ethical commitments to KFN, and research's methods and methodologies. I argue that in their work with researchers, and their policies and practices on the land, KFN is enacting their vision for a meaningful and good life, within ongoing settler-colonial attempts to maintain control. KFN is engaging in and enacting what they find valuable in their use of their land despite ever-increasing obstacles, and often in ways which remain invisible to the settler-state.