In southern central Yukon Territory, Canada, a northwest-trending 267 Ma ophiolitic assemblage defines the Tummel fault zone (TFZ), which juxtaposes Paleozoic miogeoclinal strata of Cassiar terrane with metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of Yukon-Tanana terrane. Basalt, greenstone, and chert occur in the TFZ and are correlated with Slide Mountain terrane. Northeast of the TFZ, pelitic and semipelitic rocks of the Kechika Group are overlain by carbonate of the Askin Group in Cassiar terrane. Southwest of the TFZ, Yukon-Tanana terrane comprises Devonian-Mississippian quartzofeldspathic basement (the Snowcap Complex) overlain by Mississippian clastic and arc-derived rocks of the Drury, Pelmac, and Little Salmon formations. The ca. 105 Ma Glenlyon Batholith and its satellite plutons intrude Cassiar terrane and the TFZ, imposing a contact metamorphic aureole that overprints earlier metamorphic features in rocks of Cassiar and Yukon-Tanana terranes and the TFZ, and indicates pre-105 Ma juxtaposition of these three tectonic assemblages.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Montana, 2004. / Typescript. Additional information available on author's web site. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-142).

In southern central Yukon Territory, Canada, a northwest-trending 267 Ma ophiolitic assemblage defines the Tummel fault zone (TFZ), which juxtaposes Paleozoic miogeoclinal strata of Cassiar terrane with metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of Yukon-Tanana terrane. Basalt, greenstone, and chert occur in the TFZ and are correlated with Slide Mountain terrane. Northeast of the TFZ, pelitic and semipelitic rocks of the Kechika Group are overlain by carbonate of the Askin Group in Cassiar terrane. Southwest of the TFZ, Yukon-Tanana terrane comprises Devonian-Mississippian quartzofeldspathic basement (the Snowcap Complex) overlain by Mississippian clastic and arc-derived rocks of the Drury, Pelmac, and Little Salmon formations. The ca. 105 Ma Glenlyon Batholith and its satellite plutons intrude Cassiar terrane and the TFZ, imposing a contact metamorphic aureole that overprints earlier metamorphic features in rocks of Cassiar and Yukon-Tanana terranes and the TFZ, and indicates pre-105 Ma juxtaposition of these three tectonic assemblages.

Basal Temperature of Snow (BTS) measurements were used as the primary inputs to a high resolution (30 x 30 m grid cells) empirical-statistical regional permafrost probability model for the southern and central Yukon, and northernmost British Columbia (59° - 65°N). Data from seven individual study areas distributed across the region were combined using a blended distance decay technique, with an eighth area used for validation. The model predictions are reasonably consistent with previous permafrost maps for the area with some notable differences and a much higher level of detail. The modelling gives an overall permafrost probability of 52%. North of 62°N, permafrost becomes more extensive in the lowland areas whereas farther south permafrost is typically common only above treeline. Significant differences exist between the mountain environments of the Yukon and the Swiss Alps where the BTS method originated and as a result different modelling approaches had to be developed. This work therefore: (1) develops additional explanatory variables for permafrost probability modelling, the most notable of which is equivalent elevation, (2) confirms the use of ground truthing as a requirement for empirical-statistical modelling in the Yukon and (3) uses a combination of models for the region in order to spatially predict between study areas. The results of this thesis will be of use to linear infrastructure route-planning, geohazard assessment and climate change adaptation strategies. Future work employing the model will allow the effects of scenario-based climate warming to be examined.

Two measures of air temperature trends across southern Yukon and northern British Columbia were modelled based on measurements from 83 monitoring sites across seven areas, operating for up to 14 years. Both mean monthly air temperature (MMAT) and freezing and thawing degree days (FDD and TDD, respectively) were modelled across this area (59 °N to 64.5 °N) at elevations ranging from 330-1480 m asl. Lapse rates in this region show inversions in the winter months (November - March) varying in inversion strength and length in relation to degree of continentality. The spatial and elevation range of these sites allowed for regional lapse rate modelling at the monthly scale for MMAT and at the annual scale for FDD and TDD. Lapse rates below treeline were found to be correlated (p < 0.1) with degree of continentality in the colder months (November - April) and August. In these months, lapse rates were modelled using kriging trend surfaces. In months where degree of continentality was not found to have a significant impact on lapse rates (p > 0.1) (May - October, excluding August), an average lapse rate calculated from the seven study regions was used across the study region. A combination of lapse rate trend surfaces, elevation, and temperatures at sea level were used to model MMAT and F/TDD below treeline. A treeline trend surface was created using a 4th order polynomial, allowing for temperatures at treeline to be determined. MMAT and F/TDD above treeline were calculated using a constant lapse rate of -6 °C/km, elevation, and temperature at treeline. The above and below treeline models were combined to create continuous models of MMAT and F/TDD. Modelled MMAT showed a high degree of homogeneity across the study region in warmer months. Inversions in lapse rates are evident in the colder months, especially December through February, when colder temperatures are easily identified in valley bottoms, increasing to treeline, and decreasing above treeline. Modelled MMAT values were validated using 20 sites across the study region, using both Environment and Climate Change Canada and University of Ottawa sites. The RMSE between modelled and observed MMAT was highest in January (4.4 °C) and lowest in June (0.7 °C). Sites below treeline showed a stronger relationship between modelled and observed values than sites above treeline. Edge effects of the model were evident in the northeast of the study region as well as in the ice fields in the southwest along the Alaska border. The new MMAT maps can be used to help understand species range change, underlying permafrost conditions, and climate patterns over time. FDD values were found to be highly influenced by both degree of continentality as well as latitude, whereas TDD values were mainly dependent on elevation, with degree of continentality and latitude being lesser influences. FDD and TDD were validated using the same 20 sites across the study region, with FDD showing a larger RMSE (368 degree days) between modelled and observed values than TDD (150 degree days). TDD modelling performed better on average, with a lower average absolute difference (254 degree days) between modelled and observed values at the validation sites than FDD modelling (947 degree days). The models of FDD and TDD represent a component of temperature at top of permafrost (TTOP) modelling for future studies. Two mean annual air temperature (MAAT) maps were created, one calculated from the MMAT models, and the other from the F/TDD models. Most of the study region showed negative MAAT, mainly between -6 °C and 0 °C for both methods. The average MAAT calculated from FDD and TDD values was -2.4 ºC, whereas the average MAAT calculated from MMAT values was -2.8 ºC. Models of MAAT were found to be slightly warmer than in previous studies, potentially indicating warming temperature trends.

L’évaluation du rôle joué par les interactions trophiques dans un écosystème est essentielle afin de comprendre sa structure. La prédation pourrait être particulièrement importante dans les réseaux trophiques simples caractérisés par une faible productivité primaire comme la forêt boréale ou la toundra arctique. Nous avons mesuré la pression de prédation imposée par les principales espèces d’oiseaux prédateurs sur les populations de petits mammifères dans la toundra en évaluant précisément leurs réponses numériques, fonctionnelles et totales à l’Île Bylot, Nunavut et à l’Île Herschel, Yukon, Canada. Nous avons ainsi pu démontrer que la pression de prédation imposée par les oiseaux prédateurs est très forte, et qu’elle serait suffisante pour limiter les populations d’une des deux espèces de lemmings pendant la saison estivale. Nous avons ensuite étudié les déplacements annuels du harfang des neiges (Bubo scandiacus) afin de mieux évaluer son rôle dans la dynamique spatiale de l’écosystème terrestre arctique. À l’aide de la télémétrie par satellite, nous avons pu déterminer que le harfang effectuait des déplacements exploratoires printaniers importants et démontrait une très grande dispersion reproductive annuelle. De plus, nous avons évalué les taux de survie et de reproduction annuels chez les femelles harfangs et avons démontré que ces oiseaux pouvaient se reproduire à chaque année dans un environnement où la disponibilité des ressources varie considérablement et de façon irrégulière d’une année à l’autre. Finalement, nous avons étudié l’utilisation hivernale de l’espace chez ces oiseaux. Nous avons ainsi pu démontrer les liens étroits qui existent entre écosystèmes puisque le harfang, un prédateur reconnu pour se spécialiser sur des proies terrestres, semble s’alimenter de proies marines pendant une partie importante de son cycle annuel. Globalement, nos résultats indiquent que les oiseaux prédateurs peuvent fortement influencer le fonctionnement du réseau trophique de la toundra. Leur rôle dans l’écosystème terrestre est aussi vraisemblablement modulé par leur mobilité et la présence de subsides allochtones. / Evaluation of the role played by predator-prey interactions in an ecosystem is essential to understand its food web structure. Predation has been suggested to be especially important in simple food webs characterized by a low primary productivity such as the boreal forest or the Arctic tundra. We first measured the predation pressure that the main species of predatory birds imposed on small mammal populations of the tundra by assessing precisely their numerical, functional and total responses on Bylot Island, Nunavut and Herschel Island, Yukon, Canada. We were able to show that the predation pressure imposed by predatory birds is very strong, and appears to be sufficient to limit the populations of one of the two species of lemmings during the summer. We then studied the annual movements of snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) to better assess its role in the spatial dynamic of the Arctic terrestrial ecosystem. Using satellite telemetry, we showed that owls do extensive exploratory movements in spring and exhibit very large annual breeding dispersal movements. In addition, we evaluated the annual survival and reproduction rates in breeding female snowy owl and showed that these birds can breed every year in an environment where resource availability can vary considerably and irregularly from year to year. Finally, we investigated winter space use in this species. We were able to demonstrate the close links between ecosystems as snowy owls, well-known to specialize on rodents, seem to feed on marine prey for a significant part of their annual cycle. Globally, our results show that avian predators can greatly influence the tundra food web functioning. Their role is apparently modulated by their mobility and access to allochthonous subsidies.

Humans evolved in a world of giant creatures. Current evidence suggests that most ice age megafauna went extinct around the transition to our current Holocene epoch. The ecological reverberations associated with the loss of over 65% of Earth’s largest terrestrial animals transformed ecosystems and human lifeways forever thereafter. However, there is still substantial debate as to the cause of this mass extinction. Evidence variously supports climate change and anthropogenic factors as primary drivers in the restructuring of the terrestrial biosphere. Much of the ongoing debate is driven by the insufficient resolution accessible via macro-remains. To help fill in the gaps in our understandings of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, I utilized the growing power of sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) to reconstruct shifting signals of plants and animals in central Yukon. To date, sedaDNA has typically been analyzed by amplifying small, taxonomically informative regions. However, this approach is not ideally suited to the degraded characteristics of sedaDNA and ignores most of the potential data. Means of isolating sedaDNA have also suffered from the use of overly aggressive purification techniques resulting in substantial loss. To address these limitations, I first experimentally developed a novel means of releasing and isolating sedaDNA. Secondly, I developed a novel environmental bait-set designed to simultaneously capture DNA informative of macro-scale ecosystems. When combined, we identify a substantial improvement in the quantity and breadth of biomolecules recovered. These optimizations facilitated the unexpected discovery of horse and mammoth surviving thousands of years after their supposed extirpation. I followed up these results by extracting DNA from multiple permafrost cores where we confirm the late survival signal and identify a far more complex and high-resolution dataset beyond those identifiable by complementary methods. I was also able to reconstruct mitochondrial genomes from multiple megafauna simultaneously solely from sediment, demonstrating the information potential of sedaDNA. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / A new addition to the rapidly growing field of palaeogenetics is environmental DNA (eDNA) with its immense wealth of biomolecules preserved over millennia outside of biological tissues. Organisms are constantly shedding cells, and while most of this DNA is metabolized or otherwise degraded, some small fraction is preserved through sedimentary mineral-binding. I experimentally developed new ancient eDNA methods for recovery, isolation, and analysis to maximize our access to these biomolecules and demonstrate that this novel approach outperforms alternative protocols. Thereafter, I used these methods to extract DNA from ice age permafrost samples dating between 30,000–6,000 years before present. These data demonstrate the power of ancient eDNA for reconstructing ecosystem change through time, as well as identifying evidence for the Holocene survival of caballine horse and woolly mammoth in continental North America. This late persistence of Pleistocene fauna has implications for understanding the human ecological and climatological factors involved in the Late Pleistocene mass extinction event. This effort is paralleled with megafaunal mitogenomic assembly and phylogenetics solely from sediment. This thesis demonstrates that environmental DNA can significantly augment macro-scale buried records in palaeoecology.

<p> The BAR CLAIM GROUP is located on the western margin of the Selwyn Basin geologic province in south central Yukon. The rock sequence is eugeosynclinal in nature, belonging to the Englishman's Group of the Mississippian. Chronologically, these rocks include massive limestone, white to red chert breccia, dark grey chert breccia, chert pebble conglomerate, lithic wacke, massive barite, grey green chert, and hornblende microdiorite. The elastic units in particular appear to be correlative with the units on the eastern margin of the Selwyn Basin. </p> <p> The barite is light grey, bedded, massive, and contains rare relic rosette structures. Associated minerals include pyrite, galena and minor sphalerite. Extensive recrystallisation and mobilization has occurred, probably as a result of regional compression and faulting. The barite may have had an exhalative origin along fault or extensional zones; however, sedimentogenic sources, such as the redistribution of pre-existing barite, cannot be precluded. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Science (BSc)

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2008-2009 / Le plateau côtier de la rivière Mackenzie dans la mer de Beaufort. un écosystème majeur du bassin arctique, reçoit une quantité considérable de sédiments et de matière organique terrigènes. Cette région de V Arctique canadien ouest est de plus en plus affectée par le réchauffement climatique qui augmentera vraisemblablement les apports riverains de carbone organique via l'avancée de la ligne des arbres, le dégel du pergélisol et l'augmentation des précipitations. Le réseau microbien occupe une place centrale dans le cycle du carbone et les transferts d'énergie dans les écosystèmes, mais à ce jour aucune étude n'aborde les variations spatiales et temporelles de la production bactérienne (PB) et des assemblages bactériens dans l'Arctique. La présente thèse avait pour objectif d'évaluer la structure et la dynamique des communautés microbiennes sur le plateau côtier arctique, avec une emphase sur le rôle des particules et des bactéries attachées à celles-ci. L'étude spatiale dans le panache de la rivière Mackenzie a montré que le gradient de salinité structure les communautés bactériennes qui sont dominées par le groupe Beîaproteobacteria en eau douce, et par les Alphaproteobacîeria dans la mer de Beaufort. Les secteurs influencés par la rivière présentaient des taux maximaux de PB, dont entre 75% et 96% pouvaient être attribués aux bactéries associées aux particules (AP). Cette première étude annuelle de la PB en milieu côtier arctique a montré que les communautés bactériennes de la baie de Franklin demeurent actives toute l'année puisqu'elles utilisent les substrats disponibles, soit les apports allochtones de carbone organique, pour survivre durant la noirceur hivernale. Même si en période estivale les bactéries utilisent les substrats organiques labiles de la production primaire in situ, la baie de Franklin semble être un écosystème hétérotrophe sur une base annuelle. Les bactéries AP étaient particulièrement actives au printemps et à l'été, très probablement en raison des apports allochtones saisonniers de matière organique particulaire (MOP). L'analyse de l'ADN par DGGE {denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) a montré des différences phylogénétiques entre les assemblages de bactéries libres et les assemblages de bactéries AP lorsque les concentrations en MOP sont plus élevées. A plusieurs autres sites, les assemblages libres et PA étaient similaires. La thèse souligne l'importance des particules allochtones pour les réseaux microbiens des milieux arctiques côtiers, et qu'il faut les considérer dans l'étude de la réponse des cycles biogéochimiques au réchauffement climatique dans l'océan Arctique

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