W e are a group of researchers, educators, students, and science communicators exploring the influences of Pacific salmon on terrestrial ecosystems. Each summer and fall across the northern Pacific coast, Pacific salmon return to their natal streams to breed and die. These fish provide critically important resource subsidies to terrestrial communities. Fish predators, such as brown bears, bald eagles, wolves, coyote, mink, and marten, feed on live salmon and senescent carcasses. Decomposing fish remains leech nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, into terrestrial soils, which are later utilized by riparian plants to aid growth. Even some of the smallest consumers, invertebrates, rely on these fish to complete their own life cycles.
Learn more about the wildlife and our research in southeastern Alaska by visiting the following pages:
Brown Bears
Bald Eagles