Makah Tribal Council

Episodes of localized erosion on the Pacific Ocean beaches of the Makah Tribe, in Washington State, USA, prompted the development and implementation of a shoreline assessment that included repeat beach profile surveys using RTK-DGPS and aerial lidar, and historical change analysis using aerial photos. Analysis of GNSS and aerial lidar suggest patterns of dune toe progradation over the last decade at average rates of ~0.8 m/yr between 2010 and 2022 over almost all the 5.5 km length of beach in Makah Bay, excepting the ~250m long erosional area that prompted the study. A beach vegetation line delineated in aerial photos collected between 1952 and 2019 moved seaward at average rates of ~0.7 m/yr across the entire length of Makah Bay, suggesting that the pattern of progradation is long-lived. We assess evidence to evaluate whether this pattern of dune accretion is related to relative sea-level fall occurring at this site.

Recent declines in black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) populations in Washington have been attributed partly to low recruitment. However, sparse information exists regarding fawn survival and factors affecting recruitment. During 2006–2009, we captured 228 fawns on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA, to determine sources of fawn mortality, estimate survival rates, identify factors influencing survival rates, assess the influence of hair loss syndrome (HLS) on winter survival, and estimate population growth. We used known fate modeling in Program MARK to estimate survival rates to age 50 weeks and to 9 weeks by developing 2 candidate a priori model sets. We recorded 129 mortalities; predation was the leading cause (74%). Mountain lions (Puma concolor) and bobcats (Lynx rufus) were the most common predators. The survival rate to 50 weeks was 0.33 (95% CI = 0.24–0.43); survival differed between capture years and was age dependent, with fawns being most vulnerable to mortality during the first 9 weeks then again during the winter. The survival rate to 9 weeks was 0.65 (95% CI = 0.60–0.68), and our results suggested that an interaction between age and birth mass influenced survival. A posteriori modeling indicated that greater body mass and earlier birth date also influenced survival over the first 9 weeks of life. Fawns afflicted with HLS had lower survival rates than non-afflicted fawns (P = 0.018) during winter. Poor body condition, based on femur marrow assessment, was a factor in 89% of fawns that died over winter. We estimated the growth of the population to be stationary at λ = 1.0. Estimates of lambda increased 3% when survival was modified to assume HLS was not a factor. We conclude that fawn mortality during the first 9 weeks followed by a significant increase in winter mortality, exacerbated by HLS, combine to limit black-tailed deer population growth. Inherent nutritional limitations in summer forage may have influenced survival of many fawns, pre-disposing them to mortality during the summer and winter. Wildlife managers can use this information to improve population modeling and management of black-tailed deer populations afflicted with HLS. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Stable oxygen and carbon isotope (δ18O and δ13C) analyses of otoliths are becoming increasingly common in fisheries science and management. However, little is known about the statistical properties of isotopic data and few attempts have been made to explore appropriate statistical methods that could be used for otolith data analysis. In this paper, we present a pilot study on δ18O and δ13C data from otoliths of two anadromous fish species, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and Pacific sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). The results indicated that the salmon otolith data were not normally distributed, so that linear discriminant function analysis and commonly-used statistical tests such as ANOVA and the t-test may not be appropriate. Using non-parametric k-sample nearest neighbor discriminant analysis, we were able to discriminate with high accuracy among five hatcheries for Atlantic salmon and the origins of wild and hatchery sockeye salmon. Analyses also indicated that the sample sizes required to estimate δ18O and δ13C means based on the different sources of variability (between group or within group) and precision levels (≤ ±5.0 %) were not large. These results and conclusions not only address the statistical considerations of isotopic data from otoliths, but also have practical importance for fisheries management as well.