Island Surveys to Learn about Endemic Species is a cooperative effort between, state
and federal resource management agencies, the University of New Mexico, and public
school teachers. Our aim is to build a natural history archive that represents wildlife
populations throughout Southeast Alaska to stimulate research and teaching efforts
about the region’s incomparable wildlife, islands, and associated ecosystems.
The archive includes traditional museum specimens that are linked to ultrafrozen
tissue samples, and all ectoparasites and endoparasites. Each specimen is tied to
a web-accessible database that tracks all investigations based on these materials
allowing teachers, students, trappers, researchers and the general public to learn
more about Southeast Alaska. This effort will essentially build a natural history
library for each species to address current and future management issues such as
emerging pathogens, wildlife disease, population viability, interisland connectivity
and movement, diet, and a host of studies that require archived specimens. To date,
these efforts demonstrated that a number of previously recognized “unique” or endemic
forms are actually more widely distributed across the Alexander Archipelago and nearby
mainland than early work indicated. Conversely, cryptic (previously unknown) forms
have been uncovered. Basic information on occurrence and status of each species and
island population is essential to prioritizing limited resources related to management
of wildlife.
The ISLES Archive develops through three primary initiatives:
• Interagency Salvage Network for furbearer and other game animals from cooperating
trappers and hunters from around the region
• Field Inventory of Small Mammals—Contin-uation of inventory work started in 1991
in Southeast Alaska and now based at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, University
of New Mexico.
• Education—Developing island-based science content for public school students.
