Marine Aleutian Islands Synthesis

The goal of the project is to implement an interdisciplinary approach to update and synthesize relevant and existing data to describe the current understanding of the structure, function, drivers and dynamics across the Aleutian Islands socio-ecological system. Our focus is on longitudinal gradients and spatiotemporal processes as a unifying feature across multivariate and multispecies analyses that will provide an AI-wide view and highlight spatial heterogeneity. The project is centered on five interconnected main themes, a synthesis, and a gap analysis. The main themes are (1) Climate and physical dynamics, (2) Predator-prey interactions, (3) Threatened and vulnerable species or populations, (4) Fisheries and/or species harvest, and (5) Socioeconomic Issues. The synthesis combines information across all five themes to conduct an integrated re-analysis of existing datasets that allow for the investigation of new interdisciplinary questions as they pertain to fundamental mechanisms and relationships within the marine ecosystem and the way people impact and are influenced by it.  The gap analysis will identify specific information needs and data gaps that if addressed would lead to a more complete characterization of the structure and function of the AI marine socio-ecological system.