Introduction -- North Slope oil field development -- Vegetative responses to disturbance -- Caribou -- Caribou and oil fields -- Grizzly bear -- Polar bear -- Arctic fox -- Pacific loon -- Tundra swans -- Black brant -- Lesser snow goose -- Pacific eider -- Shorebirds -- Freshwater invertebrates : their reproduction and importance to vertebrates -- Freshwater fishes in the Arctic oil-field region and coastal plain of Alaska -- Anadromous and amphidromous fishes -- The benthic faunal assemblage of the Boulder Patch kelp community -- Synthesis
Summary
In spite of the harsh conditions that characterize the Arctic, it is a surprisingly fragile ecosystem. The exploration for oil in the Arctic over the past 30 years has had profound effects on the plants and animals that inhabit this frozen clime. The Natural History of an Arctic Oil Field synthesizes decades of research on these myriad impacts. Specialists with years of field experience have contributed to this volume to create the first widely available synopsis of the ecology and wildlife biology of animals and plants living in close association with an actively producing oil field
