Map courtesy of Ben Potter

Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
6/28/10

A team of researchers, including several at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, have found what looks to be the first well-supported demonstration of an ancient language connection between people in remote Asia and North America.

Their work is chronicled in “The Dene-Yeniseian Connection,” a publication of the Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska. In the book, lead author Edward Vajda of Western Washington University details his hypothesis that the Ket language of Central Siberia is related to the North American Na-Dene language family, which includes Tlingit, Gwich’in, Dena’ina, Koyukon, Navajo, Carrier, Hupa, Apache and about 45 other languages. Ket is the sole survivor of an earlier language family called “Yeniseian.”

The two language groups are separated by thousands of miles of land and an ocean, yet have similarities that indicate they came from the same roots. For scientists, these similarities are convincing evidence that these populations started out in the same area speaking the same language and then migrated via the Bering Sea land bridge.

Vajda’s hypothesis is backed by an international group of scholars, including UAF archaeologist Ben Potter and UAF linguist James Kari, who both served as editors of the 369-page volume.

“What has taken place in the last three years with the publication of these articles is unprecedented as an initial academic presentation of a long-distant language relationship,” Kari said.

Vajda first announced his hypothesis at a UAF symposium in 2008. Vajda has examined the similarities between the Ket language, currently spoken by a small, isolated group of people in central Siberia, and the North America Na-Dene languages.

Vajda found more than 100 shared cognates that are related by interconnected sound changes, as well as several verbal affixes that mark tense and aspect, and some shared pronouns. Cognates are words with a common etymological origin. For English speakers, it is similar to hearing the sameness of the English word ‘father’ and the Latin ‘pater’.

The results emphasize the importance of studying disappearing languages for what they can reveal about human prehistory, Vajda said. “The clearest lesson from comparing Yeniseian and Na-Dene is that effort spent documenting the world’s disappearing languages now can have vital impact on the future. Who would have imagined the ancient words Native American and Siberian boarding-school children were punished for speaking a few decades ago could wield a power vast enough to reunite entire continents?”

“The Dene-Yeniseian Connection” is a joint publication of the UAF anthropology department and the Alaska Native Language Center. With the publication of the 369-page book, linguistics specialists all over the world will have a chance to carefully examine the hypothesis and the supporting data.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Jim Kari, professor emeritus of linguistics, at 907-479-8860 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Ben Potter, assistant professor of anthropology, at 907-474-7567 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Edward Vajda, professor of linguistics at Western Washington University, 360-650-4856 or via e-mail at [email protected].

NOTE TO EDITORS: A PDF copy of an overview of the findings in the journal is available by contacting Grimes.

ON THE WEB: To order copies of “The Dene-Yeniseian Connection” visit the UAF anthropology department online at http://www.uaf.edu/anthro/apua/.

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Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
6/28/10

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host a free preview event for high school juniors and seniors and their parents Friday, July 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

UAF Inside Out will give participants a first-hand glimpse of life and studies at UAF.

Participants will receive in-depth information on financial aid, the admission process, classes, college life, extracurricular opportunities and academic programs.

For more information and to register, visit www.uaf.edu/admission/insideout.

CONTACT: UAF Office of Admissions at 907-474-7500 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

NOTE TO EDITORS: A full schedule of workshops and events is available at www.uaf.edu/admission/insideout.

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Ned Rozell

907-474-7468

6/25/10

In these days of endless sunshine and air that doesn’t hurt to breathe, life is rich in the north, from the multitude of baby birds hatching at this instant to the month-old orange moose calves restocking the Alaska ungulate population. Less seen are the millions of insects now dancing across the tundra and floating in air.

A beetle, species unknown, in a Fairbanks backyard. Photo by Ned Rozell.

Because of they come to us, mosquitoes are perhaps the most noticeable of Alaska’s insects. Peter Adler, a professor of entomology at Clemson University who does work in Alaska, reported the possibility that more than 12 million adult mosquitoes may live above each acre of the worst-infested northern tundra. He also quoted other scientists who measured more than 600,000 black fly larvae in about three square feet of streambed.

The floor of the boreal forest is often so alive you can almost see it move. Biologist Stephen MacLean once did the math — about one-half million soil mites, eight-legged relatives of the spiders, occupy each three-foot square of soil by the end of summer.

“To convert that to more meaningful units, I drew a line around my size 11 boot and found that each step on the forest floor covers about 44 square inches,” MacLean wrote in this same column in 1980. “Thus, by August, each footstep pads down on more than 10,000 individual mites, the largest of them about the size of a pinhead.”

MacLean also calculated he stepped on 2,000 springtails per footfall. Springtails are tiny, six-legged relatives of insects that catapult their way out of trouble using an appendage that folds under their abdomen like a jackknife blade. People sometimes see springtails hopping on the snow in early spring.

“Together, the soil mites and the springtails form a mass of about 34,000 pounds per square mile,” MacLean wrote. “That is equal to 43 moose.”

If crushing a few of these creatures bothers your conscience, you might try walking the snowfields of the high country, but that seems only slightly better. John Edwards, a scientist from the University of Washington, took a good look at snow beds at Eagle Summit north of Fairbanks and found them crawling with insects, as Stephen MacLean again reported here, also in 1980.

On the snow, Edwards found dozens of large carpenter ants, even though the winged creatures didn’t live on the nearby tundra. The ants were blown up from spruce forests far below; downdrafts over the snowfields grounded them and made them available to other creatures.

“Small flies and aphids also contributed large numbers of insects to the snow surface,” MacLean wrote. “Eight species of birds, ranging in size from small Lapland longspurs and water pipits to common ravens, were observed feeding on the feast, neatly removing and eating the fat-filled abdomens of carpenter ants while leaving behind the head and thorax, with their unpleasant dose of formic acid.”

Though larger life forms like the nervous moose in the roadside ditch get all our attention, the real biomass in Alaska is hovering in the air and crawling the tundra and icefields. In Alaska and elsewhere on the planet, home to about 10 quintillion living insects, most species — including 300,000 types of beetle — wear their skeletons on the outside.

This column is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer at the institute.

Debbie Carter
907-474-5406
6/22/10

Nearly 200 Cooperative Extension employees from more than 35 states will attend the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals national conference June 27–30 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The association includes active and retired Extension professionals working in environmental education, fisheries, forestry, range, recreation, water and related disciplines.
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Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
6/21/10

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Melissa Mitchell will perform Sunday, June 27 at 6 p.m. in Beluga Field on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.

Mitchell’s performance is part of the Beluga Nights concert series. She frequently performs with musicians like Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler and Mason Jennings.

The concert is free and open to the public. Beluga Field is located next to the Student Recreation Center at UAF. In case of rain, the event will be moved to Wood Center. Picnickers are welcome and food will be available for purchase. Please no dogs or alcohol.

MEDIA CONTACT: Cody Rogers, student activities coordinator, at 907-474-6026 or via e-mail at [email protected] Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

ON THE WEB: http://www.uaf.edu/woodcenter/activities/

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Megan Otts
907-474-7571
6/20/10

Each year, the University of Alaska Fairbanks plays host to thousands of runners, walkers and bystanders at the starting line for the annual 10K Midnight Sun Run. The annual solstice celebration event draws both serious runners and less-than-serious costumed characters. You never who you’ll run into at the festivities. Among the thousands of participants gathered on June 19 were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michael Jackson, Rainbow Brite and even a human compost bin. Read the rest of this entry »

Doug Schneider
907-474-7449
6/18/10

Experts at the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program are reminding the public that Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning poses a significant threat to people who eat wild shellfish harvested from Alaska beaches and waters not deemed safe by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
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Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
6/18/10

University of Alaska Fairbanks staffers will lead a troop of volunteers and take on a leafy invader: bird vetch.

The battle begins Wednesday June 23 at 1 p.m. at the ski hut on the West Ridge of the UAF campus. The goal of the Bird Vetch Weed Pull is to control the flowering weed that is choking the native vegetation along the ski trails.

The event is being held as part of Invasive Weed Awareness Week, which runs June 20 – 26.

MEDIA CONTACT: Marmian Grimes, UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at [email protected].

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Photo by Jason McDaniel
UAF undergraduate student Eric Wood collects samples at the seafloor in Kachemak Bay.

Carin Stephens
907-322-8730
6/17/10

Homer, ALASKA–When diver Nathan Stewart descends into one of Kachemak Bay’s underwater kelp forests, he is struck by the sheer number and variety of plants and animals that live there.

“The biodiversity is incredible,” says Stewart. “It’s like being in an old-growth forest.”

As he swims towards the seafloor, he slips through three layers of kelp forest habitat — the canopy, the mid-water layer and finally what scientists call the understory. At each layer, he finds different creatures that make their homes in the forest. At the seafloor, he lifts the kelp fronds to find a multitude of different species of snails, crabs, sponges, urchins, nudibranchs, sea stars and more.
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Photo by Ned RozellCraig George, left, and Leslie Pierce look for bowhead whales north of Barrow.

Ned Rozell

907-474-7468

6/17/10

OFF POINT BARROW — “We’re a long ways offshore,” Craig George says. “The water beneath us is about 180 feet deep.”

In late May, a chilly breeze cuts from the west as we stand on a platform of bluish white sea ice. “The Perch,” a whale-watching tower located on a snowmachine cul de sac at the top of North America, is a small castle made of ice chunks and an impressive amount of labor. George, fellow biologist Leslie Pierce and I are at the ragged edge of sea ice that clings to the northern coast. Eiders, sea ducks almost as large as geese, bark in the cool air above the open water a few hundred yards ahead of us; the first loons to arrive this far north zip by on their way to summer.
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