Dr. Don Schell talks about peat in the food chain, his work looking at the interactions of the terrestrial and marine food chains, industrial activities must consider the marine mammals including whales, effects of peat on the near shore marine food chain, peat passed on up the food chain, importance of peat in the streams, overwintering fish dependent on the peat, old squaw ducks and eiders being dependent on this food chain, peat being a refractory compound, bacteria attack peat, miofauna, larger invertebrates grazing on the miofauna, birds feeding in the ponds eating the invertebrates and crustaceans, an effective means of passing a substance available year round, caronimids being able to eat peat, salt water environment food webs, two distinct food webs, changing carbon content, mammals on the North Slope dependent on recent terrestrial production, peat is residue the plant growth on the tundra that's been accumulating ever since the last ice age glaciers retreated and vegetation became established on the North Slope, material found in peat, deeper in the peat it is more homogeneous, freeze thaw cycle shredding the vegetative material, the peat falling into the water represents the entire column of peat, up to 10,000 years old, average age 4-5,000 years old, the North Slope growing season, his work being applicable pan-Arctic, availability of peat to the organisms, the two major process putting peat into the water, high flow rates in rivers in June, meandering nature of the rivers, erosion of riverbanks, a different process on the coast, wind stress on lakes causingperipherall current and eroding the ends of the lake spreading the peat across the bottom of the lake.