Summer access to facilities and services in Denali remains altered due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide and the associated closure of the Park Road at Mile 43. Check here for more information on what to expect. More
Denali may be home to the tallest mountain in North America and numerous large animals but a huge portion of Denali's wildlife is considerably smaller. Take a closer look at Denali's amazing microwilderness.
NPS Photo / Jessica Rykken
Charismatic critters, such as bears and moose can easily capture visitor attention in Denali. But, did you know that the vast majority of Denali’s wildlife is less than an inch long? Welcome to Denali’s micro-wilderness! This vast realm is home to insects, spiders, centipedes, slugs, and other spineless creatures. These often-overlooked animals are essential to processes such as pollination, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Without them, these processes would come to a halt, resulting in disastrous consequences for the wild landscapes upon which many animals depend.
So while you are enjoying Denali, take a moment to adjust your focus. Look closely at the ground and flowers and logs around you because dwellers of the micro-wilderness are small, and if you take the time to examine this hidden world, you’ll be rewarded by a remarkable diversity of creatures. You may see a crab spider sitting patiently on a flower waiting to sink its fangs into an unsuspecting bumble bee, and you’ll soon realize that predators don’t have to be large and furry to catch prey! Or you may observe the intricate pattern left behind after an aspen leaf miner caterpillar has had its fill, and you’ll know that moose aren’t the only herbivores hanging out in the trees.
Explore the sections below to learn more about the amazing creatures that exist in Denali's micro-wilderness:
Locations:Alagnak Wild River, Aleutian Islands World War II National Historic Area, Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Denali National Park & Preserve, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, Katmai National Park & Preserve, Kenai Fjords National Park, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, Noatak National Preserve, Sitka National Historical Park, Wrangell - St Elias National Park & Preserve, Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preservemore »
This field guide to bumble bees will help you identify these abundant and conspicuous pollinators, which are found across most of Alaska. They are well-adapted to cold, harsh climates and live in every habitat where there are flowers offering up pollen and nectar, including forests, shrublands, tundra, wetlands, riparian areas, beaches, and gardens.
While most visitors don’t come to Denali to see bumble bees or spiders, arthropod species make up more than 90% of wildlife in the park. Grizzly bears, moose, and wolves may get the attention of bus travelers on the park road, but hidden from view in the shrubs, trees, wildflowers, gravel bars, alpine tundra, and snow patches are an amazingly diverse multitude of invertebrate creatures, many of which have yet to be discovered.
Entomologist, Jessica Rykken, shows us her collection of bees, tells us why the information from these collections is important for researchers in national parks, and how she first got interested in bugs.
Annual Research Update (2016) - For the vast majority of Denali’s animals (aka the invertebrates), there is an incomplete picture. Researchers don’t have a good idea about which species live here or how they are distributed across habitats. To be able to track invertebrate responses to effects from climate change, it is necessary to start with a basic understanding of who lives here, now.
Science Summary (2016) - Bees and flower flies are two important groups of pollinators in Denali. Without their help in carrying pollen between flowering plants, there would be no wildflowers on the tundra, no blueberries for grizzlies to eat, and no fireweed blazing along the park road. Researchers already knew pollinators are vital to Denali ecosystems, but until recently, the park knew little about the individual species that make up this invaluable group of animals.
Science Summary (2013) - Because they are diverse, abundant, easy to sample, and tightly linked to their host plants, bees may serve as ideal indicators to measure the effects of a changing climate on critical ecosystem services such as pollination.
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