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Link: Science Magazine (subscription) Reporter Sam Kean zeroes in on the fisheries "biocomplexity" involved in the battle over the proposed Pebble mine in Western Alaska. Both sides agree that some low-productivity salmon habitat would be affected, he writes, but that may be more significant that pro-development forces realize. "Scientists are amassing evidence that the unproductive habitats of today may be vital for a robust salmon population tomorrow. They have charted salmon populations over hundreds, even thousands of years and discovered that somewhat barren streams and lakes were wildly productive once, and populations in each habitat wax and wane naturally with shifts in climate." And then there's the effect of global warming on salmon habitat, and nobody knows where that's going.