Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change
Abstract Global warming is causing Atlantification of water masses and concomitant changes in food webs in the Barents Sea region. To determine whether changes that have been documented at lower trophic levels are impacting the diet of ringed seals ( Pusa hispida ) gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) fro...
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 2023-05-15T15:11:32+02:00 Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change Bengtsson, O. Lydersen, C. Kovacs, K. M. Lindström, U. Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund Norsk Polarinstitutt 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Polar Biology volume 43, issue 7, page 773-788 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 2022-01-04T16:22:37Z Abstract Global warming is causing Atlantification of water masses and concomitant changes in food webs in the Barents Sea region. To determine whether changes that have been documented at lower trophic levels are impacting the diet of ringed seals ( Pusa hispida ) gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) from 99 coastal-feeding ringed seals, collected in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, were analysed via identification of hard-parts. The study animals were shot in spring ( n = 30; April–July) or autumn ( n = 69; August–October) during four consecutive years (2014–2017). Thirty different prey types were identified, but most seals (55.6%) had consumed between 2 and 4 different types of prey. Polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ) dominated the diet of the ringed seals in terms of relative biomass ( B i = 60.0%) and frequency of occurrence ( FO i = 86.9%), followed by pricklebacks (Stichaeidae; B i = 23.4%; FO i = 79.8%). Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that year was the only significant predictor explaining variance in autumn diet composition (RDA, F 3 = 4.96, AIC = − 76.49, p ≤ 0.0050; blubber content and maturity/sex group were not significant). Blue whiting ( Micromesistius poutassou ) occurred in the diet in small quantities; this Atlantic fish species has not previously been documented in the ringed seals’ diet. Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) had the highest B i (9.2%) among Atlantic prey types. However, despite major changes in the last decade in the fish and zooplankton community in western Svalbard, and consumption of a few Atlantic prey types, the ringed seals’ diet in Svalbard continues to be dominated by Arctic prey, especially polar cod. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Gadus morhua Global warming Polar Biology polar cod Pusa hispida ringed seal Svalbard Zooplankton Spitsbergen Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard Polar Biology 43 7 773 788 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Bengtsson, O. Lydersen, C. Kovacs, K. M. Lindström, U. Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
topic_facet |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
description |
Abstract Global warming is causing Atlantification of water masses and concomitant changes in food webs in the Barents Sea region. To determine whether changes that have been documented at lower trophic levels are impacting the diet of ringed seals ( Pusa hispida ) gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) from 99 coastal-feeding ringed seals, collected in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, were analysed via identification of hard-parts. The study animals were shot in spring ( n = 30; April–July) or autumn ( n = 69; August–October) during four consecutive years (2014–2017). Thirty different prey types were identified, but most seals (55.6%) had consumed between 2 and 4 different types of prey. Polar cod ( Boreogadus saida ) dominated the diet of the ringed seals in terms of relative biomass ( B i = 60.0%) and frequency of occurrence ( FO i = 86.9%), followed by pricklebacks (Stichaeidae; B i = 23.4%; FO i = 79.8%). Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that year was the only significant predictor explaining variance in autumn diet composition (RDA, F 3 = 4.96, AIC = − 76.49, p ≤ 0.0050; blubber content and maturity/sex group were not significant). Blue whiting ( Micromesistius poutassou ) occurred in the diet in small quantities; this Atlantic fish species has not previously been documented in the ringed seals’ diet. Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) had the highest B i (9.2%) among Atlantic prey types. However, despite major changes in the last decade in the fish and zooplankton community in western Svalbard, and consumption of a few Atlantic prey types, the ringed seals’ diet in Svalbard continues to be dominated by Arctic prey, especially polar cod. |
author2 |
Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund Norsk Polarinstitutt |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bengtsson, O. Lydersen, C. Kovacs, K. M. Lindström, U. |
author_facet |
Bengtsson, O. Lydersen, C. Kovacs, K. M. Lindström, U. |
author_sort |
Bengtsson, O. |
title |
Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
title_short |
Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
title_full |
Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
title_fullStr |
Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ringed seal (Pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
title_sort |
ringed seal (pusa hispida) diet on the west coast of spitsbergen, svalbard, norway: during a time of ecosystem change |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Gadus morhua Global warming Polar Biology polar cod Pusa hispida ringed seal Svalbard Zooplankton Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic atlantic cod Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Gadus morhua Global warming Polar Biology polar cod Pusa hispida ringed seal Svalbard Zooplankton Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Polar Biology volume 43, issue 7, page 773-788 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02684-5 |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
43 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
773 |
op_container_end_page |
788 |
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1766342379243044864 |