The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay
Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) is the dominant pelagic fish in Arctic seas and a staple food of many arctic predators including several seabird species. Marginal ice zones are known as important feeding locations for seabirds. The hypothesis that thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), northern fulmar (Ful...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.339 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.339/434427/339-5849-1-pb.pdf |
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crunicaliforniap:10.1525/elementa.339 2024-06-23T07:48:56+00:00 The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay LeBlanc, Mathieu Gauthier, Stéphane Garbus, Svend Erik Mosbech, Anders Fortier, Louis Deming, Jody W. Keister, Julie E. 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.339 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.339/434427/339-5849-1-pb.pdf en eng University of California Press http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 7 ISSN 2325-1026 journal-article 2019 crunicaliforniap https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.339 2024-06-06T04:18:57Z Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) is the dominant pelagic fish in Arctic seas and a staple food of many arctic predators including several seabird species. Marginal ice zones are known as important feeding locations for seabirds. The hypothesis that thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) congregate in areas of high Arctic cod food resource and low ice concentration was tested at different spatial scales. Arctic cod biomass was estimated by hydroacoustics as a resource proxy, and seabirds were counted and sampled for stomach analysis along eight longitudinal transects across the marginal ice zone in southern Baffin Bay in June–July 2016. With increasing length, the epipelagic age-0 Arctic cod migrated from open waters to ice-covered areas. Subsequently, age-1 and age-2 Arctic cod tended to concentrate in a subsurface layer (40–100 m) within the epipelagic layer. Arctic cod 5.7–16.1 cm long (late age-0 to age-5) were the main fish prey of the three seabird species, which preferentially captured age-1 cod (6–11.5 cm). At large spatial scale (western versus eastern Baffin Bay), thick-billed murre, northern fulmar and their Arctic cod resource proxy were generally more abundant on the western ice-covered side of Baffin Bay. No clear spatial match was found, however, when comparing seabird abundances and their food-resource proxy in different ice concentrations across the marginal ice zone or at small scale (5 km). At medium scale (12.5 km), only murre density was influenced positively by its Arctic cod resource. A lack of schooling behavior and a successful strategy to avoid predation by hiding under the ice could explain the absence of any strong spatial match between Arctic cod and its seabird predators at these different scales. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic cod Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Black-legged Kittiwake Boreogadus saida Fulmarus glacialis Northern Fulmar rissa tridactyla thick-billed murre Uria lomvia ice covered areas uria University of California Press Arctic Baffin Bay Fulmar ENVELOPE(-46.016,-46.016,-60.616,-60.616) Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 7 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California Press |
op_collection_id |
crunicaliforniap |
language |
English |
description |
Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) is the dominant pelagic fish in Arctic seas and a staple food of many arctic predators including several seabird species. Marginal ice zones are known as important feeding locations for seabirds. The hypothesis that thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) congregate in areas of high Arctic cod food resource and low ice concentration was tested at different spatial scales. Arctic cod biomass was estimated by hydroacoustics as a resource proxy, and seabirds were counted and sampled for stomach analysis along eight longitudinal transects across the marginal ice zone in southern Baffin Bay in June–July 2016. With increasing length, the epipelagic age-0 Arctic cod migrated from open waters to ice-covered areas. Subsequently, age-1 and age-2 Arctic cod tended to concentrate in a subsurface layer (40–100 m) within the epipelagic layer. Arctic cod 5.7–16.1 cm long (late age-0 to age-5) were the main fish prey of the three seabird species, which preferentially captured age-1 cod (6–11.5 cm). At large spatial scale (western versus eastern Baffin Bay), thick-billed murre, northern fulmar and their Arctic cod resource proxy were generally more abundant on the western ice-covered side of Baffin Bay. No clear spatial match was found, however, when comparing seabird abundances and their food-resource proxy in different ice concentrations across the marginal ice zone or at small scale (5 km). At medium scale (12.5 km), only murre density was influenced positively by its Arctic cod resource. A lack of schooling behavior and a successful strategy to avoid predation by hiding under the ice could explain the absence of any strong spatial match between Arctic cod and its seabird predators at these different scales. |
author2 |
Deming, Jody W. Keister, Julie E. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
LeBlanc, Mathieu Gauthier, Stéphane Garbus, Svend Erik Mosbech, Anders Fortier, Louis |
spellingShingle |
LeBlanc, Mathieu Gauthier, Stéphane Garbus, Svend Erik Mosbech, Anders Fortier, Louis The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
author_facet |
LeBlanc, Mathieu Gauthier, Stéphane Garbus, Svend Erik Mosbech, Anders Fortier, Louis |
author_sort |
LeBlanc, Mathieu |
title |
The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
title_short |
The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
title_full |
The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
title_fullStr |
The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
The co-distribution of Arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in Baffin Bay |
title_sort |
co-distribution of arctic cod and its seabird predators across the marginal ice zone in baffin bay |
publisher |
University of California Press |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.339 https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article-pdf/doi/10.1525/elementa.339/434427/339-5849-1-pb.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-46.016,-46.016,-60.616,-60.616) |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Bay Fulmar |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Fulmar |
genre |
Arctic cod Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Black-legged Kittiwake Boreogadus saida Fulmarus glacialis Northern Fulmar rissa tridactyla thick-billed murre Uria lomvia ice covered areas uria |
genre_facet |
Arctic cod Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Black-legged Kittiwake Boreogadus saida Fulmarus glacialis Northern Fulmar rissa tridactyla thick-billed murre Uria lomvia ice covered areas uria |
op_source |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene volume 7 ISSN 2325-1026 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.339 |
container_title |
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene |
container_volume |
7 |
_version_ |
1802639241347334144 |