Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations
Abstract Aim The Arctic is warming rapidly, and sea ice is disappearing. This is expected to have profound effects on Arctic wildlife. However, empirical evidence that this decline in sea ice is associated with a decline in Arctic wildlife populations is lacking. Location Svalbard Archipelago. Metho...
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crwiley:10.1111/ddi.13389 2024-06-09T07:43:12+00:00 Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations Descamps, Sébastien Ramírez, Francisco Cunningham, Susan 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13389 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ddi.13389 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/ddi.13389 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Diversity and Distributions volume 27, issue 11, page 2204-2217 ISSN 1366-9516 1472-4642 journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13389 2024-05-16T14:28:13Z Abstract Aim The Arctic is warming rapidly, and sea ice is disappearing. This is expected to have profound effects on Arctic wildlife. However, empirical evidence that this decline in sea ice is associated with a decline in Arctic wildlife populations is lacking. Location Svalbard Archipelago. Methods Using long‐term time series data (1988–2018) from two fjords in West Spitsbergen (Svalbard), we tested whether or not sea ice concentration was associated with the population size of two of the most common Arctic seabirds, the Brünnich's guillemot ( Uria lomvia ) and black‐legged kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla ). Results We found that the size of guillemot and kittiwake colonies has declined on Svalbard from the mid‐1990s onwards, though the shapes of these trajectories were not linear and kittiwake colony size has stabilized or even increased in recent years. sea ice concentration in West Spitsbergen also declined during the study period. Independent of these long‐term trends, sea ice concentration was positively and significantly associated with seabird colony size with a 2‐year lag, though variations in sea ice explained only a small proportion of the changes in colony size. One likely mechanism linking sea ice and seabird population size involves changes in the food chain, with poor sea ice conditions in a given year leading to low food availability 2 years later. This would affect breeding probability and hence colony size for kittiwakes and guillemots. This relationship between sea ice and colony size was the same in both fjords for guillemots. In the case of kittiwakes, it was not apparent in the fjord where productive glacier fronts, intensely used by kittiwakes to forage, may have buffered the effects of changes in sea ice. Main conclusions Our study provides evidence that the ongoing decline in Arctic sea ice plays a role in Arctic seabird population trajectories. However, sea ice disappearance on the breeding grounds was likely not the main driver of changes in seabird populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake brünnich's guillemot glacier rissa tridactyla Sea ice Svalbard Uria lomvia Spitsbergen uria Wiley Online Library Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Diversity and Distributions 27 11 2204 2217 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Aim The Arctic is warming rapidly, and sea ice is disappearing. This is expected to have profound effects on Arctic wildlife. However, empirical evidence that this decline in sea ice is associated with a decline in Arctic wildlife populations is lacking. Location Svalbard Archipelago. Methods Using long‐term time series data (1988–2018) from two fjords in West Spitsbergen (Svalbard), we tested whether or not sea ice concentration was associated with the population size of two of the most common Arctic seabirds, the Brünnich's guillemot ( Uria lomvia ) and black‐legged kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla ). Results We found that the size of guillemot and kittiwake colonies has declined on Svalbard from the mid‐1990s onwards, though the shapes of these trajectories were not linear and kittiwake colony size has stabilized or even increased in recent years. sea ice concentration in West Spitsbergen also declined during the study period. Independent of these long‐term trends, sea ice concentration was positively and significantly associated with seabird colony size with a 2‐year lag, though variations in sea ice explained only a small proportion of the changes in colony size. One likely mechanism linking sea ice and seabird population size involves changes in the food chain, with poor sea ice conditions in a given year leading to low food availability 2 years later. This would affect breeding probability and hence colony size for kittiwakes and guillemots. This relationship between sea ice and colony size was the same in both fjords for guillemots. In the case of kittiwakes, it was not apparent in the fjord where productive glacier fronts, intensely used by kittiwakes to forage, may have buffered the effects of changes in sea ice. Main conclusions Our study provides evidence that the ongoing decline in Arctic sea ice plays a role in Arctic seabird population trajectories. However, sea ice disappearance on the breeding grounds was likely not the main driver of changes in seabird populations. |
author2 |
Cunningham, Susan |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Descamps, Sébastien Ramírez, Francisco |
spellingShingle |
Descamps, Sébastien Ramírez, Francisco Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
author_facet |
Descamps, Sébastien Ramírez, Francisco |
author_sort |
Descamps, Sébastien |
title |
Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
title_short |
Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
title_full |
Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
title_fullStr |
Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on Arctic seabird populations |
title_sort |
species and spatial variation in the effects of sea ice on arctic seabird populations |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13389 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ddi.13389 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/ddi.13389 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake brünnich's guillemot glacier rissa tridactyla Sea ice Svalbard Uria lomvia Spitsbergen uria |
genre_facet |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake brünnich's guillemot glacier rissa tridactyla Sea ice Svalbard Uria lomvia Spitsbergen uria |
op_source |
Diversity and Distributions volume 27, issue 11, page 2204-2217 ISSN 1366-9516 1472-4642 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13389 |
container_title |
Diversity and Distributions |
container_volume |
27 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2204 |
op_container_end_page |
2217 |
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1801371958403661824 |