Avian Energetics in a Warming Arctic

The Arctic is warming nearly four times as rapidly as other regions of the planet, challenging the capacity of organisms to cope with shifting resources and maintain thermal balance. Tracking responses of free-living animals in dynamic environments can be challenging, but is increasingly enabled by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America
Main Authors: Grunst, Melissa L., Grunst, Andrea S., Grémillet, David, Fort, Jérôme
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00833/94447/101768.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.2073
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00833/94447/
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Summary:The Arctic is warming nearly four times as rapidly as other regions of the planet, challenging the capacity of organisms to cope with shifting resources and maintain thermal balance. Tracking responses of free-living animals in dynamic environments can be challenging, but is increasingly enabled by advanced biologging approaches. We used data gathered from miniaturized bird-borne devices to demonstrate increases in energy expenditure with declining sea ice conditions and warming sea surface temperatures in a dove-sized seabird, the little auk (also named dovekie; Alle alle). This keystone species feeds on sea ice-associated copepods and inhabits large breeding colonies in the High Arctic.