452 • INFONORTH The Effect of Anadromous Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) on Food Web Structure and Contaminant Concentrations in Coastal Arctic Lakes

• Main Author: Heidi K. Swanson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Nunavut; Arctic charr; Climate change; Kitikmeot; Salvelinus alpinus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.550.2907; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic60-4-452.pdf

EVERY SPRING, anadromous (sea-run) arctic charr(Salvelinus alpinus) hatch in freshwater lakes in thecircumpolar North. In the West Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, the charr spend 3 – 8 years growing in these lakes before beginning annual migrations to the sea (Johnson, 1989). They feed in the sea for approximately 2 – 4 weeks before returning to freshwater to spawn or overwinter, or both (Johnson, 1989; Klemetsen et al., 2003). Arctic charr are both culturally and economically significant to North-erners and represented more than 40 % of traditional-use species harvested in Nunavut between 1996 and 2001 (Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, 2004). They are also vulnerable to a variety of anthropogenic stressors, including climate change and industrial development. Cli-mate-induced changes to migration routes are impacting sea-run arctic charr populations. Migrations are less suc-cessful in warm, dry years when flows in migratory streams