Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea
The goal of this study was to assess how diverse oceanographic conditions and prey communities affect the foraging behavior of little auks Alle alle. The Greenland Sea is characterized by 3 distinct water masses: (1) the East Greenland Current (EGC), which carries Arctic waters southward; (2) the Sø...
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ftclaremontcoir:oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:pomona_fac_pub-1297 2023-05-15T13:16:15+02:00 Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea Karnovsky, Nina J. Brown, Zachary W., '07 Welcker, Jorg Harding, Ann M.A. Walkusz, Wojciech Cavalcanti, André Hardin, Johanna S. Kitaysky, Alexander Gabrielsen, Geir Grémillet, David 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/293 https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1297&context=pomona_fac_pub unknown Scholarship @ Claremont https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/293 https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1297&context=pomona_fac_pub © 2011 Inter-Research http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Pomona Faculty Publications and Research Little auk Alle alle Calanus Climate change East Greenland Current Sørkapp Current West Spitsbergen Current Time-depth recorder Dovekie Applied Mathematics Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Physical Sciences and Mathematics text 2011 ftclaremontcoir 2022-06-06T07:32:03Z The goal of this study was to assess how diverse oceanographic conditions and prey communities affect the foraging behavior of little auks Alle alle. The Greenland Sea is characterized by 3 distinct water masses: (1) the East Greenland Current (EGC), which carries Arctic waters southward; (2) the Sørkapp Current (SC), which originates in the Arctic Ocean but flows north along the west coast of Spitsbergen; and (3) the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC), which carries warm Atlantic-derived water north. Each of these 3 water masses is characterized by a distinct mesozooplankton community. Little auks breeding adjacent to the EGC have access to large, lipid-rich Calanus copepods, whereas those adjacent to the SC have medium sized prey, while those near the WSC are limited to even smaller, less profitable prey. We used time−depth recorders to compare the time allocation and diving behavior of little auks adjacent to each of these 3 water masses. We predicted that birds in the EGC would not have to forage as intensively as those in the SC or WSC. We found that little auks foraging in the EGC spent less time at sea, spent less time flying, dived less often, made fewer long, deep dives, and made fewer V-shaped searching dives. This indicates that the EGC provides a more favorable foraging environment than do the warmer water masses to the east. Comparing the foraging behavior of little auk populations confined to Arctic versus Atlantic-influenced waters can provide insight into the potential impacts of future warming in the Greenland Sea. Text Alle alle Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Dovekie East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Greenland Sea little auk Copepods Spitsbergen Claremont Colleges: Scholarship@Claremont Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
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Open Polar |
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Claremont Colleges: Scholarship@Claremont |
op_collection_id |
ftclaremontcoir |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Little auk Alle alle Calanus Climate change East Greenland Current Sørkapp Current West Spitsbergen Current Time-depth recorder Dovekie Applied Mathematics Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
spellingShingle |
Little auk Alle alle Calanus Climate change East Greenland Current Sørkapp Current West Spitsbergen Current Time-depth recorder Dovekie Applied Mathematics Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Physical Sciences and Mathematics Karnovsky, Nina J. Brown, Zachary W., '07 Welcker, Jorg Harding, Ann M.A. Walkusz, Wojciech Cavalcanti, André Hardin, Johanna S. Kitaysky, Alexander Gabrielsen, Geir Grémillet, David Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
topic_facet |
Little auk Alle alle Calanus Climate change East Greenland Current Sørkapp Current West Spitsbergen Current Time-depth recorder Dovekie Applied Mathematics Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Physical Sciences and Mathematics |
description |
The goal of this study was to assess how diverse oceanographic conditions and prey communities affect the foraging behavior of little auks Alle alle. The Greenland Sea is characterized by 3 distinct water masses: (1) the East Greenland Current (EGC), which carries Arctic waters southward; (2) the Sørkapp Current (SC), which originates in the Arctic Ocean but flows north along the west coast of Spitsbergen; and (3) the West Spitsbergen Current (WSC), which carries warm Atlantic-derived water north. Each of these 3 water masses is characterized by a distinct mesozooplankton community. Little auks breeding adjacent to the EGC have access to large, lipid-rich Calanus copepods, whereas those adjacent to the SC have medium sized prey, while those near the WSC are limited to even smaller, less profitable prey. We used time−depth recorders to compare the time allocation and diving behavior of little auks adjacent to each of these 3 water masses. We predicted that birds in the EGC would not have to forage as intensively as those in the SC or WSC. We found that little auks foraging in the EGC spent less time at sea, spent less time flying, dived less often, made fewer long, deep dives, and made fewer V-shaped searching dives. This indicates that the EGC provides a more favorable foraging environment than do the warmer water masses to the east. Comparing the foraging behavior of little auk populations confined to Arctic versus Atlantic-influenced waters can provide insight into the potential impacts of future warming in the Greenland Sea. |
format |
Text |
author |
Karnovsky, Nina J. Brown, Zachary W., '07 Welcker, Jorg Harding, Ann M.A. Walkusz, Wojciech Cavalcanti, André Hardin, Johanna S. Kitaysky, Alexander Gabrielsen, Geir Grémillet, David |
author_facet |
Karnovsky, Nina J. Brown, Zachary W., '07 Welcker, Jorg Harding, Ann M.A. Walkusz, Wojciech Cavalcanti, André Hardin, Johanna S. Kitaysky, Alexander Gabrielsen, Geir Grémillet, David |
author_sort |
Karnovsky, Nina J. |
title |
Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
title_short |
Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
title_full |
Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
title_fullStr |
Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inter-Colony Comparison of Diving Behavior of an Arctic Top Predator: Implications for Warming in the Greenland Sea |
title_sort |
inter-colony comparison of diving behavior of an arctic top predator: implications for warming in the greenland sea |
publisher |
Scholarship @ Claremont |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/293 https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1297&context=pomona_fac_pub |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Greenland |
genre |
Alle alle Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Dovekie East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Greenland Sea little auk Copepods Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Alle alle Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Dovekie East Greenland east greenland current Greenland Greenland Sea little auk Copepods Spitsbergen |
op_source |
Pomona Faculty Publications and Research |
op_relation |
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/293 https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1297&context=pomona_fac_pub |
op_rights |
© 2011 Inter-Research http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766273239029383168 |