Abundance and species diversity hotspots of tracked marine predators across the North American Arctic

• Published in: Diversity and Distributions
• Main Authors: Yurkowski, David, J, Auger-Méthé, Marie, Mallory, Mark, Wong, Sarah, N P, Gilchrist, Grant, Derocher, Andrew, E, Richardson, Evan, Lunn, Nicholas, J, Hussey, Nigel, E, Marcoux, Marianne, Togunov, Ron, R, Fisk, Aaron, T, Harwood, Lois, A, Dietz, Rune, Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu, Born, Erik, W, Mosbech, Anders, Fort, Jérôme, Grémillet, David, Loseto, Lisa, Richard, Pierre, Iacozza, John, Jean-Gagnon, Frankie, Brown, Tanya, M, Westdal, Kristin, H, Orr, Jack, Leblanc, Bernard, Bernard, Hedges, Kevin, J, Treble, Margaret, A, Kessel, Steven, T, Blanchfield, Paul, J, Davis, Shanti, Maftei, Mark, Spencer, Nora, Mcfarlane-Tranquilla, Laura, Montevecchi, William, Bartzen, Blake, Dickson, Lynne, Lynne, Anderson, Christine, Ferguson, Steven, H
• Other Authors: Biology, Acadia University, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), University of Windsor Ca, National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR), Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Center, Aarhus University Aarhus, LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier (Montpellier SupAgro), Centre de Recherche sur les Ecosystèmes Littoraux Anthropisés (CRELA), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Memorial University of Newfoundland = Université Memorial de Terre-Neuve St. John's, Canada (MUN)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: seabirds; animal movement; biologging; conservation; climate change; fishes; marine mammals; protected areas; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Amundsen Gulf; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Baffin; Chukchi; Climate change; Davis Strait; Greenland; Hudson Bay; Hudson Strait; Ursus maritimus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01977912; https://hal.science/hal-01977912/document; https://hal.science/hal-01977912/file/Yurkowski_et_al-2018-Diversity_and_Distributions.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12860

International audience Aim: Climate change is altering marine ecosystems worldwide and is most pronounced in the Arctic. Economic development is increasing leading to more disturbances and pressures on Arctic wildlife. Identifying areas that support higher levels of predator abundance and biodiversity is important for the implementation of targeted conservation measures across the Arctic.Location: Primarily Canadian Arctic marine waters but also parts of the United States, Greenland and Russia.Methods: We compiled the largest data setof existing telemetry data for marine predators in the North American Arctic consisting of 1,283 individuals from 21 species. Data were arranged into four species groups: (a) cetaceans and pinnipeds, (b) polar bears Ursus maritimus (c) seabirds, and (d) fishes to address the following objectives: (a) to identify abundance hotspots for each species group in the summer–autumn and winter–spring; (b) to identify species diversity hotspots across all species groups and extent of overlap with exclusive economic zones; and (c) to perform a gap analysis that assesses amount of overlap between species diversity hotspots with existing protected areas.Results: Abundance and species diversity hotpots during summer–autumn and winter–spring were identified in Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Amundsen Gulf, and the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering seas both within and across species groups. Abundance and species diversity hotpots occurred within the conti -nental slope in summer–autumn and offshore in areas of moving pack ice in winter–spring. Gap analysis revealed that the current level of conservation protection that overlaps species diversity hotspots is low covering only 5% (77,498 km2) in summer–autumn and 7% (83,202 km2) in winter–spring.Main conclusions: We identified several areas of potential importance for Arctic marine predators that could provide policymakers with a starting point for conservation measures given the multitude of threats facing the Arctic. These ...