Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea
The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), today a subarctic species with breeding populations in the White Sea, around the Jan Mayen Islands and Newfoundland, was a common pinniped species in the Baltic Sea during the mid- and late Holocene. It is puzzling how an ice dependent species could breed in...
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ftlithuaniansrc:oai:elaba:75646453 2023-05-15T15:11:08+02:00 Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea Glykou, Aikaterini Lõugas, Lembi Piličiauskienė, Giedrė Schmölcke, Ulrich Eriksson, Gunilla Lidén, Kerstin 2020 http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB75646453&prefLang=en_US eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106701 http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB75646453&prefLang=en_US Quaternary science reviews, Oxford : Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd., 2021, vol. 251, art. no. 106701, p. [1-15] ISSN 0277-3791 Holocene Holocene Thermal Maximum Europe Baltic Sea Archaeology Paleoecology Harp seal Presence/absence Isotopes Radiocarbon dates info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2020 ftlithuaniansrc https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106701 2021-12-02T01:02:27Z The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), today a subarctic species with breeding populations in the White Sea, around the Jan Mayen Islands and Newfoundland, was a common pinniped species in the Baltic Sea during the mid- and late Holocene. It is puzzling how an ice dependent species could breed in the Baltic Sea during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), and it remains unclear for how long harp seals bred in the Baltic Sea and when the population became extirpated. We combined radiocarbon dating of harp seal bones with zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and stable isotope data to reconstruct the harp seal occurrence in the Baltic Sea. Our study revealed two phases of harp seal presence and verifies that the first colonization and establishment of a local breeding population occurred within the HTM. We suggest that periods with very warm summers but cold winters allowed harp seals to breed on the ice. Human pressure, salinity fluctuations with consequent changes in prey availability and competition for food resources, mainly cod, resulted in physiological stress that ultimately led to a population decline and local extirpation during the first phase. The population re-appeared after a long hiatus. Final extinction of the Baltic Sea harp seal coincided with the Medieval Warm Period. Our data provide insights for the first time on the combined effects of past climatic and environmental change and human pressure on seal populations and can contribute with new knowledge on ongoing discussions concerning the impacts of such effects on current arctic seal populations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Harp Seal Jan Mayen Newfoundland Pagophilus groenlandicus Subarctic White Sea LSRC VL (Lithuanian Social Research Centre Virtual Library) Arctic White Sea Jan Mayen Quaternary Science Reviews 251 106701 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
LSRC VL (Lithuanian Social Research Centre Virtual Library) |
op_collection_id |
ftlithuaniansrc |
language |
English |
topic |
Holocene Holocene Thermal Maximum Europe Baltic Sea Archaeology Paleoecology Harp seal Presence/absence Isotopes Radiocarbon dates |
spellingShingle |
Holocene Holocene Thermal Maximum Europe Baltic Sea Archaeology Paleoecology Harp seal Presence/absence Isotopes Radiocarbon dates Glykou, Aikaterini Lõugas, Lembi Piličiauskienė, Giedrė Schmölcke, Ulrich Eriksson, Gunilla Lidén, Kerstin Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
topic_facet |
Holocene Holocene Thermal Maximum Europe Baltic Sea Archaeology Paleoecology Harp seal Presence/absence Isotopes Radiocarbon dates |
description |
The harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), today a subarctic species with breeding populations in the White Sea, around the Jan Mayen Islands and Newfoundland, was a common pinniped species in the Baltic Sea during the mid- and late Holocene. It is puzzling how an ice dependent species could breed in the Baltic Sea during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM), and it remains unclear for how long harp seals bred in the Baltic Sea and when the population became extirpated. We combined radiocarbon dating of harp seal bones with zooarchaeological, palaeoenvironmental and stable isotope data to reconstruct the harp seal occurrence in the Baltic Sea. Our study revealed two phases of harp seal presence and verifies that the first colonization and establishment of a local breeding population occurred within the HTM. We suggest that periods with very warm summers but cold winters allowed harp seals to breed on the ice. Human pressure, salinity fluctuations with consequent changes in prey availability and competition for food resources, mainly cod, resulted in physiological stress that ultimately led to a population decline and local extirpation during the first phase. The population re-appeared after a long hiatus. Final extinction of the Baltic Sea harp seal coincided with the Medieval Warm Period. Our data provide insights for the first time on the combined effects of past climatic and environmental change and human pressure on seal populations and can contribute with new knowledge on ongoing discussions concerning the impacts of such effects on current arctic seal populations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Glykou, Aikaterini Lõugas, Lembi Piličiauskienė, Giedrė Schmölcke, Ulrich Eriksson, Gunilla Lidén, Kerstin |
author_facet |
Glykou, Aikaterini Lõugas, Lembi Piličiauskienė, Giedrė Schmölcke, Ulrich Eriksson, Gunilla Lidén, Kerstin |
author_sort |
Glykou, Aikaterini |
title |
Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
title_short |
Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
title_full |
Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
title_fullStr |
Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the Baltic Sea |
title_sort |
reconstructing the ecological history of the extinct harp seal population of the baltic sea |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB75646453&prefLang=en_US |
geographic |
Arctic White Sea Jan Mayen |
geographic_facet |
Arctic White Sea Jan Mayen |
genre |
Arctic Harp Seal Jan Mayen Newfoundland Pagophilus groenlandicus Subarctic White Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Harp Seal Jan Mayen Newfoundland Pagophilus groenlandicus Subarctic White Sea |
op_source |
Quaternary science reviews, Oxford : Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd., 2021, vol. 251, art. no. 106701, p. [1-15] ISSN 0277-3791 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106701 http://vu.lvb.lt/VU:ELABAPDB75646453&prefLang=en_US |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106701 |
container_title |
Quaternary Science Reviews |
container_volume |
251 |
container_start_page |
106701 |
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