Harmonizing circumpolar monitoring of Arctic fox: benefits, opportunities, challenges and recommendations.
13 pages International audience The biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council has developed pan-Arctic biodiversitymonitoring plans to improve our ability to detect, understand and report on long-termchange in Arctic biodiversity. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) was identified as a target off...
Published in: | Polar Research |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-03362305 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1319602 |
Summary: | 13 pages International audience The biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council has developed pan-Arctic biodiversitymonitoring plans to improve our ability to detect, understand and report on long-termchange in Arctic biodiversity. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) was identified as a target offuture monitoring because of its circumpolar distribution, ecological importance and relianceon Arctic ecosystems. We provide the first exhaustive survey of contemporary Arctic foxmonitoring programmes, describing 34 projects located in eight countries. Monitored populationscovered equally the four climate zones of the species’ distribution, and there werelarge differences between populations in long-term trends, multi-annual fluctuations, dietcomposition, degree of competition with red fox and human interferences. Den density,number of active dens, number of breeding dens and litter size were assessed in almost allpopulations, while projects varied greatly with respect to monitoring of other variablesindicative of population status, ecosystem state or ecosystem function. We review thebenefits, opportunities and challenges to increased integration of monitoring projects. Weargue that better harmonizing protocols of data collection and data management wouldallow new questions to be addressed while adding tremendous value to individual projects.However, despite many opportunities, challenges remain. We offer six recommendations thatrepresent decisive progress toward a better integration of Arctic fox monitoring projects.Further, our work serves as a template that can be used to integrate monitoring efforts ofother species, thereby providing a key step for future assessments of global biodiversity. |
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