Little auks buffer the impact of current Arctic climate change

• Published in: Marine Ecology Progress Series
• Main Authors: Grémillet, David, Welcker, Jorg, Karnovsky, Nina J., Walkusz, Wojciech, Margaret, Hall, Fort, Jérôme, Brown, Zachary, Speakman, John R, Harding, Ann M.A.
• Other Authors: DST-NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, 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), Norwegian Polar Institute, Pomona College, Institute of Oceanology, Polska Akademia Nauk = Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), Fisheries and Oceans, BirdWatch Ireland, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Alaska Pacific University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2012
• Subjects: Behavioural plasticity; Envelope models; Global warming; North Atlantic; Pelagic food web; Zooplankton; [SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment; Arctic; Greenland; Alle alle; Climate change; Greenland Sea
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01100441; https://hal.science/hal-01100441/document; https://hal.science/hal-01100441/file/Gr%C3%A9millet%20et%20al%20MEPS_2012.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09590

International audience Climate models predict a multi-degree warming of the North Atlantic in the 21st century. A research priority is to understand the effect of such changes upon marine organisms. With 40 to 80 million individuals, planktivorous little auks Alle alle are an essential component of pelagic food webs in this region that is potentially highly susceptible to climatic effects. Using an integrative study of their behaviour, physiology and fitness at 3 study sites, we evaluated the effect of ocean warming on little auks across the Greenland Sea in 2005 to 2007. Contrary to our hypothesis, the birds responded to a wide range of sea surface temperatures via plasticity of their foraging behaviour, allowing them to maintain their fitness levels. Predicted effects of climate change are significantly attenuated by such plasticity, confounding attempts to forecast future effects of climate change using envelope models.