Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic
The Arctic is warming rapidly, with concomitant sea ice losses and ecosystem changes. The animals most vulnerable to Arctic food web changes are long-lived and slow-growing such as marine mammals, which may not be able to adapt rapidly enough to respond to changes in their resource bases. To determi...
Published in: | Ecological Indicators |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/25118 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/25118 2023-05-15T14:24:37+02:00 Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic MacKenzie, Kirsteen M. Lydersen, Christian Haug, Tore Routti, Heli Anna Irmeli Aars, Jon Andvik, Clare Margaret Borgå, Katrine Fisk, A.T. Meier, Sonnich Biuw, Martin Lowther, Andrew Lindstrøm, Ulf Ove Kovacs, Kit M. 2022-02-11 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/25118 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 eng eng Elsevier Ecological Indicators MacKenzie, Lydersen, Haug, Routti, Aars, Andvik, Borgå, Fisk, Meier, Biuw, Lowther, Lindstrøm, Kovacs. Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic. Ecological Indicators. 2022;136 FRIDAID 2021475 doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 1470-160X 1872-7034 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/25118 openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2022 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 2022-05-18T23:02:56Z The Arctic is warming rapidly, with concomitant sea ice losses and ecosystem changes. The animals most vulnerable to Arctic food web changes are long-lived and slow-growing such as marine mammals, which may not be able to adapt rapidly enough to respond to changes in their resource bases. To determine the current extent and sources of these resource bases, we examined isotopic and trophic niches for marine mammals in the European Arctic using skin carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope (SI) compositions from 10 species: blue, fin, humpback, minke, sperm and white whales, bearded and ringed seals, walruses and polar bears, and dietary fatty acids (FAs) in polar bears, walruses and most of the whale species listed here. SI values showed clear species separation by trophic behaviour and carbon sources. Bearded seals, walruses and white whales had the smallest isotopic niches; these species are all resident High Arctic species and are likely to be particularly vulnerable to changes in Arctic ecosystems. We found clear separation between FA groupings driven by pelagic, benthic and planktonic/algal sources: pelagic FAs in all whales, benthic FAs in walruses, and copepod/algae/ dinoflagellate FAs in polar bears, with some polar bear compositions approaching those of the whales and walruses. There is strong niche partitioning between study species with minimal functional redundancy, which could impact Arctic ecosystem structure and connectivity if populations of these large nutrient vectors are reduced or lost. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic polar bear Sea ice walrus* University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Ecological Indicators 136 108661 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
The Arctic is warming rapidly, with concomitant sea ice losses and ecosystem changes. The animals most vulnerable to Arctic food web changes are long-lived and slow-growing such as marine mammals, which may not be able to adapt rapidly enough to respond to changes in their resource bases. To determine the current extent and sources of these resource bases, we examined isotopic and trophic niches for marine mammals in the European Arctic using skin carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope (SI) compositions from 10 species: blue, fin, humpback, minke, sperm and white whales, bearded and ringed seals, walruses and polar bears, and dietary fatty acids (FAs) in polar bears, walruses and most of the whale species listed here. SI values showed clear species separation by trophic behaviour and carbon sources. Bearded seals, walruses and white whales had the smallest isotopic niches; these species are all resident High Arctic species and are likely to be particularly vulnerable to changes in Arctic ecosystems. We found clear separation between FA groupings driven by pelagic, benthic and planktonic/algal sources: pelagic FAs in all whales, benthic FAs in walruses, and copepod/algae/ dinoflagellate FAs in polar bears, with some polar bear compositions approaching those of the whales and walruses. There is strong niche partitioning between study species with minimal functional redundancy, which could impact Arctic ecosystem structure and connectivity if populations of these large nutrient vectors are reduced or lost. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MacKenzie, Kirsteen M. Lydersen, Christian Haug, Tore Routti, Heli Anna Irmeli Aars, Jon Andvik, Clare Margaret Borgå, Katrine Fisk, A.T. Meier, Sonnich Biuw, Martin Lowther, Andrew Lindstrøm, Ulf Ove Kovacs, Kit M. |
spellingShingle |
MacKenzie, Kirsteen M. Lydersen, Christian Haug, Tore Routti, Heli Anna Irmeli Aars, Jon Andvik, Clare Margaret Borgå, Katrine Fisk, A.T. Meier, Sonnich Biuw, Martin Lowther, Andrew Lindstrøm, Ulf Ove Kovacs, Kit M. Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
author_facet |
MacKenzie, Kirsteen M. Lydersen, Christian Haug, Tore Routti, Heli Anna Irmeli Aars, Jon Andvik, Clare Margaret Borgå, Katrine Fisk, A.T. Meier, Sonnich Biuw, Martin Lowther, Andrew Lindstrøm, Ulf Ove Kovacs, Kit M. |
author_sort |
MacKenzie, Kirsteen M. |
title |
Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
title_short |
Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
title_full |
Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic |
title_sort |
niches of marine mammals in the european arctic |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/25118 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Arctic polar bear Sea ice walrus* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic polar bear Sea ice walrus* |
op_relation |
Ecological Indicators MacKenzie, Lydersen, Haug, Routti, Aars, Andvik, Borgå, Fisk, Meier, Biuw, Lowther, Lindstrøm, Kovacs. Niches of marine mammals in the European Arctic. Ecological Indicators. 2022;136 FRIDAID 2021475 doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 1470-160X 1872-7034 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/25118 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.108661 |
container_title |
Ecological Indicators |
container_volume |
136 |
container_start_page |
108661 |
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1766297047529422848 |