Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland
Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland is experiencing the effects of climate change, with the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier being one of the fastest-moving and most productive ice streams in Greenland. This is likely affecting the distribution of species in the fjord, including those important to local fisherie...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29797 https://doi.org/10.3354/MEPS14250 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/29797 2023-08-27T04:08:10+02:00 Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland Schiøtt, Sascha Jensen, Mads Reinholdt Sigsgaard, Eva Egelyng Møller, Peter Daniel Rask Thomsen, Philip Francis Rysgaard, Søren de Paula Avila, Marcelo 2023-02-23 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29797 https://doi.org/10.3354/MEPS14250 eng eng Inter-Research Marine Ecology Progress Series Schiøtt, Jensen, Sigsgaard, Møller, de Paula Avila, Thomsen, Rysgaard. Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 2023;706:91-108 FRIDAID 2159497 doi:10.3354/MEPS14250 0171-8630 1616-1599 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29797 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2023 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3354/MEPS14250 2023-08-09T23:07:01Z Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland is experiencing the effects of climate change, with the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier being one of the fastest-moving and most productive ice streams in Greenland. This is likely affecting the distribution of species in the fjord, including those important to local fisheries. Due to heavy ice conditions, few studies on environmental and ecological conditions exist from the fjord. However, new techniques such as environmental DNA (eDNA) meta barcoding now allow deeper insight into the fjord system. Here, we combine local ecological knowledge with data on hydrographic conditions, stable isotopes (δ 18 O), and eDNA metabarcoding to investigate the spatial and seasonal distribution of marine fish and mammals inside Ilulissat Icefjord. Our eDNA results support local observations that Arctic char migrate to the southern fjord during summer, harp seals forage in large herds in the fjord system, polar cod is the dominant prey fish in the area, and Greenland shark likely does not reside in the fjord system. Lower predation pressure in the Icefjord, due to the absence of Greenland shark and polar bears as well as limited fishing/hunting, is presumably one of the reasons why ringed seals and Greenland halibut are larger in the Icefjord. Furthermore, our results indicate that in summer, the southern branch of the fjord system has a more diverse community of vertebrates and different water masses than the northern branch and main fjord, indicating a time lag between inflows to the different branches of the fjord system. Our approach highlights the value of combining local ecological knowledge with scientific research and represents a potential starting point for monitoring biological responses in Ilulissat Icefjord associated with climate-induced changes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ilulissat Kujalleq polar cod Sermeq Kujalleq University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Greenland Ilulissat ENVELOPE(-51.099,-51.099,69.220,69.220) Kujalleq ENVELOPE(-46.037,-46.037,60.719,60.719) Marine Ecology Progress Series 706 91 108 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland is experiencing the effects of climate change, with the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier being one of the fastest-moving and most productive ice streams in Greenland. This is likely affecting the distribution of species in the fjord, including those important to local fisheries. Due to heavy ice conditions, few studies on environmental and ecological conditions exist from the fjord. However, new techniques such as environmental DNA (eDNA) meta barcoding now allow deeper insight into the fjord system. Here, we combine local ecological knowledge with data on hydrographic conditions, stable isotopes (δ 18 O), and eDNA metabarcoding to investigate the spatial and seasonal distribution of marine fish and mammals inside Ilulissat Icefjord. Our eDNA results support local observations that Arctic char migrate to the southern fjord during summer, harp seals forage in large herds in the fjord system, polar cod is the dominant prey fish in the area, and Greenland shark likely does not reside in the fjord system. Lower predation pressure in the Icefjord, due to the absence of Greenland shark and polar bears as well as limited fishing/hunting, is presumably one of the reasons why ringed seals and Greenland halibut are larger in the Icefjord. Furthermore, our results indicate that in summer, the southern branch of the fjord system has a more diverse community of vertebrates and different water masses than the northern branch and main fjord, indicating a time lag between inflows to the different branches of the fjord system. Our approach highlights the value of combining local ecological knowledge with scientific research and represents a potential starting point for monitoring biological responses in Ilulissat Icefjord associated with climate-induced changes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schiøtt, Sascha Jensen, Mads Reinholdt Sigsgaard, Eva Egelyng Møller, Peter Daniel Rask Thomsen, Philip Francis Rysgaard, Søren de Paula Avila, Marcelo |
spellingShingle |
Schiøtt, Sascha Jensen, Mads Reinholdt Sigsgaard, Eva Egelyng Møller, Peter Daniel Rask Thomsen, Philip Francis Rysgaard, Søren de Paula Avila, Marcelo Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
author_facet |
Schiøtt, Sascha Jensen, Mads Reinholdt Sigsgaard, Eva Egelyng Møller, Peter Daniel Rask Thomsen, Philip Francis Rysgaard, Søren de Paula Avila, Marcelo |
author_sort |
Schiøtt, Sascha |
title |
Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
title_short |
Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
title_full |
Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland |
title_sort |
environmental dna metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of ilulissat icefjord, greenland |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29797 https://doi.org/10.3354/MEPS14250 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-51.099,-51.099,69.220,69.220) ENVELOPE(-46.037,-46.037,60.719,60.719) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Ilulissat Kujalleq |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Ilulissat Kujalleq |
genre |
Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ilulissat Kujalleq polar cod Sermeq Kujalleq |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change glacier Greenland Ilulissat Kujalleq polar cod Sermeq Kujalleq |
op_relation |
Marine Ecology Progress Series Schiøtt, Jensen, Sigsgaard, Møller, de Paula Avila, Thomsen, Rysgaard. Environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals seasonal and spatial variation in the vertebrate fauna of Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 2023;706:91-108 FRIDAID 2159497 doi:10.3354/MEPS14250 0171-8630 1616-1599 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/29797 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/MEPS14250 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
706 |
container_start_page |
91 |
op_container_end_page |
108 |
_version_ |
1775348873207742464 |