Ecological impacts of climate change on Arctic marine megafauna

• Published in: Trends in Ecology & Evolution
• Main Authors: Grémillet, David, Descamps, Sébastien
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Global warming
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/8282817; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.04.002

Global warming affects the Arctic more than any other region. Mass media constantly relay apocalyptic visions of climate change threatening Arctic wildlife, especially emblematic megafauna such as polar bears, whales, and seabirds. Yet, we are just beginning to understand such ecological impacts on marine megafauna at the scale of the Arctic. This knowledge is geographically and taxonomically biased, with striking deficiencies in the Russian Arctic and strong focus on exploited species such as cod. Beyond a synthesis of scientific advances in the past 5 years, we provide ten key questions to be addressed by future work and outline the requested methodology. This framework builds upon long-term Arctic monitoring inclusive of local communities whilst capitalising on high-tech and big data approaches.