Circumpolar biodiversity monitoring program’s state of the Arctic marine biodiversity

Marine mammals are top predators in Arctic marine ecosystems and are key to ecosystem functioning. Many Arctic marine mammal species are important resources and hold special cultural significance in Arctic communities. The CBMP (Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme) Marine Mammal Expert Network aggregated and reviewed data on the population status and trends of all 11 ice-associated marine mammal Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs) across eight Arctic Marine Areas as well as the state of current monitoring (and research) efforts for these species. Changes taking place in the physical environment in the Arctic due to global warming are affecting marine mammal behaviour, abundance, growth rates, body condition and reproduction, and impacting the resilience of marine mammal populations with concomitant effects on the people who rely on them for subsistence, economic and cultural purposes. Effective marine mammal population monitoring will need improved techniques and application at appropriate geographic scales to measure trends that can be evaluated relative to changes in climate (e.g., sea-ice cover) and human activities (e.g., hunting, shipping, mineral exploration). This presentation will summarize current marine mammal monitoring across the Arctic, the status and trends of FECs, drivers of observed trends, and knowledge and monitoring gaps.

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Marine Fishes Expert Network: findings and recommendations from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26780v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin J Hedges ◽

Shannon MacPhee ◽

Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson ◽

Edda Johannesen ◽

Catherine W Mecklenburg

Keyword(s):

Marine Fish ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Prey Availability ◽

Marine Fishes ◽

The Arctic ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Transfer Energy ◽

Status And Trends ◽

The Status ◽

Expert Network

Pelagic and benthic fish species are important in Arctic marine ecosystems because they transfer energy to predators such as seabirds, marine mammals, as well as people. The CBMP Marine Fishes Expert Network aggregated and reviewed data on the population status and trends of three marine fish Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs) across eight Arctic Marine Areas. Fishes are affected by environmental conditions such as temperature, sea ice availability and salinity, and are constrained by prey availability and predator pressure, which can be influenced by climate change. The three marine fish FECs discussed here are indicative of different changes that are occurring in the Arctic and demonstrate the varied responses observed among species. The presentation will summarize current level of monitoring across the Arctic, the status and trends of FECs, drivers of observed trends, and knowledge and monitoring gaps.

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Benthos Expert Network: Findings and recommendations from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report (SAMBR)

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26775v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Virginie Roy ◽

Lis Lindal Jørgensen ◽

Philippe Archambault ◽

Martin Blicher ◽

Nina Denisenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammals ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

The Arctic ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Biodiversity Monitoring ◽

Arctic Seas ◽

Marine Areas ◽

Expert Network

Currently, > 4,000 macro- and megabenthic invertebrate species are known from Arctic seas, representing the majority of marine faunal diversity in this region. This estimate is expected to increase with future studies. Benthic invertebrates are important ecosystem components as food for fishes, marine mammals, seabirds and humans. The Benthos Expert Network of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) aggregated and reviewed information on the population status and trends of macro- and megabenthic invertebrates across eight Arctic Marine Areas as well as the state of current monitoring efforts for these communities. Drivers are affecting benthic communities on a variety of scales, ranging from pan-Arctic (related to climate change, such as warming, ice decline and acidification) to regional or local scales (such as trawling, river/glacier discharge, and invasive species). Long-term benthic monitoring efforts have largely focused on macro- and megabenthic communities of the Chukchi and Barents Seas. Recently, they are increasing in waters off Greenland and Iceland, as well as in the Canadian Arctic and the Norwegian Sea. All other Arctic Marine Areas are lacking long-term monitoring. The presentation will summarize current level of knowledge and monitoring across the Arctic, drivers of observed trends, and knowledge and monitoring gaps.

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Benthos Expert Network: Findings and recommendations from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report (SAMBR)

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26775 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Virginie Roy ◽

Lis Lindal Jørgensen ◽

Philippe Archambault ◽

Martin Blicher ◽

Nina Denisenko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammals ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Monitoring Program ◽

The Arctic ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Biodiversity Monitoring ◽

Arctic Seas ◽

Marine Areas ◽

Expert Network

Currently, > 4,000 macro- and megabenthic invertebrate species are known from Arctic seas, representing the majority of marine faunal diversity in this region. This estimate is expected to increase with future studies. Benthic invertebrates are important ecosystem components as food for fishes, marine mammals, seabirds and humans. The Benthos Expert Network of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) aggregated and reviewed information on the population status and trends of macro- and megabenthic invertebrates across eight Arctic Marine Areas as well as the state of current monitoring efforts for these communities. Drivers are affecting benthic communities on a variety of scales, ranging from pan-Arctic (related to climate change, such as warming, ice decline and acidification) to regional or local scales (such as trawling, river/glacier discharge, and invasive species). Long-term benthic monitoring efforts have largely focused on macro- and megabenthic communities of the Chukchi and Barents Seas. Recently, they are increasing in waters off Greenland and Iceland, as well as in the Canadian Arctic and the Norwegian Sea. All other Arctic Marine Areas are lacking long-term monitoring. The presentation will summarize current level of knowledge and monitoring across the Arctic, drivers of observed trends, and knowledge and monitoring gaps.

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Marine Fishes Expert Network: findings and recommendations from the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report

10.7287/peerj.preprints.26780 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin J Hedges ◽

Shannon MacPhee ◽

Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson ◽

Edda Johannesen ◽

Catherine W Mecklenburg

Keyword(s):

Marine Fish ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Prey Availability ◽

Marine Fishes ◽

The Arctic ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Transfer Energy ◽

Status And Trends ◽

The Status ◽

Expert Network

Pelagic and benthic fish species are important in Arctic marine ecosystems because they transfer energy to predators such as seabirds, marine mammals, as well as people. The CBMP Marine Fishes Expert Network aggregated and reviewed data on the population status and trends of three marine fish Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs) across eight Arctic Marine Areas. Fishes are affected by environmental conditions such as temperature, sea ice availability and salinity, and are constrained by prey availability and predator pressure, which can be influenced by climate change. The three marine fish FECs discussed here are indicative of different changes that are occurring in the Arctic and demonstrate the varied responses observed among species. The presentation will summarize current level of monitoring across the Arctic, the status and trends of FECs, drivers of observed trends, and knowledge and monitoring gaps.

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Contrasting changes in space use induced by climate change in two Arctic marine mammal species

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2018.0834 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 20180834 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Charmain D. Hamilton ◽

Jade Vacquié-Garcia ◽

Kit M. Kovacs ◽

Rolf A. Ims ◽

Jack Kohler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Life Cycles ◽

The Arctic ◽

Delphinapterus Leucas ◽

Behavioural Plasticity ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Dietary Specialization ◽

Environmental Pressures

Global warming is inducing major environmental changes in the Arctic. These changes will differentially affect species owing to differences in climate sensitivity and behavioural plasticity. Arctic endemic marine mammals are expected to be impacted significantly by ongoing changes in their key habitats owing to their long life cycles and dependence on ice. Herein, unique biotelemetry datasets for ringed seals (RS; Pusa hispida ) and white whales (WW; Delphinapterus leucas ) from Svalbard, Norway, spanning two decades (1995–2016) are used to investigate how these species have responded to reduced sea-ice cover and increased Atlantic water influxes. Tidal glacier fronts were traditionally important foraging areas for both species. Following a period with dramatic environmental change, RS now spend significantly more time near tidal glaciers, where Arctic prey presumably still concentrate. Conversely, WW spend significantly less time near tidal glacier fronts and display spatial patterns that suggest that they are foraging on Atlantic fishes that are new to the region. Differences in levels of dietary specialization and overall behavioural plasticity are likely reasons for similar environmental pressures affecting these species differently. Climate change adjustments through behavioural plasticity will be vital for species survival in the Arctic, given the rapidity of change and limited dispersal options.

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Glider-Based Passive Acoustic Monitoring in the Arctic

Marine Technology Society Journal ◽

10.4031/mtsj.48.5.2 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 48 (5) ◽

pp. 40-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Mark F. Baumgartner ◽

Kathleen M. Stafford ◽

Peter Winsor ◽

Hank Statscewich ◽

David M. Fratantoni

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

Marine Mammal ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Acoustic Monitoring ◽

Bowhead Whale ◽

The Arctic ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Frequency Detection ◽

Passive Acoustic ◽

The Impact

AbstractPersistently poor weather in the Arctic makes traditional marine mammal research from aircraft and ships difficult, yet collecting information on marine mammal distribution and habitat utilization is vital for understanding the impact of climate change on Arctic ecosystems. Moreover, as industrial use of the Arctic increases with the expansion of the open-water summer season, there is an urgent need to monitor the effects of noise from oil and gas exploration and commercial shipping on marine mammals. During September 2013, we deployed a single Slocum glider equipped with a digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument to record and process in situ low-frequency (<5 kHz) audio to characterize marine mammal occurrence and habitat as well as ambient noise in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska, USA. The DMON was programmed with the low-frequency detection and classification system (LFDCS) to autonomously detect and classify sounds of a variety of Arctic and sub-Arctic marine mammal species. The DMON/LFDCS reported regularly in near real time via Iridium satellite detailed detection data, summary classification information, and spectra of background noise. The spatial distributions of bowhead whale, bearded seal, and walrus call rates were correlated with surface salinity measured by the glider. Bowhead whale and walrus call rates were strongly associated with a warm and salty water mass of Bering Sea origin. With a passive acoustic capability that allows both archival recording and near real-time reporting, we envision ocean gliders will become a standard tool for marine mammal and ocean noise research and monitoring in the Arctic.

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Feasibility of melting fingerprint obtained from ISSR-HRM curves for marine mammal species identification

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.11689 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. e11689

Author(s):

Wannapimol Kriangwanich ◽

Kittisak Buddhachat ◽

Anocha Poommouang ◽

Siriwadee Chomdej ◽

Chatchote Thitaram ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Success Rate ◽

Species Identification ◽

Marine Mammal ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Intraspecific Variability ◽

Issr Markers ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Hrm Analysis ◽

New Approaches ◽

High Degree

Currently, species identification of stranded marine mammals mostly relies on morphological features, which has inherent challenges. The use of genetic information for marine mammal species identification remains limited, therefore, new approaches that can contribute to a better monitoring of stranded species are needed. In that context, the ISSR-HRM method we have proposed offers a new approach for marine mammal species identification. Consequently, new approaches need to be developed to identify individuals at the species level. Eight primers of the ISSR markers were chosen for HRM analysis resulting in ranges of accuracy of 56.78–75.50% and 52.14–75.93% in terms of precision, while a degree of sensitivity of more than 80% was recorded when each single primer was used. The ISSR-HRM primer combinations revealed a success rate of 100% in terms of discrimination for all marine mammals included in this study. Furthermore, ISSR-HRM analysis was successfully employed in determining marine mammal discrimination among varying marine mammal species. Thus, ISSR-HRM analysis could serve as an effective alternative tool in the species identification process. This option would offer researchers a heightened level of convenience in terms of its performance and success rate. It would also offer field practice to veterinarians, biologists and other field-related people a greater degree of ease with which they could interpret results when effectively classifying stranded marine mammals. However, further studies with more samples and with a broader geographical scope will be required involving distinct populations to account for the high degree of intraspecific variability in cetaceans and to demonstrate the range of applications of this approach.

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Stability of Domoic Acid in 50% Methanol Extracts and Raw Fecal Material from Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus)

Marine Drugs ◽

10.3390/md19080423 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (8) ◽

pp. 423

Author(s):

Emily K. Bowers ◽

Raphaela Stimmelmayr ◽

Kathi A. Lefebvre

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammal ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

Domoic Acid ◽

Harmful Algal Bloom ◽

Multiple Time ◽

Fecal Material ◽

Shellfish Poisoning ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Fecal Samples ◽

Methanol Extracts

Domoic acid (DA), the toxin causing amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), is produced globally by some diatoms in the genus Pseudo-nitzschia. DA has been detected in several marine mammal species in the Alaskan Arctic, raising health concerns for marine mammals and subsistence communities dependent upon them. Gastrointestinal matrices are routinely used to detect Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) toxin presence in marine mammals, yet DA stability has only been studied extensively in shellfish-related matrices. To address this knowledge gap, we quantified DA in bowhead whale fecal samples at multiple time points for two groups: (1) 50% methanol extracts from feces, and (2) raw feces stored in several conditions. DA concentrations decreased to 70 ± 7.1% of time zero (T0) in the 50% methanol extracts after 2 weeks, but remained steady until the final time point at 5 weeks (66 ± 5.7% T0). In contrast, DA concentrations were stable or increased in raw fecal material after 8 weeks of freezer storage (−20 °C), at room temperature (RT) in the dark, or refrigerated at 1 °C. DA concentrations in raw feces stored in an incubator (37 °C) or at RT in the light decreased to 77 ± 2.8% and 90 ± 15.0% T0 at 8 weeks, respectively. Evaporation during storage of raw fecal material is a likely cause of the increased DA concentrations observed over time with the highest increase to 126 ± 7.6% T0 after 3.2 years of frozen storage. These results provide valuable information for developing appropriate sample storage procedures for marine mammal fecal samples.

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Marine Mammals Occurring in the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area, Philippines

The Philippine Journal of Fisheries ◽

10.31398/tpjf/28.1.2020-0015 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 129-142

Author(s):

Manuel Eduardo de la Paz ◽

Jacob Nathaniel Luther ◽

Stiffy Marie Espinosa ◽

Bea Chiara Festin ◽

Rubena Marie Santillan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammal ◽

Coastal Wetlands ◽

Marine Mammals ◽

The Philippines ◽

Mammal Species ◽

Conservation Area ◽

The North ◽

Close Proximity ◽

International Importance ◽

Wetlands Conservation

The Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area (NOCWCA) is the Philippines’ 7th Ramsar Site of Wetlands of International Importance. It spans 89,607 ha comprising the municipal waters of 10 adjacent towns and municipalities. Its waters are part of the Guimaras Strait in the north and the Panay Gulf in the south. This research aimed to assess marine mammal diversity in these coastal wetlands. Marine mammal species here were documented through strandings, interview surveys, and boat surveys. Ten species of marine mammals, including the dugong (Dugong dugon), have stranded in the NOCWCA for the past ten years. Three species were encountered in the boat surveys: Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), Long-snouted spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris longirostris), and Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris). All species were encountered in close proximity to fishing boats, indicating possible interactions. The presence of these marine mammals here highlights the importance of these areas as essential habitats.

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