Determining the species assemblage and habitat use of cetaceans in the Svalbard Archipelago, based on observations from 2002 to 2014

Luke Storrie,

Christian Lydersen,

Magnus Andersen,

Russell B. Wynn,

Kit M. Kovacs

Опубликована Июнь 1, 2018

This study used 13 years of cetacean sighting data (2002–2014) from waters around the Svalbard Archipelago to determine key habitats for year-round resident species as well as seasonally resident species, and to explore spatial overlap between these groups via a combination of kernel density estimation and Maxent modelling. The data set consists of observations made by research vessels conducting various marine studies, coast guard ships and marine-cruise tourist operators. Data are reported from the seasonal period in which there is daylight (March-November), though 95% of the observations occurred June- September. Changes over the study period were investigated, within the limits …

Radiogenic isotope (Nd, Pb, Sr) signatures of surface and sea ice-transported sediments from the Arctic Ocean under the present interglacial conditions

Jenny Maccali,

Claude Hillaire-Marcel,

Christelle Not

Опубликована Март 22, 2018

Under modern conditions, sediments from the large continental shelves of the Arctic Ocean are mixed by currents, incorporated into sea ice and redistributed over the Arctic Basin through the Beaufort Gyre and Trans-Polar Drift major sea-ice routes. Here, compiling data from the literature and combining them with our own data, we explore how radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Pb and Nd) from Arctic shelf surface sediment can be used to identify inland and coastal sediment sources. Based on discriminant function analyses, the use of two-isotope systematics introduces a large uncertainty (ca. 50%) that prevents unequivocal identifications of regional shelf signatures. However, when …

Diversity and community structure of bacterioplankton in surface waters off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula

Shunan Cao,

Jianfeng He,

Fang Zhang,

Ling Lin,

Yuan Gao,

Qiming Zhou

Опубликована Март 21, 2019

Global climate change is significantly affecting marine life off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, but little is known about microbial ecology in this area. The main goal of this study was to investigate the bacterioplankton community structure in surface waters using pyrosequencing and to determine factors influencing this community. Pelagibacterales and Rhodobacterales (Alphaproteobacteria), Oceanospirillales and Alteromonadales (Gammaproteobacteria), and Flavobacteriales (Bacteroidetes) were the core taxa in our samples, and the five most relatively abundant genera were Pelagibacter, Polaribacter, Octadecabacter, group HTCC2207 and Sulfitobacter. Although nutrients and chlorophyll a (chl a) contributed more to bacterioplankton community structure than water masses …

Dynamics and persistence of rabies in the Arctic

Audrey Simon,

Amy Hurford,

Nicolas Lecomte,

Denise Bélanger,

Patrick Leighton,

Olivia Tardy

Опубликована Июнь 5, 2019

Rabies is a major issue for human and animal health in the Arctic, yet little is known about its epidemiology. In particular, there is an ongoing debate regarding how Arctic rabies persists in its primary reservoir host, the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), which exists in the ecosystem at very low population densities. To shed light on the mechanisms of rabies persistence in the Arctic, we built a susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered (SEIR) epidemiological model of rabies virus transmission in an Arctic fox population interacting with red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), a rabies host that is increasingly present in the Arctic. The model suggests that …

Distribution and fluxes of dissolved organic carbon in the Arctic Ocean

Alexander Vetrov,

Evgeny Romankevich

Опубликована Март 29, 2019

Dissolved organic carbon, from marine biota excretions and decomposing detritus, is one of the main components of the carbon cycle in the ocean. In this study, an attempt was made to construct maps of the distribution and fluxes of DOC in the Arctic Ocean and the exchanges with the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Because of the limited data available a multiple linear regression technique was performed to identify significant relationships between DOC (2200 samples) and hydrologic parameters (temperature and salinity), as well as depth, horizon, latitude and offshore distance. Mapping of the DOC distribution and its fluxes was carried out …

A multi-year study of narwhal occurrence in the western Fram Strait—detected via passive acoustic monitoring

Heidi Ahonen,

Kathleen M. Stafford,

Christian Lydersen,

Laura de Steur,

Kit M. Kovacs

Опубликована Март 6, 2019

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has proven to be an efficient method for studying vocally active marine mammals in areas that are difficult to access on a year-round basis. In this study, a PAM recorder was deployed on an oceanographic mooring in western Fram Strait (78°50'N, 5°W) to record the acoustic presence of narwhals (Monodon monoceros) over a 3-yr period. Acoustic data were recorded for 14–17 min at the start of each hour from 25 September 2010 to 26 August 2011, from 2 September 2012 to 11 April 2013 and from 8 September 2013 to 27 April 2014. Pulsed and tonal …

Pseudolamarckina pseudorjasanensis Dain, 1967 (Foraminifera) as a Kimmeridgian marker species and its significance for biostratigraphy, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography

Clémentine Peggy Anne-Marie Colpaert,

Boris Leonidovich Nikitenko

Опубликована Март 5, 2019

This study presents a taxonomical review of the species Pseudolamarckina pseudorjasanensis Dain, 1967 collected at different sampling levels from the central and northern parts of European Russia and from Western Siberia. Morphological and biometrical analyses show that P. pseudorjasanensis is characterized by wide intraspecific variabilities and may encompass various previously described Kimmeridgian species of the genus Pseudolamarckina. The first appearance of P. pseudorjasanensis is recorded from the latest Early Kimmeridgian of sub-Mediterranean to Arctic regions. Furthermore, P. pseudorjasanensis appears to be the marker species of the foraminiferal JF41 Zone in Kimmeridgian sections of sub-boreal, boreal and Arctic regions. This JF41 …

Summer habitat selection by ringed seals (Pusa hispida) in the drifting sea ice of the northern Barents Sea

Karen Lone,

Jon Aars,

Christian Lydersen,

Kit M. Kovacs,

Charmain D. Hamilton

Опубликована Сен. 13, 2019

Ringed seals are a central component of the Arctic ecosystem; they have a circumpolar distribution and are both important predators of lower trophic animals (invertebrates and fishes) and prey for polar bears and coastal human populations. They depend on sea ice for reproduction, moulting and resting, and they consume significant amounts of ice-associated prey. The population of ringed seals in Svalbard, Norway, uses both coastal and offshore habitats, the latter being important during seasonal migrations undertaken by some animals, mostly juveniles. This study examined habitat preferences of 18 satellite-tracked ringed seals (mostly young animals, but also a few adults) during …

Arctic fox dispersal from Svalbard to Canada: one female’s long run across sea ice

Eva Fuglei,

Arnaud Tarroux

Опубликована Июнь 24, 2019

We report the first satellite tracking of natal dispersal by an Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) between continents and High-Arctic ecosystems. A young female left Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago, Norway) on 26 March 2018 and reached Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, 76 days later, after travelling a cumulative distance of 3506 km, bringing her ca. 1789 km away (straight-line distance) from her natal area. The total cumulative distance travelled during the entire tracking period, starting when she left her natal area on 1 March 2018 and ending when she settled on Ellesmere Island on 1 July 2018, was 4415 km. This is among …

A nematode in the mist: Scottnema lindsayae is the only soil metazoan in remote Antarctic deserts, at greater densities with altitude

Krzysztof Zawierucha,

Craig J. Marshall,

David Wharton,

Karel Janko

Опубликована Май 7, 2019

A decrease in biodiversity and density of terrestrial organisms with increasing altitude and latitude is a well-known ecogeographical pattern. However, studies of these trends are often taxonomically-biased toward well-known organisms and especially those with relatively large bodies, and environmental variability at the local scale may perturb these general effects. Here, we focus on understudied organisms—soil invertebrates—in Antarctic deserts, which are among the driest and coldest places on Earth. We sampled two remote Antarctic sites in the Darwin Glacier area and established an altitudinal gradient running from 210 to 836 m a.s.l. We measured soil geochemistry and organic matter content and …