Impacts of changing sea-ice conditions on Arctic marine mammals

Arctic sea ice has changed dramatically, especially during the last decade and continued declines in extent and thickness are expected for the decades to come. Some ice-associated marine mammals are already showing distribution shifts, compromised body condition and declines in production/abundance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMarine biodiversity Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 181 - 194
Main Authors Kovacs, Kit M., Lydersen, Christian, Overland, James E., Moore, Sue E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.03.2011
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Amendments
Animal population
Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Arctic Ocean Diversity Synthesis
Biodiversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Body condition
Climate change
Endemic species
Food chains
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Ice
Ice conditions
Ice cover
Interspecific relationships
Life Sciences
Marine mammals
Parasites
Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Predation
Sea ice
Seasons
Summer
Winter
Bering Sea
Arctic region
Competition
Climate change
Extinction threat
Management
Conservation
Habitat deterioration
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Summary:Arctic sea ice has changed dramatically, especially during the last decade and continued declines in extent and thickness are expected for the decades to come. Some ice-associated marine mammals are already showing distribution shifts, compromised body condition and declines in production/abundance in response to sea-ice declines. In contrast, temperate marine mammal species are showing northward expansions of their ranges, which are likely to cause competitive pressure on some endemic Arctic species, as well as putting them at greater risk of predation, disease and parasite infections. The negative impacts observed to date within Arctic marine mammal populations are expected to continue and perhaps escalate over the coming decade, with continued declines in seasonal coverage of sea ice. This situation presents a significant risk to marine biodiversity among endemic Arctic marine mammals.
ISSN:1867-1616
1867-1624
DOI:10.1007/s12526-010-0061-0