Arctic marine mammals rely on a diversity of ice habitats and prey items

LifeLinkedtoIce Arctic marine mammals

Based on Laidre et al. 2008 [266], revisions based on Stirling 1980 [40], Gilchrist and Robertson 2000 [256] for polar bear habitats; Stirling 1980 [40], Laidre and Heide-Jorgensen 2011 [281], Laidre et al. 2004 [302] for narwhal habitats and diet; Loseto et al. 2009 [303] for beluga diet; Lawson and Hobson 2000 [304], Hammill et al. 2005 [305] for harp seal diet 

 

Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) 

The data can be downloaded freely. Users are requested to reference the source.

Eamer, J., Donaldson, G.M., Gaston, A.J., Kosobokova, K.N., Lárusson, K.F., Melnikov, I.A., Reist, J.D., Richardson, E., Staples, L., von Quillfeldt, C.H. 2013. Life Linked to Ice: A guide to sea-ice-associated biodiversity in this time of rapid change. CAFF Assessment Series No. 10. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Iceland. ISBN: 978-9935-431-25-7.

 

40. Stirling, I. 1980. The biological importance of polynyas in the Canadian Arctic. Arctic 33(2): 303-315.

 

256. Gilchrist, H.G., and Robertson, G.J. 2000. Observations of marine birds and mammals wintering at polynyas and ice edges in the Belcher Islands, Nunavut, Canada. Arctic 53(1): 61-68.

 

266. Laidre, K.L., Stirling, I., Lowry, L.F., Wiig, O., Heide-Jorgensen, M.P., and Ferguson, S.H. 2008. Quantifying the sensitivity of arctic marine mammals to climate-induced habitat change. Ecological Applications 18(2): S97-S125. doi:10.1890/06-0546.1.

 

281. Laidre, K.L., and Heide-Jorgensen, M.P. 2011. Life in the lead: Extreme densities of narwhals Monodon monoceros in the offshore pack ice. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 423: 269-278. doi:10.3354/meps08941.

 

302. Laidre, K.L., Heide-Jorgensen, M.P., Jorgensen, O.A., and Treble, M.A. 2004. Deep-ocean predation by a high Arctic cetacean. Ices Journal of Marine Science 61(3): 430-440. doi:10.1016/j.icesjms.2004.02.002.
303. Loseto, L.L., Stern, G.A., Connelly, T.L., Deibel, D., Gemmill, B., Prokopowicz, A., Fortier, L., and Ferguson, S.H. 2009. Summer diet of beluga whales inferred by fatty acid analysis of the eastern Beaufort Sea food web. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 374(1): 12-18. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2009.03.015.
304. Lawson, J.W., and Hobson, K.A. 2000. Diet of harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) in nearshore northeast Newfoundland: Inferences from stable-carbon (delta(13)C) and nitrogen (delta(15)N) isotope analyses. Marine Mammal Science 16(3):578-591. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2000.tb00953.x.
305. Hammill, M.O., Lesage, V., and Carter, P. 2005. What do harp seals eat? Comparing diet composition from different compartments of the digestive tract with diets estimated from stable-isotope ratios. Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne De Zoologie 83(10): 1365-1372. doi:10.1139/z05-123.

 

 

 

 

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