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- An Ongoing Shift in Mammalian Nest Predators of Yellow-billed Loons in
Arctic Alaska
Authors: Julie P. Parrett, Alexander K. Prichard, Charles B. Johnson, Brian E. Lawhead
Pages: 14 - 25
Abstract: The Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is an important nesting area for a variety of avian species, where the productivity of ground-nesting species can be strongly influenced by nest predators. Recently, the density of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) has increased in many areas of the Arctic, likely because of climate warming as well as the availability of anthropogenic food sources during winter. In areas where they occur sympatrically, red foxes can outcompete and kill the smaller Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus). There is considerable dietary overlap between the fox species, but if the red fox is a more successful nest predator, this ongoing shift in canid species could have important implications for ground-nesting species like the Yellow-billed Loon (Gavia adamsii). We examined time-lapse photographs from 186 nests of Yellow-billed Loons in northern Alaska during the years 2008 – 15 and 2019 for the presence of foxes and other nest predators and quantified nest predation by species. Although both Arctic and red foxes were photographed near nests, we found that all successful predation of Yellow-billed Loon nests by foxes was attributable to red foxes, which were the second most frequent predator of Yellow-billed Loon nests after Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus). Arctic foxes photographed at Yellow-billed Loon nests were unsuccessful at displacing incubating loons. Several data sources suggest that the prevalence of red foxes has increased in Arctic Alaska over the last three decades, a change that is likely to have negative impacts on the nesting success of Yellow-billed Loons and possibly other large waterbirds.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic76945
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Ideas with Histories: Traditional Knowledge Evolves
Authors: Matthew J. Walsh, Sean O'Neill, Anna Marie Prentiss, Rane Willerslev, Felix Riede, Peter D. Jordan
Pages: 26 - 47
Abstract: Anthropologists have long been fascinated by the strikingly similar adaptations of circumpolar cultures as well as their puzzling differences. These patterns of diversity have been mapped, studied, and interpreted from many perspectives and often at different social and spatiotemporal scales. While this work has generated vast archives of legacy data, it has also left behind a fragmented understanding of what underpins Arctic cultural diversity and change. We argue that it is time to engage with questions that highlight the roles of socio-environmental learning and cumulative cultural inheritance in shaping human adaptations to Arctic environs. We situate this in light of longue durée adaptations to environmental change. We examine five case studies that have used this framework to explore the genealogy of northern cultural traditions and show how social learning, cultural inheritance, and transmission processes are germane to understanding the generation and change in varied information systems (i.e., traditional knowledge). Specifically, a cultural evolutionary framework enables long-lens insights into human decision-making trajectories, with continued and prescient impacts in the rapidly changing Arctic. It is critical to improve understandings of traditional knowledge not as static cultural phenomena, but as dynamic lineages of information: ideas with histories. Improving knowledge of the dynamic and evolving character of inherited traditional knowledge in circumpolar human-environment interactions must be a research priority given the pressures of accelerating climate change on Indigenous communities and the social-ecological systems in which they exist in order to help buffer cultural systems against future adaptive challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic76991
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Mercury in Soils of Seabird Nesting Islands in West Iceland
Authors: Mark L. Mallory, Aevar Petersen, Sverrir Thorstensen, Ian Spooner, Nelson J. O'Driscoll, Julia E. Baak, Jessie A. McIntyre
Pages: 48 - 59
Abstract: Seabirds are globally recognized vectors of marine-derived materials, which get deposited on land at their breeding colonies, potentially altering local soil chemistry. We studied mercury (Hg) in soil cores on two islands in west Iceland that host thousands of nesting seabirds, predicting that Hg subsidies from nesting birds would result in elevated Hg in local soils. However, despite clear evidence from nitrogen isotopes of marine influence (seabird faeces) on coastal soil cores, O horizon Hg concentrations averaged 223 nanograms per gram (ng/g), were similar between reference and seabird-nesting sites, and were within the range of soils elsewhere in Europe and the Arctic. The concentration of Hg declined for samples deeper in the core, mirroring declines in organic content and concomitant increases in stable isotopes of nitrogen. A more detailed analysis of local pedogenic processes is required to determine the relative contribution of lithogenic, atmospheric, and anthropogenic Hg, but our data do not suggest that seabirds are markedly increasing local soil Hg through ornithogenic subsidies.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic76992
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- An Examination of Outdoor Garden Bed Designs in a Subarctic Community
Authors: Meaghan J. Wilton, Jim D. Karagatzides, Andrew Solomon, Leonard J.S. Tsuji
Pages: 60 - 71
Abstract: At the global level, interest is growing in extending agricultural activities northwards to increase future food production. Agricultural activities are emerging at the local level in the subarctic and Arctic regions in order to adapt to climate change, mitigate food insecurities, and build up food autonomy. This pilot crop management study was situated in the Hudson Bay Lowlands within an isolated, Indigenous community garden site surrounded by a mature shelterbelt. The study’s purpose was to compare kale growing in three types of low-cost garden bed treatments (four plots per treatment) under ambient conditions in a subarctic climate. The 2019 study measured aboveground biomass and total leaf surface area of kale, monitored soil climate conditions of each treatment, and deciphered, with regards to regional suitability, the benefits and drawbacks of each garden bed treatment. Kale cultivated in the standard boxes (0.25 m height raised bed) and hügelkultur-style boxes (0.50 m height raised bed, including a layer of buried woody debris) resulted in 44 – 58% more aboveground mass and 52% more total surface area than were yielded in kale cultivated in the ground treatment (not elevated), but these increases did not represent statistically significant differences among treatments (ANOVA, p ≥ 0.12) because of the large variation likely from a small sample size. The two raised box treatments increased early-season soil temperatures by 0.5˚C to 2.5˚C and reduced soil moisture by 41% – 53% compared to the ground treatment. We determined that the standard box treatment is best suited for the study site for improving soil climate conditions, protecting against water erosion, and decreasing the need to bend over.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77061
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Freshwater Form of Fourhorn Sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) from Lake
Tuborg, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, with Reference to other Canadian
Lacustrine and Riverine Populations
Authors: John A. Babaluk, James D. Reist, Ted Lewis
Pages: 72 - 82
Abstract: Fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) is ubiquitous in Canadian Arctic waters with a more common marine and brackish form and a rarer freshwater form. There is a paucity of information available for the freshwater form from Canadian waters. In the summer of 2003, we serendipitously collected 28 of the freshwater form of fourhorn sculpin from Lake Tuborg, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. The fish ranged in size from 62 mm to 171 mm total length and age from 1 to 12 years with females growing faster and to a larger theoretical maximum total length than males. The sculpin preyed mainly upon the crustacean, Mysis segerstralei, but were also opportunistic feeders (e.g., Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) eggs) and cannibalistic. Although our sample of fourhorn sculpin is small, the data from these fish represent the only information from a fully freshwater form population of the species from Canadian waters. We also present an updated list of the known Canadian lacustrine and riverine populations of fourhorn sculpin.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77063
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Seasonal Sea Ice Conditions Affect Caribou Crossing Areas Around Qikiqtaq,
Nunavut: Uqsuqtuurmiut Knowledge Guides Ice Chart Analysis
Authors: Emmelie Paquette, Gita Ljubicic, Cheryl A. Johnson, Simon Okpakok, Derek Mueller, Benoit Montpetit
Pages: 83 - 101
Abstract: Though polar ecologists consider sea ice primarily as a habitat for marine mammals, caribou use sea ice to complete their reproductive cycles, to access areas with preferred climatic and vegetation conditions, and to avoid predators seasonally and sporadically. Building on previous caribou research in Uqsuqtuuq (Gjoa Haven, Nunavut), we explored the connections between caribou and sea ice phenology in 5 community-identified caribou crossing areas around Qikiqtaq (King William Island). We defined freeze-up and breakup based on Uqsuqtuurmiut (people of Uqsuqtuuq) knowledge of caribou habitat requirements, to orient our analysis to the complex and multifaceted hazards that caribou can encounter while moving through their dynamic and unpredictable sea ice habitat. We investigated the reliability of caribou sea ice habitat surrounding Qikiqtaq, prioritizing key transitional periods with intensified caribou movement. We use regional ice charts produced by the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) and held workshops with Uqsuqtuurmiut to understand how sea ice phenology and caribou mobility have changed over time. The high spatial and temporal variability of sea ice phenology around Qikiqtaq facilitates caribou moving across sea ice should they need to respond to seasonal or unpredictable changes in ecological conditions or anthropogenic disturbance. Therefore, these localized sea ice conditions may increase caribou resiliency to changes or extreme events by providing alternative options for movement across the sea ice. We encourage others to consider the needs of wildlife sea ice users when assessing or providing ice information.
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77149
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- The Fur Trader: From Oslo House to Oxford House, by Einar Odd Mortensen
Sr. with Gerd Kjustad Mortensen
Authors: David Malaher
Pages: 102 - 103
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77174
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Books Received
Authors: Editor
Pages: 104 - 104
PubDate: 2023-03-14
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Paper to Appear in ARCTIC
Authors: Editor
Pages: 104 - 104
PubDate: 2023-03-14
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Deborah Simmons (1962–2022)
Authors: Suzanne Mills, Micheline Manseau
Pages: 105 - 106
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77133
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- An Interview with Documentary Filmmaker Anne Troake: Reflecting on
Anti-sealing Activism and its Impact on Rural Coastal Peoples in Canada
Authors: Danita C. Burke
Pages: 107 - 110
PubDate: 2023-03-14
DOI: 10.14430/arctic77177
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- AINA News
Authors: Editor
Pages: 111 - 111
PubDate: 2023-03-14
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2023)
- Assessing Ice Island Drift Patterns, Ice Island Grounding Locations, and
Gridded Bathymetry Products between Nares Strait and the North Atlantic
Authors: Anna Crawford, Derek Mueller
Pages: 1 - 13
Abstract: Large, tabular icebergs known as “ice islands” frequently transit the eastern Canadian Arctic and sub-Arctic after breaking away from ice tongues in northern Greenland. Here, we mine the Canadian Ice Island Drift, Deterioration and Detection (CI2D3) Database to contribute a descriptive assessment of the drift and grounding locations of Petermann ice islands (PII) following calving events at the Petermann Glacier in 2008, 2010, and 2012. We also use the CI2D3 Database to demonstrate how gridded bathymetry products can be improved using observations of ice island grounding and knowledge of ice island thickness. We find that most PII fragments followed a common southbound drift route directed by outflow from the Arctic Ocean and the dominant Baffin and Labrador Currents, which are strongest along the steep continental shelf break. Smaller ice islands were more prone to drift into the deeper waters of central Baffin Bay. As previously noted by northern community members, ice islands were also observed to drift into many adjacent sounds, channels, inlets, and straits. PIIs often grounded on shoals in Kane Basin, to the east of Coburg Island, and along the southeast coast of Baffin Island. Potential inaccuracies in two gridded bathymetry products were located in Jones Sound, near Coburg Island, and along the east coast of Baffin Island. Our approach to identifying these potential inaccuracies is shown to be sensitive to the estimate of ice island keel depth. Overall, this work provides synthesized observations of ice island occurrence and grounding as well as an approach to improving bathymetry products in a resource-rich marine region where traffic and industry operations are increasing.
PubDate: 2022-10-19
DOI: 10.14430/arctic76227
Issue No: Vol. 76, No. 1 (2022)
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