Journal
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
Volume 25, Issue 3, Pages 328-345Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12860
Keywords
animal movement; biologging; climate change; conservation; fishes; marine mammals; protected areas; seabirds
Categories
Funding
- Government of Nunavut
- Danish National Environmental Research Institute
- French Polar Institute
- Fisheries Joint Management Committee
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- W. Garfield Weston Foundation
- European Commision Marie Curie
- Isdell Family Foundation
- Nunavut Wildlife Trust Fund
- Aarhus Universitet
- Schad Foundation
- Oceans North Canada
- Canada's Species at Risk Act
- Nunavut Wildlife Management Board
- Nunavut Implementation Fund
- Pew Charitable Trusts
- Quark Expeditions
- Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Takla Foundation
- Polar Continental Shelf Program
- Ministry of Mineral Resources
- ArcticNet
- Parks Canada Agency
- University of Alberta
- Care for the Wild International
- Earth Rangers Foundation
- Wildlife Media Inc.
- Danish Cooperation for the Environment in the Arctic
- World Wildlife Fund
- Ocean Tracking Network
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
- Greenland Institute of Natural Resources
- Canadian Institute of Ecology and Evolution
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Aim Climate change is altering marine ecosystems worldwide and is most pronounced in the Arctic. Economic development is increasing leading to more disturbances and pressures on Arctic wildlife. Identifying areas that support higher levels of predator abundance and biodiversity is important for the implementation of targeted conservation measures across the Arctic. Location Primarily Canadian Arctic marine waters but also parts of the United States, Greenland and Russia. Methods We compiled the largest data set of existing telemetry data for marine predators in the North American Arctic consisting of 1,283 individuals from 21 species. Data were arranged into four species groups: (a) cetaceans and pinnipeds, (b) polar bears Ursus maritimus (c) seabirds, and (d) fishes to address the following objectives: (a) to identify abundance hotspots for each species group in the summer-autumn and winter-spring; (b) to identify species diversity hotspots across all species groups and extent of overlap with exclusive economic zones; and (c) to perform a gap analysis that assesses amount of overlap between species diversity hotspots with existing protected areas. Results Abundance and species diversity hotpots during summer-autumn and winter-spring were identified in Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, Amundsen Gulf, and the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering seas both within and across species groups. Abundance and species diversity hotpots occurred within the continental slope in summer-autumn and offshore in areas of moving pack ice in winter-spring. Gap analysis revealed that the current level of conservation protection that overlaps species diversity hotspots is low covering only 5% (77,498 km(2)) in summer-autumn and 7% (83,202 km(2)) in winter-spring. Main conclusions We identified several areas of potential importance for Arctic marine predators that could provide policymakers with a starting point for conservation measures given the multitude of threats facing the Arctic. These results are relevant to multilevel and multinational governance to protect this vulnerable ecosystem in our rapidly changing world.
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