Arctic seals as tracers of environmental and ecological change
Abstract
Knowledge of species trophic position (TP) is an essential component of ecosystem management. Determining TP from stable nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) in predators requires understanding how these tracers vary across environments and how they relate to predator isotope composition. We used two seal species as a model for determining TP across large spatial scales in the Arctic. δ15N in seawater nitrate (δ15NNO3) and seal muscle amino acids (δ15NAA) were determined to independently characterize the base of the food web and the TP of harp and ringed seals, demonstrating a direct link between δ15NNO3 and δ15NAA. Our results show that the spatial variation in δ15NAA in seals reflects the δ15NNO3 end members in Pacific vs. Atlantic waters. This study provides a reference for best practice on accurate comparison of TP in predators and as such, provides a framework to assess the impact of environmental and human-induced changes on ecosystems at pan-Arctic scales.
Citation
de la Vega , C , Mahaffey , C , Tuerena , R E , Yurkowski , D J , Ferguson , S H , Stenson , G B , Nordøy , E S , Haug , T , Biuw , M , Smout , S , Hopkins , J , Tagliabue , A & Jeffreys , R M 2020 , ' Arctic seals as tracers of environmental and ecological change ' , Limnology and Oceanography Letters , vol. Early View . https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10176
Publication
Limnology and Oceanography Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2378-2242Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Limnology and Oceanography Letters published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
This work resulted from the ARISE project (NE/P006035/1, NE/P006310/1, and NE/P006000/2), part of the Changing Arctic Ocean programme, funded by the UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).Collections
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