Abundance and species diversity hotspots of tracked marine predators across the North American Arctic

David J Yurkowski , Marie Auger-Méthé , Mark Mallory (1) , Sarah N P Wong , Grant Gilchrist (2) , Andrew E Derocher , Evan Richardson , Nicholas J Lunn , Nigel E Hussey (3) , Marianne Marcoux , Ron R Togunov , Aaron T Fisk , Lois A Harwood , Rune Dietz (4) , Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid (5) , Erik W Born , Anders Mosbech (6) , Jérôme Fort (7) , David Grémillet (8) , Lisa Loseto , Pierre Richard (9) , John Iacozza , Frankie Jean-Gagnon , Tanya M Brown , Kristin H Westdal , Jack Orr , Bernard Bernard Leblanc , Kevin J Hedges , Margaret A Treble , Steven T Kessel , Paul J Blanchfield , Shanti Davis , Mark Maftei , Nora Spencer , Laura Mcfarlane-Tranquilla , William Montevecchi (10) , Blake Bartzen , Lynne Lynne Dickson , Christine Anderson , Steven H Ferguson

1 Biology
2 ECCC - Environment and Climate Change Canada
3 University of Windsor [Ca]
4 NERI - National Environmental Research Institute
5 GINR - Greenland Institute of Natural Resources
6 Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Center
7 LIENSs - LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés
8 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
9 CRELA - Centre de Recherche sur les Ecosystèmes Littoraux Anthropisés
10 MUN - Memorial University of Newfoundland = Université Memorial de Terre-Neuve [St. John's, Canada]

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 setof 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 conti -nental 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 km2) in summer–autumn and 7% (83,202 km2) 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.

Mots clés: seabirds; animal movement; biologging; conservation; climate change; fishes; marine mammals; protected areas

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

David J Yurkowski, Marie Auger-Méthé, Mark Mallory, Sarah N P Wong, Grant Gilchrist, et al.. Abundance and species diversity hotspots of tracked marine predators across the North American Arctic. Diversity and Distributions, In press, ⟨10.1111/ddi.12860⟩. ⟨hal-01977912⟩