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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Decadal Migration Phenology Of A Long-Lived Arctic Icon Keeps Pace With Climate Change, Courtney R. Shuert, Marianne Marcoux, Nigel E. Hussey, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Rune Dietz, Marie Auger-Méthé Nov 2022

Decadal Migration Phenology Of A Long-Lived Arctic Icon Keeps Pace With Climate Change, Courtney R. Shuert, Marianne Marcoux, Nigel E. Hussey, Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Rune Dietz, Marie Auger-Méthé

Integrative Biology Publications

Animals migrate in response to seasonal environments, to reproduce, to benefit from resource pulses, or to avoid fluctuating hazards. Although climate change is predicted to modify migration, only a few studies to date have demonstrated phenological shifts in marine mammals. In the Arctic, marine mammals are considered among the most sensitive to ongoing climate change due to their narrow habitat preferences and long life spans. Longevity may prove an obstacle for species to evolutionarily respond. For species that exhibit high site fidelity and strong associations with migration routes, adjusting the timing of migration is one of the few recourses available …


Favorable Spring Conditions Can Buffer The Impact Of Winter Carryover Effects On A Key Breeding Decision In An Arctic-Breeding Seabird, Rolanda J. Steenweg, Glenn T. Crossin, Holly L. Hennin, H. Grant Gilchrist, Oliver P. Love Feb 2022

Favorable Spring Conditions Can Buffer The Impact Of Winter Carryover Effects On A Key Breeding Decision In An Arctic-Breeding Seabird, Rolanda J. Steenweg, Glenn T. Crossin, Holly L. Hennin, H. Grant Gilchrist, Oliver P. Love

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

The availability and investment of energy among successive life-history stages is a key feature of carryover effects. In migratory organisms, examining how both winter and spring experiences carryover to affect breeding activity is difficult due to the challenges in tracking individuals through these periods without impacting their behavior, thereby biasing results. Using common eiders Somateria mollissima, we examined whether spring conditions at an Arctic breeding colony (East Bay Island, Nunavut, Canada) can buffer the impacts of winter temperatures on body mass and breeding decisions in birds that winter at different locations (Nuuk and Disko Bay, Greenland, and Newfoundland, Canada; assessed …


Spatio-Temporal Variability In White Shark (Carcharodon Carcharias) Movement Ecology During Residency And Migration Phases In The Western North Atlantic, Bryan R. Franks, John P. Tyminski, Nigel E. Hussey, Camrin D. Braun, Alisa L. Newton, Simon R. Thorrold, George C. Fischer, Brett Mcbride, Robert E. Hueter Nov 2021

Spatio-Temporal Variability In White Shark (Carcharodon Carcharias) Movement Ecology During Residency And Migration Phases In The Western North Atlantic, Bryan R. Franks, John P. Tyminski, Nigel E. Hussey, Camrin D. Braun, Alisa L. Newton, Simon R. Thorrold, George C. Fischer, Brett Mcbride, Robert E. Hueter

Integrative Biology Publications

Understanding how mobile, marine predators use three-dimensional space over time is central to inform management and conservation actions. Combining tracking technologies can yield powerful datasets over multiple spatio-temporal scales to provide critical information for these purposes. For the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), detailed movement and migration information over ontogeny, including inter- and intra-annual variation in timing of movement phases, is largely unknown in the western North Atlantic (WNA), a relatively understudied area for this species. To address this need, we tracked 48 large juvenile to adult white sharks between 2012 and 2020, using a combination of satellite-linked and acoustic telemetry. …


Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating To The High Arctic, Audrey Le Pogam, Ryan S. O’Connor, Oliver P. Love, Justine Drolet, Lyette Régimbald, Gabrielle Roy, Marie Pier Laplante, Dominique Berteaux, Andrew Tam, François Vézina Sep 2021

Snow Buntings Maintain Winter-Level Cold Endurance While Migrating To The High Arctic, Audrey Le Pogam, Ryan S. O’Connor, Oliver P. Love, Justine Drolet, Lyette Régimbald, Gabrielle Roy, Marie Pier Laplante, Dominique Berteaux, Andrew Tam, François Vézina

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Arctic breeding songbirds migrate early in the spring and can face winter environments requiring cold endurance throughout their journey. One such species, the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis), is known for its significant thermogenic capacity. Empirical studies suggest that buntings can indeed maintain winter cold acclimatization into the migratory and breeding phenotypes when kept captive on their wintering grounds. This capacity could be advantageous not only for migrating in a cold environment, but also for facing unpredictable Arctic weather on arrival and during preparation for breeding. However, migration also typically leads to declines in the sizes of several body components linked …


Isotopic Tracers Suggest Limited Trans-Oceanic Movements And Regional Residency In North Pacific Blue Sharks (Prionace Glauca), Daniel J. Madigan, Oliver N. Shipley, Aaron B. Carlisle, Heidi Dewar, Owyn E. Snodgrass, Nigel E. Hussey May 2021

Isotopic Tracers Suggest Limited Trans-Oceanic Movements And Regional Residency In North Pacific Blue Sharks (Prionace Glauca), Daniel J. Madigan, Oliver N. Shipley, Aaron B. Carlisle, Heidi Dewar, Owyn E. Snodgrass, Nigel E. Hussey

Integrative Biology Publications

Blue sharks (Prionace glauca) are globally distributed, large-bodied pelagic sharks that make extensive migrations throughout their range. In the North Pacific, mark-recapture studies have shown trans-Pacific migrations, but knowledge gaps in migration frequency hinder understanding of regional connectivity and assessments of regional demography for stock assessments. Here, we use oceanographic gradients of stable isotope ratios (i.e., regional isoscapes) to determine exchange rates of blue sharks between the East and West North Pacific Ocean (EPO and WPO). We generated regional δ13C and δ15N distributions for blue sharks from published values in the North Pacific (n = 180; both sexes, juveniles and …


Habitat Loss On The Breeding Grounds Is A Major Contributor To Population Declines In A Long-Distance Migratory Songbird, Michael T. Hallworth, Erin Bayne, Emily Mckinnon, Oliver Love, Junior A. Tremblay, Bruno Drolet, Jacques Ibarzabal, Steven Van Wilgenburg, Peter P. Marra Apr 2021

Habitat Loss On The Breeding Grounds Is A Major Contributor To Population Declines In A Long-Distance Migratory Songbird, Michael T. Hallworth, Erin Bayne, Emily Mckinnon, Oliver Love, Junior A. Tremblay, Bruno Drolet, Jacques Ibarzabal, Steven Van Wilgenburg, Peter P. Marra

Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications

Many migratory species are declining and for most, the proximate causes of their declines remain unknown. For many long-distance Neotropical migratory songbirds, it is assumed that habitat loss on breeding or non-breeding grounds is a primary driver of population declines. We integrated data collected from tracking technology, community science and remote sensing data to quantify migratory connectivity (MC), population trends and habitat loss. We quantified the correlation between forest change throughout the annual cycle and population declines of a long-distance migratory songbird, the Connecticut warbler (Oporornis agilis, observed decline: -8.99% yr -1). MC, the geographic link between populations during two …


Mark Report Satellite Tags (Mrpats) To Detail Large-Scale Horizontal Movements Of Deep Water Species: First Results For The Greenland Shark (Somniosus Microcephalus), Nigel E. Hussey, Jack Orr, Aaron T. Fisk, Kevin J. Hedges, Steven H. Ferguson, Amanda N. Barkley Jan 2018

Mark Report Satellite Tags (Mrpats) To Detail Large-Scale Horizontal Movements Of Deep Water Species: First Results For The Greenland Shark (Somniosus Microcephalus), Nigel E. Hussey, Jack Orr, Aaron T. Fisk, Kevin J. Hedges, Steven H. Ferguson, Amanda N. Barkley

Biological Sciences Publications

The deep-sea is increasingly viewed as a lucrative environment for the growth of resource extraction industries. To date, our ability to study deep-sea species lags behind that of those inhabiting the photic zone limiting scientific data available for management. In particular, knowledge of horizontal movements is restricted to two locations; capture and recapture, with no temporal information on absolute animal locations between endpoints. To elucidate the horizontal movements of a large deep-sea fish, a novel tagging approach was adopted using the smallest available prototype satellite tag – the mark-report satellite tag (mrPAT). Five Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) were equipped with …


Costs Of Reproduction And Carry-Over Effects In Breeding Albatrosses, Glenn T. Crossin, Richard A. Phillips, Christine R. Lattin, L. Michael Romero, Xavier Bordeleau, Christopher M. Harris, Oliver P. Love, Tony D. Williams Apr 2017

Costs Of Reproduction And Carry-Over Effects In Breeding Albatrosses, Glenn T. Crossin, Richard A. Phillips, Christine R. Lattin, L. Michael Romero, Xavier Bordeleau, Christopher M. Harris, Oliver P. Love, Tony D. Williams

Integrative Biology Publications

We investigated the physiology of two closely related albatross species relative to their breeding strategy: black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) breed annually, while grey-headed albatrosses (T. chrysostoma) breed biennially. From observations of breeding fate and blood samples collected at the end of breeding in one season and feather corticosterone levels (fCort) sampled at the beginning of the next breeding season, we found that in both species some post-breeding physiological parameters differed according to breeding outcome (successful, failed, deferred). Correlations between post-breeding physiology and fCort, and links to future breeding decisions, were examined. In black-browed albatrosses, post-breeding physiology and fCort were not …


Transient Movements Of A Deep-Water Flatfish In Coastal Waters: Implications Of Inshore-Offshore Connectivity For Fisheries Management, Amanda N. Barkley, Aaron T. Fisk, Kevin J. Hedges, Margaret A. Treble, Nigel E. Hussey Jan 2017

Transient Movements Of A Deep-Water Flatfish In Coastal Waters: Implications Of Inshore-Offshore Connectivity For Fisheries Management, Amanda N. Barkley, Aaron T. Fisk, Kevin J. Hedges, Margaret A. Treble, Nigel E. Hussey

Biological Sciences Publications

1. Globally, small-scale inshore fisheries are being recognized as highly beneficial for underdeveloped coastal communities since they directly contribute to local economies. Community coastal fisheries, however, may target species that are simultaneously harvested by large commercial vessels in adjacent offshore waters, creating uncertainty over stock units and connectivity that complicate management. 2. Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, a commercially important flatfish species in the Arctic, were tagged in Scott Inlet, coastal Baffin Island, Canada, with acoustic transmitters and tracked for a 1-year period. Our aim was to measure fish movement and connectivity between inshore habitats, where Inuit fisheries are developing, and …