Predictions replaced by facts: a keystone species' behavioural responses to declining arctic sea-ice.

ABSTRACT: Since the first documentation of climate-warming induced declines in arctic sea-ice, predictions have been made regarding the expected negative consequences for endemic marine mammals. But, several decades later, little hard evidence exists regarding the responses of these animals to the ongoing environmental changes. Herein, we report the first empirical evidence of a dramatic shift in movement patterns and foraging behaviour of the arctic endemic ringed seal (Pusa hispida), before and after a major collapse in sea-ice in Svalbard, Norway. Among other changes to the ice-regime, this collapse shifted the summer position of the marginal ice zone from over the continental shelf, northward to the deep Arctic Ocean Basin. Following this change, which is thought to be a 'tipping point', subadul

SUBMITTER: Hamilton CD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4685547 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature