| 1. |
- Britt-Marie, Bäcklin, et al.
(författare)
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Temporal and Geographical Variation of Intestinal Ulcers in Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) and Environmental Contaminants in Baltic Biota during Four Decades
- 2021
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Ingår i: Animals. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-2615. ; 11:10, s. 2968-2968
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The prevalence of intestinal ulcers and parasites was investigated in 2172 grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) collected in the Baltic Sea and 49 grey seals collected outside the Baltic Sea (i.e., the Atlantic). An increase in frequency of ileocaeco-colonic ulcers was observed in the early 1980s, followed by a decrease in the mid-1990s. At the same time, there was an increase followed by a decrease in brominated flame retardants, Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and cadmium levels in herring (Clupea harengus), the most common prey item in Baltic grey seal diet, as well as in another top predator in the Baltic, the common guillemot (Uria aalge). The frequency of intestinal ulcers was significantly related to the intensity of acanthocephalan parasites, the age of the seal and the region of the Baltic Sea. Perforation of the intestinal wall was the cause of death in 26 of the investigated Baltic grey seals. In contrast, none of the investigated Atlantic grey seals had intestinal ulcers. They showed a thin colonic wall and very few acanthocephalan parasites. The high prevalence of intestinal ulcers and the high parasite intensity appear to be unique to the Baltic population of grey seals.
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| 2. |
- Callaghan, Terry, et al.
(författare)
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Multi-Decadal Changes in Tundra Environments and Ecosystems : Synthesis of the International Polar Year-Back to the Future Project (IPY-BTF)
- 2011
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Ingår i: Ambio. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 40:6, s. 705-716
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding the responses of tundra systemsto global change has global implications. Most tundraregions lack sustained environmental monitoring and oneof the only ways to document multi-decadal change is toresample historic research sites. The International PolarYear (IPY) provided a unique opportunity for such researchthrough the Back to the Future (BTF) project (IPY project#512). This article synthesizes the results from 13 paperswithin this Ambio Special Issue. Abiotic changes includeglacial recession in the Altai Mountains, Russia; increasedsnow depth and hardness, permafrost warming, andincreased growing season length in sub-arctic Sweden;drying of ponds in Greenland; increased nutrient availabilityin Alaskan tundra ponds, and warming at mostlocations studied. Biotic changes ranged from relativelyminor plant community change at two sites in Greenland tomoderate change in the Yukon, and to dramatic increasesin shrub and tree density on Herschel Island, and in subarcticSweden. The population of geese tripled at one sitein northeast Greenland where biomass in non-grazed plotsdoubled. A model parameterized using results from a BTFstudy forecasts substantial declines in all snowbeds andincreases in shrub tundra on Niwot Ridge, Colorado overthe next century. In general, results support and provideimproved capacities for validating experimental manipulation,remote sensing, and modeling studies.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Dietz, Rune, et al.
(författare)
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Movements and site fidelity of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in Kattegat, Denmark, with implications for the epidemiology of the phocine distemper virus
- 2013
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Ingår i: ICES Journal of Marine Science. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1054-3139 .- 1095-9289. ; 70:1, s. 186-195
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Twenty-seven harbour seals were caught and tagged at the island of Anholt in central Kattegat, Denmark, the epicentre of the phocine distemper virus (PDV) outbreaks in 1988 and 2002 that killed 50-60% of the populations. The satellite tagging shows that harbour seals from Anholt moved widely across Kattegat with a maximum distance of 249 km from the tagging haul-out site. Overall, females travelled over a wider area compared with males [90% kernel home range (KHR) females, 5189 km(2); males, 3293 km(2)). KHR calculated for yearlings (6414 km(2)) is larger than for subadults (2534 km(2)), which again is larger than for adult seals (1713 km(2)), showing a strong site fidelity, indicating limited gene flow between haul-out sites. Distances moved and home range sizes increased across autumn, peaked in February-March, and decreased through spring. During the breeding season in spring, all seals were very stationary around Anholt. The onset of the PDV epizootics in 1988 and 2002 took place when the Anholt harbour seals congregate on the Island during April. Anholt seal were also documented to have contact with infected seal locations at Hesselo, L so, and the Swedish west coast, although this contact takes place during winter prior to the documented summer outbreaks.
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| 5. |
- Gebbink, Wouter A., et al.
(författare)
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Observation of emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in Greenland marine mammals
- 2016
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier BV. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 144, s. 2384-2391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present pilot study examined emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), i.e., a suite of short chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), PFAA precursors and replacement chemicals, and legacy PFASs (long chain length PFAAs) in livers from ringed seals, polar bears and, for the first time, killer whales from East Greenland collected in 2012-2013. Among the emerging PFASs, perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) and F-53B (a chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonic acid) were detected in Arctic wildlife, albeit at concentrations approximately four orders of magnitude lower compared to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). PFOS was positively correlated with F-53B, but not PFBS in all three species. A total of 17 PFASs were detected in killer whales, including in a mother-fetus pair, demonstrating maternal transfer. Sigma PFAS concentrations in killer whales (269 +/- 90 ng/g) were comparable to concentrations found in ringed seals (138 +/- 7 ng/g), however, an order of magnitude lower compared to concentrations found in polar bear livers (2336 +/- 263 ng/g). Patterns of long chain PFAAs in killer whales differed from the pattern in ringed seals and polar bears. Of the monitored PFAA precursors, only perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSA) was detected in all three species, and FOSA/PFOS ratios and isomer patterns indicated that killer whales have a potential lower metabolic capacity to degrade FOSA compared to polar bears and ringed seals.
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| 6. |
- Hansen, Violeta, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Indoor radon survey in Greenland and Whitehorse, Canada, and dose assessment
- 2023
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Ingår i: XIX conference of the Nordic Society for Radiation Protection, held at Malmö Live, Malmö, Sweden, June 5-9, 2023. - https://nsfs.org/?lang=en : Yukon Lung Association.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Indoor radon and its decay products are the primary sources of the population's exposure to background ionizing radiation and one of the leading causes of lung cancer, with a higher risk for smokers due to the synergistic effects of radon decay products and cigarette smoking. In the Arctic and sub-Arctic, winters are longer than at lower latitudes, and people spend more time indoors than in more temperate climate regions. The permafrost acts as an effective radon barrier, reducing indoor radon exposure, but permafrost is now thawing due to climate change, and its effect on indoor radon exposure is unknown. A total of 459 year-long radon measurements in 257 detached and semi-detached residential homes in southwest and south Greenland were carried out and a dose assessment was performed. A community-driven long-term radon survey was completed in 232 residential homes in different subdivisions of sub-Arctic Whitehorse, Canada, during the heating season from November to April in 2016 – 2017 and 2017 – 2018. The annual arithmetic and geometric means of indoor radon concentrations were 10.5 ± 0.2 Bq m-3 and 8.0 ± 2.3 Bq m-3 in Nuuk, 139.0 ± 1.0 Bq m-3 and 97.3 ± 2.1 Bq m-3 in Narsaq, and 42.1 ± 0.7 Bq m-3 and 22.0 ± 3.1 Bq m-3 in Qaqortoq. The arithmetic and geometric means of indoor radon activity concentrations in different subdivisions of Whitehorse ranged from 52 ± 0.6 Bq m-3 and 37 ± 2.3 Bq m-3 in Downtown to 993.0 ± 55.0 Bq m-3 and 726.2 ± 2.4 Bq m-3 in Wolf Creek. Underlying geology and the glacial surfaces may partly explain these variations in indoor radon concentrations. The estimated annual average dose to adults in Greenland and Whitehorse is higher than the world's average annual effective dose of 1.3 mSv due to inhalation of indoor radon.
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| 7. |
- Linnebjerg, Jannie Fries, et al.
(författare)
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Deciphering the structure of the West Greenland marine food web using stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N)
- 2016
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Ingår i: Marine Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0025-3162 .- 1432-1793. ; 163:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Arctic is facing major environmental changes impacting marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. One way of assessing the responses of an ecosystem to these changes is to quantitatively study food web dynamics. Here, we used stable isotope (δ15N and δ13C) analyses of 39 Arctic marine species to investigate trophic relationships and isotopic niches of the West Greenland food web in 2000–2004. The lowest δ15N values were found for suspension feeding blue mussel (Mytilus edulis; 6.1 ‰) and the highest for polar bear (Ursus maritimus; 20.2 ‰). For δ13C, copepods (Calanus spp.) had the lowest values (−20.4 ‰) and snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) the highest values (−15.8 ‰). Our results show that the three trophic enrichment factor (TEF) approaches used to quantify species trophic positions (fixed TEF of 3.8 and 3.4 ‰ or scaled TEF) did not generally affect trophic modelling and provided similar conclusions. Overall, the findings in this study are in good agreement with previous investigations of other Arctic marine ecosystems. Interestingly, we found little overlap of core isotopic niches used by the four investigated functional groups (mammals, seabirds, fish and invertebrates), except for seabirds and fish where an overlap of 24 % was found. These results provide new insights into species and functional group interactions, as well as into the food web structure and ecosystem functioning of an important Arctic region that can be used as a template to guide future modelling of carbon, energy and contaminant flow in the region.
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| 8. |
- Mikkelsen, Lonnie, et al.
(författare)
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Comparing Distribution of Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) Derived from Satellite Telemetry and Passive Acoustic Monitoring
- 2016
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cetacean monitoring is essential in determining the status of a population. Different monitoring methods should reflect the real trends in abundance and patterns in distribution, and results should therefore ideally be independent of the selected method. Here, we compare two independent methods of describing harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) relative distribution pattern in the western Baltic Sea. Satellite locations from 13 tagged harbour porpoises were used to build a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model of suitable habitats. The data set was subsampled to one location every second day, which were sufficient to make reliable models over the summer (Jun-Aug) and autumn (Sep-Nov) seasons. The modelled results were compared to harbour porpoise acoustic activity obtained from 36 static acoustic monitoring stations (C-PODs) covering the same area. The C-POD data was expressed as the percentage of porpoise positive days/hours (the number of days/hours per day with porpoise detections) by season. The MaxEnt model and C-POD data showed a significant linear relationship with a strong decline in porpoise occurrence from west to east. This study shows that two very different methods provide comparable information on relative distribution patterns of harbour porpoises even in a low density area.
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| 9. |
- Muir, Derek
(författare)
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Levels and trends of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in the Arctic environment - An update
- 2019
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Ingår i: Emerging Contaminants. - 2405-6650 .- 2405-6642. ; 5, s. 240-271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are important environmental contaminants globally and in the early 2000s they were shown to be ubiquitous contaminants in Arctic wildlife. Previous reviews by Butt et al. and Letcher et al. have covered studies on levels and trends of PFASs in the Arctic that were available to 2009. The purpose of this review is to focus on more recent work, generally published between 2009 and 2018, with emphasis on PFASs of emerging concern such as perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) and short-chain perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) and their precursors. Atmospheric measurements over the period 2006e2014 have shown that fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) as well as perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluoroctanoic acid (PFOA) are the most prominent PFASs in the arctic atmosphere, all with increasing concentrations at Alert although PFOA concentrations declined at the Zeppelin Station (Svalbard). Results from ice cores show generally increasing deposition of PFCAs on the Devon Ice cap in the Canadian arctic while declining fluxes were found in a glacier on Svalbard. An extensive dataset exists for long-term trends of long-chain PFCAs that have been reported in Arctic biota with some datasets including archived samples from the 1970s and 1980s. Trends in PFCAs over time vary among the same species across the North American Arctic, East and West Greenland, and Svalbard. Most long term time series show a decline from higher concentrations in the early 2000s. However there have been recent (post 2010) increasing trends of PFCAs in ringed seals in the Canadian Arctic, East Greenland polar bears and in arctic foxes in Svalbard. Annual biological sampling is helping to determine these relatively short term changes. Rising levels of some PFCAs have been explained by continued emissions of long-chain PFCAs and/or their precursors and inflows to the Arctic Ocean, especially from the North Atlantic. While the effectiveness of biological sampling for temporal trends in long-chain PFCAs and PFSAs has been demonstrated, this does not apply to the C4eC8ePFCAs, perfluorobutanesulfonamide (FBSA), or perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) which are generally present at low concentrations in biota. In addition to air sampling, sampling abiotic media such as glacial cores, and annual
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| 10. |
- Riget, Frank, et al.
(författare)
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Mercury (Hg) Transport in a High Arctic River in Northeast Greenland
- 2011
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Ingår i: Water, Air and Soil Pollution. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-2932 .- 0049-6979. ; 222:1-4, s. 233-242
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a warming climate, mercury (Hg) pathways in the Arctic can be expected to be affected. The Hg transport from the high arctic Zackenberg River Basin was assessed in 2009 in order to describe and estimate the mercury transported from land to the marine environment. A total of 95 water samples were acquired and filtered (0.4 mu m pore size), and Hg concentrations were determined in both the filtered water and in the sediment. A range of other elements were also measured in the water samples. Hg concentrations in the filtered water were in general highest in the beginning of the season when the water came mainly from melted snow. THg concentrations in the sediment were in general relatively constant or slightly decreasing until mid-August, where after the concentrations increased. A principal component analysis separated the samples into spring, summer and autumn samples indicating seasonal characteristics of the patterns of element concentrations. The total amount of Hg in the sediment transported was estimated to 2.6 kg. Approximately 60% of the sediment-transported Hg occurred during a 24-h flood in the beginning of August caused by a glacial lake outburst flood. The total amount of transported dissolved Hg was estimated to 46 g, and 13% of this transport occurred during the 24-h flood. If it is assumed that the Hg transport by Zackenberg River is representative for the general glacial rivers in East Greenland, the total Hg transport into the North Atlantic from Greenland alone is approximately 4.6 tons year(-1) with an estimated annual freshwater discharge of similar to 440 km(3).
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