Theme 2 SynthesisFood, Water & Land

Resources in the ShiftingN-S Gradients of the

Terrestrial Eastern Canadian Arctic

TL:W.F. Vincent

Coordinators:Mickaël LemayChristine BarnardMarie-Ève GarneauMilla Rautio ASM 2007, Collingwood, ON. 12 Dec 2007

ArcticNet Phase 1

ArcticNet-T2

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2.1 Changing food diversity, wildlife patterns and exploitation.PLs: Dominique Berteaux and Gilles Gauthier

2.2 Water quality, supply and indicators of change.PLs: Warwick F. Vincent and Éric Dewailly

2.3 Emerging infectious deseases in human and wildlife.PLs: Benoit Lévesque and Éric Dewailly

2.4 Climate and coastal landscape instability: Socio-economic and ecologicalimpacts.

PLs: Michel Allard and Wayne Pollard

2.5 Cultural self-determination, endogenous development and environmentalchanges.

PLs: Dominique Berteaux, Grant Gilchrist and Mark Nuttall

2.6 Warming the tundra: Health, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas implications.PLs: Greg Henry and Yves Bégin

2.7 Climate impacts on the sentinel species Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)in northern Canada.PLs: Michael Power and Bill Doidge

2.8 Climate changes in Nunavik: Access to territory and resources.PLs: Chris M. Furgal and Martin Tremblay

Theme 2 IRIS development

1. To measure the effects of climate change on arctic wildlife.

2. To predict future trends as wildlife is facing a warmer and more variable climate.

3. To investigate the effects of changing wildlife patterns on human diet, health, and culture.

2.1 Changing food diversity, wildlife patterns and exploitation

Main objectves:

Study

sites

Main speciesmonitored

• Accumulation of standardized data through the years from monitored populations allowed us to detect directional trends, fluctuations, and cycles.

• Climate was a key factor in the ecology of populations and that wildlife thus responded strongly to climatic variability.

Key findings

Large annual fluctuations in the abundanceand reproduction of the arctic foxin relation to the lemming cycles.

The number of nesting red phalaropes observed in a 2.6 km2

study plot at East Bay, Nunavut, has declined three-fold since 1999.

• Long-term quantitative projections of population trends cannot be made with reasonable confidence for most species

• There is a general predicted trend of increases in species with more southerly distributions, like moose and lake trout, and predicted decreases in species with largely arctic distributions, such as caribou & arctic charr.

Key findings

Main contributions of project 2.1:• The establishment of a network of wildlife monitoring programs in the Canadian

Arctic.• The elucidation of some of the relations between climatic variability and arctic

wildlife.• a better grasp of possibilities and limitations to project the effects of climate

change on Arctic wildlife.• The synthesis of available literature pertaining to wildlife and climate in the

Arctic, including potential effects of climate change on traditional food supply.

These contributions form a strong platform, on which we can now buildIntegrated Regional Impact studies and propose strategies for adaptation in thewildlife/biodiversity sector.

Develop and apply environmental andhealth indicators for water resources inthe eastern Canadian Arctic sector.

• To develop and use paleoclimateindicators

• To document the present climate patterns

• To assess and apply health indicators of drinking water quality

2.2 Water Quality, Supply and Indicators of Change

2.2 Water and ClimatePaleoclimate indicators:• Lake sediments, ice cores and

dendrochronological measure-ments revealed large variations in the extent of climate change effects among sites within the eastern Canadian Arctic region.

Present climate patterns:• Data from climate stations, profiling lakes and fjords

on Ellesmere Island, and undertaking detailed microbiological and limnological analyses revealed striking changes in ice-dependent ecosystems at the northern limit of Nunavut, likely due to recent warming.

Climate warming in the 1930s and 40sloss of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf and its

associated ecosystemscomplete break-out and loss of the Ayles Ice Shelf ecosystem

Ayles Ice Shelf

Water quality:• Overall good quality of water in

Nunavik.• A number of potentially waterborne

disease problems were identified. • The results show the urgency of

setting up both an effective environmental monitoring system and an effective health monitoring system to detect and deal rapidly with health problems related to water quality.

2.2 Water and ClimateHuman diseases likely to be of waterborne origin, and recorded cases in Nunavik (excerpt table)

Name of disease Microbial Agent RD Cases in NunavikGiardiasis (Giardiase) Giardia

duodenalis (P)Yes 52

Salmonellosis (Salmonellose)

Salmonella spp (B)

Yes 18

Amebiasis (Amibiase) Entamoeba histolytica (P)

Yes 2

Campylobacteriosis (Campylobactériose)

Campylobacter spp (B)

Yes 14

Enterovirus meningitis (Méningite à entérovirus)

Several enteroviruses (V)

Yes 12

Enterotoxigenic E. coli (B)Enterohaemorrhagic E.coli (B)

Hepatitis A (Hépatite A)

Hepatitis A (V) Yes 1

Shigellosis (Shigellose) Shigella spp (B) Yes 240

Gastroenteritis E. Coli (Gastro-entérites à E-Coli)

Yes 2

2.3 Emerging new infectious diseases in humans and wildlife.

Collect and gather baseline data on zoonotic, waterborne and foodbornehuman diseases in Northern Canada in order to document the actual health status of Arctic human populations with the potential of monitoring the effects of climate change.

Main objective:

2.3 HealthKey findings:• A portion of the Nunavik Inuit population has

been exposed to the pathogenic micro-organisms responsible for some of the zoonotic diseases investigated, particularly to Toxoplasma gondii.

• The overall prevalence of gastroenteritis in the Nunavik population has been estimated at 9.6%, with the extreme age groups being particularly affected.

• Frequent cleaning of the domestic water reservoir does seem to have a protective effect.

• Mussels from three communities were investigated and were of good microbiological quality relative to human consumption.

• Enabled to gather important baseline information regarding diseases related to the exposure to fauna.

ArcticNet Observations atMelville IslandScott Lamoureux et al.

The Independent3 October 2007

One research station in the Canadian High Arctic recordingtemperatures above 20C, about 15C higher than the long-termaverage.

2.4 Climate and Coastal Landscape Instability: Socio-economic and Ecological Impacts.

Main objectives:• Quantify the potential impact of

climate change on coastal permafrost systems with emphasis on communities and areas of traditional land use in order to evaluate the impact of landscape change on the activities of northern people, communities, and resource use.

• The project also generally aims at the prediction of environmental changes in the coastal zone induced by climate warming in order to provide the northern residents, governments, and industry with the knowledge necessary to set adaptation strategies.

Superficial landslide observed in 2007Melville Island (picture from Scott Lamoureux)

Several thermokarst ponds dried this summer due to very low precipitation,Bylot Island (picture from Isabelle Laurion)

Key findings:

• Surface temperature map of Nunavikshows that some wide areas with mean air temperature above 10 °C for the warmest month (thermal boundary for the tree-line) existed well north of the tree-line in the period 2005 to 2007

2.4 Permafrost

• Changes in snow cover thickness related to topographic changes and shrub growth are key to thermokarst in the discontinuous zone.

• In the High Arctic, (Bylot Island) faster snow melt recently generated increased overland flow that lead to the thermo-erosion of ice-wedges and major landscapes and ecosystem destruction.

Ice wedges degradation, Bylot Island

Rapid snow melton a ice wedge fieldBylot Island

1957 2005

1957 2005

Permafrost degradation and thaw lakeexpansion: aerial photos and satellite imagery, 1957-2005

Permafrost: - 36 %Thaw lakes: + 56 %Shrubs: + 13 %

Key findings:

• Surface temperature map of Nunavik shows that some wide areas with mean air temperature above 10 °C for the warmest month (thermal boundary for the tree-line) existed well north of the tree-line in the period 2005 to 2007

• A reduction of permafrost area by about 35% occurred in the discontinuous permafrost zone east of Hudson Bay between 1957 and 2005, leading to the generation of hundreds of thermokarst lakes, shrubby hollows and greenhouse gas emitters (particularly methane)

2.4 PermafrostKey findings:• Most of the communities in Nunavik are not totally confined onto exiguous land areas with

difficult permafrost conditions.

Suitable

Limitations

Severe limitations

Not suitable

Salluit is an exception

2.4 Permafrost

Key findings:

• Coastal retreat in the carbon-rich sedimentary permafrost of the Yukon coast contributes to the release of carbon into the coastal marine ecosystem. Preliminary rates of delivery have been assessed at 2.13 X 106 tonnes/year.

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Distribution of permafrost (ice-

bonded sediments) under a receding coastline. Banks

Island

Seamless mapping of onshore and seabed geomorphology at Resolute Bay

2.5 Cultural self-determination, endogenous development and environmental changes

Main objectives:

1. To better understand the ability of Inuit communities to respond and cope with climate change.

2. To compare the effectiveness of local adaptive strategies across Arctic communities.

3. To gather traditional ecological knowledge pertaining to wildlife and develop ways to integrate this knowledge to scientific knowledge.

4. To develop a searchable linguistic database from literature on Northern Environmental Impact Studies.

2.5 CultureKey findings:• The past and current ability of Inuit and other Northern Aboriginal

communities to respond and cope with climate change may not be areliable indication of their ability to adapt in the future.

• The effectiveness of local adaptive strategies is uneven across the Arctic.• Traditional ecological knowledge and scientific knowledge more

efficiently complement each other when they originate from observations performed at different spatial or temporal scales.

• Integrating natural and social sciences into an ArcticNet project is full of challenges because approaches, methods, and traditions differ between disciplines.

• Built a large searchable database on the aboriginal voice in northern ecological impact studies, based on literature and public record of Environmental Impact Assessment processes.

Past (up to the late 1970s) and recent (1980s and after) areas used for fox trapping and goose hunting by the local experts from Mittimatalik.

Locations of arctic and red fox dens and denning areas, as reported by local experts

from Mittimatalik (2007).

*Note the large difference in spatial scale between the area studied by scientists

(ellipse) and the area used by local experts.

http://ra.tapor.ualberta.ca/Fletcher/

2.6 Warming the tundra: Health, Biodiversity, and Greenhouse Gas Implications

Main objective is to determine the effects of environmental variability and change on terrestrial ecosystems of the eastern Canadian coastal Arctic along the Theme 2 transect from southern Hudson Bay to northern Ellesmere Island.

2.6 Warming the tundra’s key findings:• Dendrochronological analyses shows that climate has generally been

warming since the end of the 1800s, with warming accelerated since 1980.

• Warming increases the cover of woody species and the plant growth in arctic wetlands.

• Tundra plants respond strongly to even relatively small increases in temperature, with earlier flowering, increased rates of growth and greater production of seeds.

• Warming will greatly increase the potential for increased density of trees, which will very likely result in enhanced warming through changes in the surface energy balance at local, regional and global scales.

• The ponds were found to be significant sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

• Fluxes and methylation activity in the coastal environments were found to be relatively small.

The highest concentrations of Hg in Puddle ponds and in Chruchill river occurred

following a major rainfall and runoff event.

2.7 Climate impacts on the sentinel species Arctic charr

(Salvelinus alpinus).

Main objectives:• Determine if charr populations will continue

to exist with abundance levels suitable for local exploitation, particularly as climate change begins to affect the Arctic,

• Evaluate if existing populations can be enhanced

• Examines linkages between possible climate change and the contaminant loadings of Arctic charr

GIS plot of streams with potential for

Arctic Charr introductions

2.7 Arctic charr – Key findingsYear Charr counted

1999 230

2000 no fence

2001 250

2002 no fence

2003 500

2004 600

2005 1050

2006 no fence

2007 400 100,000

1,000,000

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Hazen12 M

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Amituk

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GaviaFaeces

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Bioaccumulation factor for methyl mercury (concentration in charr muscle ÷ concentration in water) in arctic char from 14 lakes based on collections in 2006 (2007 for Pingualuit)

Charr ascending the fish-way has been counted and shows a rising number of individuals in the populations.

Keyhole L.

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Average [methylHg] (± SD) of food web components collected from 9 lakes are related to trophic level as indicated by δ15N signatures. Shifts in abundance of zooplankton and chironomidmidges due to greater open water could affect trends of mercury over time in the char.

Correlations between inter-annual variations in weather-related environmental parameters and population biological characteristics (e.g. weight, length) suggest that the large-scale environmental changes expected of climate change will hold significant implications for Arctic charr from the Hornaday River.

2.8 Climate changes in Nunavik: Access to territory and resources.

Main objective:Help Nunavik communities to develop adaptation strategies based on traditional and scientific knowledge of the climate and environmental change and to provide tools which will help the communities face increasing challenges associated with accessinglocal territories and resources meanwhile ensuring human safety.

2.8 Access’s key findings:

The principal impacts of climate and environmental change on access to territories and resources observed and reported in Nunavikcommunities are associated with later winters and earlier springs which modify the duration of the frozen period and the ice dynamics.

The 2006-2007 ice monitoring data from

Kangiqsualujjuaq show that the ice in lake

environments appeared around the end of October

The 2006-2007 sea ice monitoring in

Kangiqsualujjuaq shows that the ice appeared around mid-January and was considered safe for travel within a few

days after

Ice monitoring station installed during the winter 2006-2007 near the Smith Island, Hudson Bay.

2.8 Access - Key findings:

Validation of trail maps, to be inserted into a regional atlas in collaboration with hunters and elders.

The sum of freezing degree days (the sum of the mean daily temperatures below zero) appears to be a strong indicator of ice

development in lake environments.

Cartographic interviews have allowed the gathering of information on the main trails used in each community, the position of local ‘risky areas’, the alternative trails and others significant information.Maps available

The residents of these five Inuit communities (Akulivik, Ivujivik, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangiqsujuaq and Umiujaq) already use adaptation strategies in response to the environmental changes they have experienced.

Maps available athttp://climatechange.krg.ca/

ArcticNet Phase 1: Long term legacies

• State-of-the-environment data sets for future comparisons• Diverse paleorecords to place current data in context• New data, insights and knowledge in the world’s best journals• Strengthening of existing observatories in a network context• Development of new terrestrial observatories• Timely reporting via the local, national and international media • Metadatabase to facilitate information sharing and outreach• Advanced training of students, postdocs and others• Diverse knowledge products for use in the North• Closer working relationship with Northern communities• First steps towards communication among disciplines

Thank you