Animals of the Poles Presented by Kate Devlin

Animals of the Poles Presented by Kate Devlin 1

Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba; Actual Size: 58 mm long 2 (Photo by Uwe Kils) http: //www. ecoscope. com/krill/index. htm

Arctic Tern, Sterna paradisaea 3 Photo: Alastair Rae

Arctic Tern and the midnight sun…. Greenland 4 Photo: Carsten Egevang and Iain Stenhouse

Arctic Tern Breeding Range in Red, Non-Breeding locations in blue, Migration routes in green Notice anything curious about this map? 5 by Map A. Trepte

Long distance trip between ~late-July and October by an Arctic Tern banded as chick Direct flight = ~6165 miles 6 by Map A. Trepte

50 data loggers in 2007, to be recaptured in 2008 7 Photos: Carsten Egevang and Iain Stenhouse

New Brunswick Collaborative Project Maine Nova Scotia Gulf of Maine 100 km 8 www. ngdc. noaa. gov/mgg/shorelines

Devlin Machias Seal Island Petit Manan Island USFWS Seal Island USFWS © 2001 P. W. Hirtle Matinicus Rock 9

Nesting Pairs of Terns between southern Maine and Grand Manan 10

Nesting Pairs of Terns between southern Maine and Grand Manan 11

Diamond Field work – small islands, many hours in bird blinds spent watching what happens – eggs hatching, chicks growing, adults bringing in food, etc. 12 Photos: Carsten Egevang, Iain Stenhouse, Karel Allard, Antony Diamond Allard

Puffins and Terns Cranford USFWS 13 USFWS Photos: USFWS and Paul Cranford

Devlin “Relative” tameness of study species…. yes, it did fly away… 14

Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus www. free-picture-graphic. org. uk 15

For Text interview: http: //thirdcoastfestival. org/behind_scenes_bryant. asp For Audio: http: //audio. wbez. org/thirdcoast/player/3 player_new. asp? file. Id=prey 16

Seabird Research A color-marked and banded Sabine’s Gull, Larus sabini 17 Photo: Carsten Egevang, and Iain Stenhouse

18 Photo by Alastair Rae

Sabine’s Gull: trapping, calling and one day old chick 19 Photos: Carsten Egevang and Iain Stenhouse

Sunlight over drifting Canadian ice floes Photo by Paul Nicklen Polar Bear on ice… http: //science. nationalgeographic. com/science/photos/tundra-wildlife-plants. html http: //www. huntingsociety. org/Polar. Bearpics. html 20

21 http: //www. arcticartsales. com/polarbear_skull. html

22 http: //www. arcticartsales. com/polarbear_skull. html

23 http: //www. arcticartsales. com/polarbear_skull. html

24 Photo: Alastair Rae

25 Photo by: Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps

26 http: //www. getfreephotos. com

Foraging caribou herd Photograph by Joel Sartore Caribou herd on Arctic tundra Photograph by Norbert Rosing 27 http: //science. nationalgeographic. com/science/photos/tundra-wildlife-plants. html

28 http: //www. getfreephotos. com

29 http: //www. getfreephotos. com

30 http: //www. getfreephotos. com

31 http: //www. getfreephotos. com

32 Photos: Carsten Egevang, and Iain Stenhouse

http: //www. polarbearsinternational. org/lessonsfor-your-classroom/polar-bears-and-ecotourism/ 33

34 http: //www. huntingsociety. org/Polar. Bearpics. html

Polar bear crossing pack ice Photo by Ralph Lee Hopkins 35 http: //science. nationalgeographic. com/science/photos/tundra-wildlife-plants. html

Allard Jamieson Allard 36

Satellite Tracking of Eider Ducks is a joint venture by researchers in Greenland Canada Nuuk East Bay Nanortalik 37 http: //eastbay_eiders. trackit. cubitech. dk/main

Photo: Alastair Rae Dovekie, Alle alle 38

“A number of bird species, including several globally endangered seabird species, are projected to lose more than 50% of their breeding area during this century. ” “Many species from around the world depend on summer breeding and feeding grounds in the Arctic, and climate change will alter some of these habitats significantly. ” 39 Source: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) 2004

40 Photo: Alastair Rae

41 http: //www. atanarjuat. com/media/press. php

Photo by: Giuseppe Zibordi Credit: Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA 42

http: //sciencebulletins. amnh. org/? sid=b. s. antarctica_life. 20071210&src=e 43

Food Webs and Species Interactions • Community Webs – A food web summarizes the feeding relations in a community. – Complexity and Structure • Keystone Species – The feeding activities of a few keystone species may control the structure of communities – Effects on Diversity 44

Winemiller 1990 in Molles 45 2007; Fig 17. 3

Winemiller 1990 in Molles 46 2007; Fig 17. 3

Strong Interactions and Food Web Structure Robert Paine (1966, 1969) – Suggested criterion for strong interaction is degree of influence on community structure. – Not based on quantity of energy flow, but on degree of influence 47

Paine suggested feeding activities of a few species may have a dominant influence on community structure. – He predicted that some predators may increase diversity • Keep prey populations below carrying capacity – Number of individuals that environment can sustain long term • Reduces potential for competitive exclusion between prey species – Depends upon niche overlap; lower pop. size means less intense overlap • Reduced competitive exclusion means more species can coexist 48

Keystone Species From Molles 49 Fig. 2007, 17. 6

Pisaster ochraceus PREDATORS 50 Nucella lamellosa or Thais lamellosa

Mytilus californianus Balanus glandula PREY SPECIES 51 Lepidochiton flectens Patella vulgata

Keystone Species From Molles 52 Fig. 2007, 17. 6

53 © Paul Foretic http: //baja. divebums. com/Field. ID/Pages/sun_star_gulf. html

Food Web Structure and Species Diversity • Paine found as number of species in intertidal food webs increased, proportion of the web represented by predators also increased. – According to his hypothesis, higher proportion of predators produces higher predation pressure on prey populations, in turn promoting higher diversity. 54

• Removal of starfish (top predator) caused decline in diversity from 15 to 8 species • After 3 months – Barnacle (Balanus glandula) took over 60 -80 % of space • After 1 year, 2 species dominate – this lasted for 5 years – Mussels and goose-neck barnacles – Other species – no attachment points • Space was a limiting resource • Pisaster = keystone species 55

Consumers’ Effects on Local Diversity • Jane Lubchenko (1978) proposed to resolve the effect herbivores have on plant diversity, – Herbivore food preference. – Competitive relationships between plant species in the local community. – Variance in feeding preferences and competitive relationships across environments. 56

Consumers’ Effects on Local Diversity • Lubchenko studied influence of intertidal snail (Littorina littorea) on structure of an algal community. – Snails fed on green (Enteromorpha spp. ) and red (Chondrus crispus) algae. • Under normal conditions, Enteromorpha outcompetes Chondrus in tide pools, and Littornia prefers Enteromorpha. – In the absence of snails, Chondrus is competitively displaced. 57

Enteromorpha spp. Littorina littorea Chondrus crispus 58

Consumers’ Effects on Local Diversity 59 Molles 2007, Fig. 17. 8

Consumers’ Effects on Local Diversity • When snails are present in high densities, Littorina grazes down Enteromorpha, releasing Chondrus from competition. – Green crabs (Carcinus maenus) prey on young snails, preventing juveniles from colonizing tide pools. – Populations of Carcinus are controlled by seagulls. 60 J. Anderson

Consumers’ Effects on Local Diversity – Low snail density - Enteromorpha dominates tide pool. – Medium snail density - Competitive exclusion eliminated, and algal diversity increased. – High snail density - Feeding requirements are high enough that snails eat preferred algae and lesspreferred algae. • Algal diversity decreased. 61

Keystone Species: Summation • Mary Power (1996) : Keystone species exert strong effects on their community structure, despite low biomass. 62 In Molles 2007; Fig 17. 14

63 Molles, 2007: Fig. 17. 2

Websites for animal information: Penguins: http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/people/postcards/penguin_post. html Polar Bears: http: //www. amnh. org/sciencebulletins/? sid=b. s. polar_bears. 20070108&src=/eart h/polar/b http: //www. usgs. gov/newsroom/special/polar_bears Caribou Walrus Seals – Ringed Seals, Fur Seals http: //www. windows. ucar. edu/tour/link=/earth/polar/arctic_marine_life. html 64

Adaptations…hands on lab exercises…. . 65

Bergman's rule In zoology, Bergmann's Rule is a principle that correlates environmental temperature with body mass in warm-blooded animals. It asserts that within a species, the body mass increases with latitude and colder climate. Allen's rule is a biological ‘rule’ proposed by J. A. Allen in 1877. It states that endotherms from colder climates usually have shorter limbs than the equivalent animals from warmer climates. 66