CAFF CBMP Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Program Arctic Net

CAFF – CBMP Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Program Arctic. Net 2015 December 2015 Rebecca Anderson: USGS Alaska: Co-Chair Vancouver, Canada Donald Mc. Lennan: Polar Knowledge Canada: Co-Chair

Background • last of the four CAFF-led biodiversity monitoring plans • Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) has developed monitoring plans for Marine, Freshwater, Terrestrial, and now Coastal domains • plans developed by Expert Monitoring Groups (EMGs) formed from Arctic Council countries and Permanent Participants • monitoring plans are followed by plan implementation 2

CEMG Members I-CEMG C-CEMG Carl Markon/Rebecca Anderson (US) Donald Mc. Lennan (Canada) Carolina Behe (ICC-Alaska) Susse Wegeberg (Denmark) Maria Pettersvik Arvnes (Norway) Liudmila Sergienko (Russia) Vassily Spiridonov (Russia) Stacy Fritz (US) Donald Mc. Lennan (POLAR) Baba Pedersen (Kugluktuk) Nicole Couture (NRCan) Oliver Curran (Baffinland) Les Harris (DFO) Eddy Carmack/Bill Williams (DFO) Paul Smith (EC) Jennie Knopp (Oceans North) Jason Duffe (EC) John Payne (CBMP Co-Chair) Tom Christensen (CBMP Co-Chair) Tom Barry (CAFF Secretariat) 3 Marlene Doyle – TEMG Joseph Culp – FWEMG Jill Watkins - MEMG

Overview Conservation of Coastal Biodiversity • coastal ecosystems support critical stages (nesting, staging, rearing, summer feeding) in the life cycles of important populations of arctic species (waterfowl, shorebirds, fish, marine mammals) • climate-driven changes in coastal processes will have complex and largely unpredictable impacts on the habitats of coastal-dependent species • coastal ecosystems are also the most vulnerable to increasing shipping and other industrial activities • most coastal communities rely very heavily on coastal species for subsistence and cultural sustenance • for all of these reasons strategic monitoring of coastal ecosystems is critical for understanding how systems are changing and what the implications are for coastal biodiversity 4

Coastal Plan - Objectives 1. identify, assess and coordinate existing circumpolar coastal monitoring capacity and programs 2. with existing programs, assess and report the state of, and trends in important Arctic coastal species and their associated threats/drivers 3. for Arctic coastal biodiversity, identify gaps in present monitoring programs in the context of the full suite of identified threats and drivers

Building on Past Work

CBMP – Defining ‘Coastal’ climate change long-range contaminants industrial development governance change industrial development Internet connectivity Tundra Streams AL ice depth, extent, and phenology, physical oceanography, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, fish, marine mammals Human Communities deltas lagoons estuaries Lakes discharge, chemistry temperature, ice phenology, WQ, BI, fish community , fish physical limnology, ice phenology, water chemistry, temperature, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos, fish, birds atmosphere Marine riparian, wetlands ST 7 wetlands, dunes intertidal A CO atmosphere hydrology, permafrost, active layer, soil temperature, decomposition, soil chemistry, C budget, plant composition, plant biomass, arthropods, small mammals, medium/large herbivores, predators, raptors, songbirds

Coastal Marine Ecosystems Figures from Carmack et al. in press Mackenzie Delta, NWT Queen Maude Gulf, Nunavut Land to sea interactions (riverine inputs, biota, coastal erosion) significantly impact arctic marine ecosystems forming a distinct coastal marine sub-system

Coastal Terrestrial Ecosystems Sea to land interactions (flooding, deposition, erosion, salinity, local climates) directly control the productivity and composition of a number of coastal terrestrial ecosystems (e. g. , wetlands, beaches, mudflats and dunes) forming a distinct coastal terrestrial sub-system 9

Coastal Freshwater Ecosystems Sea to freshwater interactions (seawater inundation, deposition, erosion, salinity, local climates) directly control the productivity and composition of a number of coastal freshwater ecosystems (e. g. , lagoons, estuarine ponds) forming a distinct coastal freshwater sub-system 10

Additional Coastal Ecosystems (1) • many coastal areas experiencing very high rates of coastal erosion • direct effects on terrestrial and freshwater coastal ecosystems and important indirect effects on coastal marine ecosystems • propose including ‘zones of rapid coastal erosion’ in the CEMG Domain 11

Whalen et al, 2007 Additional Coastal Ecosystems (2) • some low-lying coastal ecosystems previously unaffected by marine water are being inundated due to rising sea level, stronger storms, etc • direct effects on terrestrial and freshwater coastal ecosystems • propose including ‘zones of recent or historic marine inundation’ in the CEMG Domain 12

Ecological Domain - Coastal Plan • CAFF CBMP Coastal EMG have proposed a definition for consideration by other EMGs: § to depth of 30 m into marine system (links to Marine EMG) § to ‘high water mark’ into terrestrial system (link to Terrestrial and Freshwater EMGs) § including areas of active erosion and areas of marine inundation § 5 psu salinity boundary marine to freshwater systems • further discussion required with other CBMP EMGs • cooperation required with existing networks, e. g. , C-Bird Group, Polar Bear Group

Threats and Drivers Climate Change Increasing Community-Industrial-Military Activities

Coastal Communities • almost all Arctic communities are coastal - connected • first to experience the direct impacts of climate change – sea level rise, more storminess, accelerated erosion. changing sea ice season and thickness • coastal biodiversity critical for subsistence and commercial harvest • many residents of coastal communities have important local and traditional knowledge about coastal biodiversity and ecosystems

Coastal Plan Process 1. develop and assess by-country summaries of ongoing coastal monitoring 2. from the perspective of science, indigenous knowledge, industry and government/regulators i. ii. present/summarize key Arctic coastal biota, threats and drivers develop a list of coastal Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs) 3. develop conceptual models for coastal ecosystems that link drivers and stressors to FECs (Attributes/Parameters) 4. resolve ‘border issues’ with marine, freshwater and terrestrial domains of other CBMP biodiversity monitoring plans 5. develop the first iteration of the Coastal Plan from FECs already being monitored 6. compare list of FECs, drivers and stressors to ongoing monitoring to identify gaps in Arctic coastal monitoring

Focal Ecosystem Components (FECs) Attributes and Parameters Focal Ecosystem Component FEC Attribute FEC Parameter Numbers of individuals or biomass by taxon Community indices (e. g. , abundance and density, taxonomic richness, diversity and dominance, biomass and numbers of keystone taxa, ecological traits, tolerance indices) Genotypes and alleles Coastal Fish Numbers of red-listed (threatened) and rare taxa Distribution and range (e. g. , attitudinal and altitudinal, residency/anadromy for fish) Genetic diversity Biomass (including bio-volume, Size structure of entire population or of keystone taxon length, body weight, gonad weight in fish) Fecundity (for fish; e. g. , gonadal-somatic index) Age of individuals Age structure of entire population or of a keystone taxon; growth rates (size at age or age at length (fish), or life cycle stage at length (benthic macroinvertebrates)) and age at maturity (age combined with biomass) Timing of important life history Migratory phenology events Emergence timing Reproductive timing (for fish; e. g. , reproductive development rate, reproductive periodicity) Body burden of contaminants Concentrations of contaminants in fish tissues above consumption

NRCan - Can. Coastline http: //dusk. geo. orst. edu/ICAN_EEA/ICAN 6/13 Can. Coast. pdf 18 • National scale digital database • 1: 50, 000 scale • Multi-purpose • Assisting in climate change adaptation planning • Support coastal modeling research • Improve knowledge and understanding of shoreline variability and change • Contains digital coastal data • Topographic relief • Bedrock geology • surficial materials/landforms • Sea level tendency • Tidal range • Wave height • Erosion

A Frame for Designing National Coastal Monitoring Criteria - Monitoring Sites üsensitivity to erosion ü biodiversity hotspots ü access to communities ü threats/risk/vulnerability 19

Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Plan - Timeline 1 st Telephone meeting CEMG activated CEMG lead countries identified Spring 2014 Background Paper First Draft Sep 2014 Dec 2015 Feb 2016 Arctic. Net 2016 Proceedings 1 st CEMG workshop CEMG writing meeting Background Paper published 1 st CEMG meeting in Iceland June 2014 1 st CEMG expert workshop March 2016 2 nd CEMG workshop April 2016 Arctic Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Plan First Draft June 2016 Sept 2016 CAFF Board Approval Arctic Coastal Biodiversity Monitoring Plan in review Oct 2016 Dec 2016 March 2017

Thank You …any Questions? Please Contact Rebecca Anderson: USGS Alaska: Co-Chair Donald Mc. Lennan: Polar Knowledge Canada: Co-Chair 21 Long Point near Cambridge Bay, NU Photo: Donald Mc. Lennan