Scavenging on stranded large whale carcasses may have aided polar bear survival through past interglacial periods, during which sea‐ice was limited and access to seals was reduced. Will whales play a similar role in the future as Arctic conditions change? To learn more, read the recent study led by PSC’s Kristin Laidre in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
read more »Moore, G., Steele, M., Schweiger, A.J., Zhang, J., and Laidre, K.L., Thick and old sea ice in the Beaufort Sea during summer 2020/21 was associated with enhanced transport. Commun Earth Environ 3, 198, doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00530-6, 2022.
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Laidre, K.L., A.D. Northey, F. Ugarte, (2018). Traditional Knowledge About Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in East Greenland: Changes in the Catch and Climate Over Two Decades. Frontiers in Marine Science, 5, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00135.
Koch, A., Rosing-Asvid, A., Rajala, E.L., Born, E.W., Bonefeld-Jørgensen, E., Mulvad, G., Laidre, K., Tryland, M., Magnusson, U., Sonne, C., Jenssen, B.M., Andersen-Ranberg, E., Eulaers, I., Desforges, J., Mosbacher, J.B., Gustavson, K., Schmidt, N., Dietz, R., Siebert, U., Grøndahl, C., Agerholm, J.S., Wiig, Ø., Prevalence of antibodies against Brucella spp. in West Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and East Greenland muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), Polar Biol (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2307-4
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Escajeda, E., Laidre, K. L., Born, E. W., Wiig, Ø., Atkinson, S., Dyck, M., Ferguson, S. H., Lunn, N. J. (2018) Identifying shifts in maternity den phenology and habitat characteristics of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Baffin Bay and Kane Basin. Polar Biology DOI: 10.1007/s00300-017-2172-6
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Hauser, D. D. W., Laidre, K. L., Stafford, K. M., Stern, H. L., Suydam, R. S. and Richard, P. R. (2016), Decadal shifts in autumn migration timing by Pacific Arctic beluga whales are related to delayed annual sea ice formation. Glob Change Biol. doi:10.1111/gcb.13564
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Koblitz J.C., Stilz P., Rasmussen M.H., Laidre K.L. (2016) Highly Directional Sonar Beam of Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) Measured with a Vertical 16 Hydrophone Array. PLoS ONE 11(11): e0162069. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162069
Laidre K. L., Moon T., Hauser D.D.W., McGovern R., Heide-Jørgensen M.P., Dietz R., Hudson B., Use of glacial fronts by narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in West Greenland. Biol. Lett. 12: 20160457, doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2016.0457, 2016.
Stern, H. L. and Laidre, K. L., Sea-ice indicators of polar bear habitat, The Cryosphere, 10, 2027-2041, doi:10.5194/tc-10-2027-2016, 2016.
Kutschera, V. E., Frosch, C., Janke, A., Skírnisson, K., Bidon, T., Lecomte, N., Fain, S. R., Eiken, H. G., Hagen, S. B., Arnason, U., Laidre, K. L., Nowak, C. and Hailer, F. (2016), High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats. Anim Conserv, 19: 337–349. doi:10.1111/acv.12250
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Laidre, K. L., Stern, H., Kovacs, K. M., Lowry, L., Moore, S. E., Regehr, E. V., Ferguson, S. H., Wiig, Ø., Boveng, P., Angliss, R. P., Born, E. W., Litovka, D., Quakenbush, L., Lydersen, C., Vongraven, D. and Ugarte, F. (2015), Arctic marine mammal population status, sea ice habitat loss, and conservation recommendations for the 21st century. Conservation Biology. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12474
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Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K.L. Laidre R.G. Hansen, M.L. Burt, M. Simon, D.L. Borchers, J. Hansén, K. Harding, M. Rasmussen, R. Dietz and J. Teilmann. 2012. Rate of increase and current abundance of humpback whales in West Greenland, Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 12(1) :1-14.
Wiig Ø., Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K.L. Laidre, E. Garde, R Reeves. 2012. Geographic variation in cranial morphology of narwhals (Monodon monoceros) from Greenland and the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Polar Biology 35:63-71 DOI 10.1007/s00300-011-1032-z
Hansen, R., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, and K. L. Laidre. In Press. Recent abundance of bowhead whales in Isabella Bay, Canada. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management.
Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K. L. Laidre, D. Litovka, M. Villum Jensen, J.M. Grebmeier, B.I. Sirenko. 2012. Identifying gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) foraging grounds along the Chukotka Peninsula, Russia, using satellite telemetry. Polar Biology In Press. DOI: 10.1007/s00300-011-1151-6
Wilmers C. C., J. A. Estes, M. Edwards, K. L. Laidre, and B. Konar. In Press. Do trophic cascades affect the storage and flux of atmospheric carbon? An analysis for sea otters and kelp forests. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Laidre, K. L., and M. P. Heide-Jørgensen. 2012. Springtime partitioning of Disko Bay, West Greenland by Arctic and sub-Arctic baleen whales. ICES Journal of Marine Science. In Press.
Laidre K.L. and M.P. Heide-Jørgensen, “Life in the lead: Extreme densities of narwhals in the offshore pack ice”, Marine Ecology Progress Series. In Press, 2011
Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K.L. Laidre, L. T. Quakenbush, and J. Citta. 2011. Northwest Passage opens for bowhead whales. Biology Letters. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0731
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., K. L. Laidre, Ø. Wiig, L. Postma, L. Dueck, L. Bachmann, “Large scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales”, Endangered Species Research 13:73-78, 2010.
Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K. L. Laidre, M.L. Burt, D.L. Borchers, T. A. Marques, R. G. Hansen, M. Rasmussen and S. Fossette, “Abundance of narwhals (Monodon monoceros L.) on the hunting grounds in Greenland”, Journal of Mammalogy 91(5):1135–1151, 2010
Laidre, K. L., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, M. L. Logsdon, L. Delwiche, T. G. Nielsen, “A whale of an opportunity: Examining the vertical structure of high Arctic waters using space-based ocean observations and instrumented marine predators”, Marine Biology Research 6:519-529, 2010.
Laidre, K. L., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, P. Heagerty, A. Cossio, B. Bergstrom, and M. Simon, “Spatial associations between large baleen whales and their prey in West Greenland”, Marine Ecology Progress Series 402:269-284, 2010.
Laidre, K. L., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, W. Ermold, and M. Steele, Narwhals document continued warming of Baffin Bay, J. Geophys. Res., 115: C10049, doi:10.1029/2009JC005820, 2010.
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., K.L. Laidre, D. Borchers, T.A. Marques, H. Stern, and M. Simon, 2010, The effect of sea-ice loss on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in West Greenland’, Polar Research, doi:10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00142.x, 2010.
Heide-Jørgensen M. P., L. Witting, K.L. Laidre and R.G. Hansen, M. Rasmussen. 2010. Estimates of minke whale abundance in West Greenland in 2007. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 11(2):75-82.
Heide-Jørgensen M. P., K.L. Laidre and M. Simon, M. Rasmussen, M.L. Burt and D.L. Borchers. 2010. Abundance estimates of fin whales in West Greenland in 2007. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 11(2):83-88.
Born, E.W., A. Heilmann, L. Kielsen Holm, and K.L. Laidre,’ Polar bears in Northwest Greenland: an interview survey about the catch and the climate’, Monographs on Greenland, Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 351, 250, 2010.
Laidre, K.L., R.J. Jameson, E. Gurarie, S.J. Jeffries, and H. Allen,’ Spatial habitat use patterns of sea otters in coastal Washington’, J. Mammal., 90, 906-917, 2009.
Laidre, K.L., P. Heagerty, M.P. Heide-Jørgensen, L. Witting, and M. Simon,’ Sexual segregation of common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and sex ratio of catches in Greenland’, ICES J. Mar. Sci, 66, 2253-2266, 2009.