The Arctic is currently undergoing rapid and extraordinary large-scale changes related to natural resource development, marine shipping, transportation, infrastructure, and sea ice loss, and as a consequence there will be an imminent and uniform increase in anthropogenic sound. Narwhals are an important representative species for understanding both increasing noise in the Arctic and loss of sea ice, and the joint effects of these impacts on their behavior and ecology.
Posts Tagged «Biology»
This project devises low-temperature liquid-water environments mimicking the known chemistry of brines. The research team measures microbial growth rate, metabolic activity, ability to survive while inactive, and longevity for psychrophiles to reveal proteomic biosignatures for growth, activity, and survival strategies, and understand key molecular responses of life in these environments.
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.
This project aims to understand and quantify the effects of sea ice loss on polar bears in East and West Greenland (Baffin Bay). Longitudinal (cross-time) comparisons of movement behavior and habitat selection will be driven by an analysis of a multi-decadal satellite telemetry dataset on polar bear movements in Baffin Bay and East Greenland, beginning when sea ice concentration and break up date started to decline (1991-1997) and encompassing present day conditions (2007-2013).
Deming, J. W. and K. Junge. ‘‘Colwellia’’, in The Proteobacteria, Part B, Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, G. T. Staley, D. J. Benner, N. R. Krieg, and G. M. Garrity, Eds. (Springer, New York, 2005), 2nd., Vol. 2, pp. 447–454, 2005.
This project has two main objectives: 1) determination of the physical and microbial characteristics and microstructural evolution of sea ice exposed to severe melt; and 2) exploration of the influence of biogenic particles such as sea ice algae, bacteria and polymer gels on the melting behavior of sea ice.
Francis, J.A., D.M. White, J.J. Cassano, W.J. Gutowski Jr., L.D. Hinzman, M.M. Holland, M.A. Steele, and C.J. Vörösmarty, An arctic hydrologic system in transition: Feedbacks and impacts on terrestrial, marine, and human life, J. Geophys. Res., 114, G04019, doi:10.1029/2008JG000902, 2009.
This project characterizes the Greenland Ice Sheet’s subglacial microbial communities to investigate the effect of microbes on lithospheric weathering and nutrient fluxes from the GrIS margin in West Greenland.
Gurarie, E., R. Andrews, and K.L. Laidre,’ A novel method for identifying behavioral changes in animal movement data’, Ecol. Lett., 12, 395-408, 2009.
Hale, J. R., Laidre, K. L., Tinker, M. T., Jameson, R. J., Jeffries, S. J., Larson, S. E. and Bodkin, J. L. (2019), Influence of occupation history and habitat on Washington sea otter diet. Mar Mam Sci. doi:10.1111/mms.12598
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
Heide-Jørgensen, M. P., K. L. Laidre, M. L. Logsdon, and T. G. Nielsen,’ Springtime coupling between phytoplankton, sea ice and sea temperature in Disko Bay, West Greenland’, Progress in Oceanography, 73:79-95, 2007.
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., H. Stern, and K. Laidre,’ Dynamics of the ice edge in Davis Strait’, Journal of Marine Systems, 67, 170-178, 2007
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., K. Laidre, D. Borchers, F. Samarra, and H. Stern,’ Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland’, Biol. Lett., 3, 577-580, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310, 2007.
Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., and K.L. Laidre,’ Marine apex predators’, The Greenland Ice Sheet in a Changing Climate, edited by D. Dahl-Jensen et al. Oslo, Norway, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, 76-78, 2009.
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., 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.
Junge, K., B.C. Christner, and J.T. Staley, “Diversity of Psychrophilic Bacteria from Sea Ice – and Glacial Ice Communities“. In K. Horikoshi, G. Antranikian, A. Bull, F. Robb, and K. Stetter (eds), Extremophiles Handbook. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany. 1247 pp, 2011.
Junge K, J. J. Gosink, H.-G. Hoppe and J. T. Staley. Arthrobacter, Brachybacterium and Planococcus isolates identified from Antarctic sea ice brine. Description of Planococcus mcmeekenii, sp. nov. Syst Appl Microbiol 21: 306-314, 1998.
Junge, K., C. Krembs, J. Deming, A. Stierle and H. Eicken, “A microscopic approach to investigate bacteria under in situ conditions in sea-ice samples“, Ann. Glaciol. 33: 304-310, 2001.
Junge, K., J.F. Imhoff, J.T. Staley and J.W. Deming, “Phylogenetic diversity of numerically important Arctic sea-ice bacteria cultured at subzero temperature”, Microb. Ecol. 43: 315-328, 2002.
Junge, K., H. Eicken, and J. W. Deming. “Motility of Colwellia psychrerythrea str. 34H observed at subzero temperatures“. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 4282–4284, 2003.
Junge, K., H. Eicken, and J. W. Deming. “Bacterial activity at -20°C in Arctic wintertime sea ice“. Appl. Environ. 70: 550-557, 2004.
Junge, K., H. Eicken, and J. W. Deming. A Microscopic Approach to Investigate Bacteria under In-Situ Conditions in Arctic Lake Ice: Initial Comparisons to Sea Ice. In Bioastronomy 2002: Life Amongst the Stars IAU Symposium 213, eds. R. Norris and F. Stootman. Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco: 381-388, 2004.
K. Junge, H. Eicken, B. D. Swanson and, J. W. Deming. “Bacterial incorporation of leucine into protein down to –20°C with evidence for potential activity in subeutectic saline ice formations”. Cryobiol. 52: 417–429, 2006.
Junge, K., and B.D. Swanson,’ High-resolution ice nucleation spectra of sea-ice bacteria: Implications for cloud formation and life in frozen environments‘, Biogeosciences Discussion, 4, 4261-4282, 2008.
Junge, K., Cameron, K. and Nunn, B., 2019. Diversity of Psychrophilic Bacteria in Sea and Glacier Ice Environments—Insights Through Genomics, Metagenomics, and Proteomics Approaches. In Microbial Diversity in the Genomic Era (pp. 197-216). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814849-5.00012-5
Krembs, C., H. Eicken, K. Junge, and J. W. Deming, “High concentrations of exopolymeric substances in wintertime sea ice: Implications for the polar ocean carbon cycle and cryoprotection of diatoms“, Deep-Sea Res. I 9: 2163 –2181, 2002.
Laidre K. L., E. W. Born, S. N. Atkinson, Ø. Wiig, L. W. Andersen, N. J. Lunn, M. Dyck, E. V. Regehr, R. McGovern and P. Heagerty. 2018. Range contraction and increasing isolation of a polar bear subpopulation in an era of sea ice loss. Ecology and Evolution DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3809
Laidre, K. L., Stirling, I. , Estes, J. A., Kochnev, A. and Roberts, J. (2018), Historical and potential future importance of large whales as food for polar bears. Front Ecol Environ. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1963
Laidre, K. L., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, and T. G. Nielsen,’ The role of the bowhead whale as a predator in West Greenland’, Marine Ecology Progress Series, 346: 285-297,2007.
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., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, and J. Orr,’ Reactions of narwhals, Monodon monoceros, to killer whale, Orcinus orca, attacks in the eastern Canadian High Arctic’,Canadian Field Naturalist, 120(4): 457–465., 2006.
Laidre, K. L., M. P. Heide-Jørgensen,’ Using narwhals as oceanographic sampling platforms in the high Arctic’, Oceanography, in press, 2007.
Laidre, K.L., I. Stirling, L. Lowry, Ø. Wiig, M. P. Heide-Jørgensen, and S. Ferguson,’ Quantifying the sensitivity of arctic marine mammals to climate-induced habitat change’, Ecological Applications, 18(2):S97-S125, 2007.
Laidre, K. L., M. P Heide-Jørgensen, J. Nyland, A. Mosbech, and D. Boertmann, “Latitudinal gradients in sea ice and primary production determine Arctic seabird colony size in Greenland”, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 275: 2695–2702 doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0874, 2008.
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.
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.
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, 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. 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
M.L. Laucks, A. Sengupta, K. Junge, E.J. Davis and B.D. Swanson. “Comparison of psychro-active Arctic marine bacteria and common mesophilic bacteria using surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy”. Appl. Spectroscopy 10: 1222-1228, 2006.
This project will explore the relationship between deep-freeze bacterial activity, proteomics, polymers and the physical state of the ice and will provide important keys to questions regarding life under extreme conditions, be it in the various ice formations here on Earth, the atmosphere or elsewhere in the universe.
Mock, T. and K. Junge, “Psychrophilic Diatoms: Mechanisms for Survival in Freeze-thaw cycles”, Algae and Cyanobacteria in Extreme Environments, Springer Netherlands; DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-6112-7, pp. 343 to 364, 2007.
Polar Science Center investigator Kristin Laidre was recently featured in an online article on the Pacific Science Center’s website. This article about her work with narwhals was based on her recent “Science Cafe” presentation in Kirkland. The whole presentation entitled “Uncovering the Mysteries of the Narwhal” is on-line here.
This project will carry out quantitative assessment of the drivers, effects, and ramifications of the seasonal timing of sea ice melt onset and freeze initiation over the observational record and using earth system model projections of future climate.
Regehr, E.V., Hostetter, N.J., Wilson, R.R., Rode, K.D., St. Martin, M., Converse, S.J. (2018), Integrated Population Modeling Provides the First Empirical Estimates of Vital Rates and Abundance for Polar Bears in the Chukchi Sea. Scientific Reports. 8: 16780, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34824-7
The response of Arctic sea ice to a warming climate includes decreases in extent, lower ice concentration, and reduced ice thickness. Summer melt seasons are lengthening with earlier melt onsets and later autumn freezeups. We believe this will likely lead to an increase in so-called “rotten ice” in the Arctic at the end of summer. This ice has experienced a long summer of melt, is fragile, difficult to work with, and has received little attention. Comprehensive information on its physical and microbiological properties does not exist. Our team is embarking on an ambitious field campaign in order to study this poorly-understood type of sea ice in the context of its microstructural properties and potential for habitability.
The focus of this project is to work collaboratively with Dr. Donald Perovich (CRREL) in support of a NASA sponsored program, ICESCAPES. Bonnie Light will support this project by helping to characterize the morphological and optical properties of the sea ice cover through field measurements, radiative transfer modeling, and synthesis.
Skidmore, M., Jungblut, Anne, and Urschel, M. and K. Junge., “Cryospheric Environments in Polar regions (Glaciers and Ice Sheets, Sea Ice, Ice Shelves).”, In Polar Microbiology. L.Whyte and R. Miller (eds). ASM Press., (2011), Accepted.