Hypothesis The fluctuations in the number of ice-free days in the Canadian Arctic marine ecosystems with changing climate (i.e., change in food webs and water chemistry) are the main controlling factors of mercury transformation and bioaccumulation in Arctic marine ecosystems which can be traced and quantified using mercury stable isotopes fractionation.
4 Research objectives
The main goal of this research is to investigate mercury stable isotopes fractionation during biouptake and biomagnification in Arctic marine ecosystems and use mercury stable isotopic signatures to study mercury transformation, fate and bioaccumulation in the context of the changing environment. The specific objectives are:
1) To determine the total mercury and isotopes fractionation of Hg during short and long ice-free seasons in the Canadian high Arctic (Ulukhaktok, NWT) ringed seals’ muscle. Which shed light on the mercury transformation and fate in Arctic marine ecosystems in two different environmental conditions and mercury fate in Arctic marine mammals (Chapter 2).
2)
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3) To study the changes in the total mercury (HgT) and mercury stable isotopes ratio in Arctic biota as it moves up in trophic levels of Arctic marine ecosystems (Chapter 4).
4) To determine the HgT and Hg stable isotopes ratio in Arctic cod to study of sources and exposure pathways of Hg and MeHg in the Western Canadian Arctic, Beaufort Sea (Chapter 5).
5) To draw a conclusion about the use of Hg isotopes to understand Hg biogeochemical cycles in the Canadian Arctic marine
The nature of the long- necked seal is very shy and they have retiring behavior, the features and geography of the Loch Ness fully support the animal’s reluctance and timid actions. The animals are more likely to appear on warmer days, this also results in the appearance of people which can account for the recorded findings in Scotland. The speed of these animals, over twenty knots, can also account for why their identity can be mistaken for other animals or why there are so many theories (Shovlin 28). A Weddell seal, a species of Antarctic seal, have been known to hyper oxygenate their blood stream for long dives, up to half an hour below the freezing ice. This relates to the long-necked seal because it illustrates how they could have survived the freezing temperatures of the loch for so long, and with being below the surface it accounts for the rare sightings (Shucker). The mystery of Loch Ness is slowly, but surely being uncovered by new scientific findings and the piecing together of well- known
Ŝibrava, V., Bowmen, D.Q., and Richmond, G.M, 1986, Quaternary glaciations in the northern hemisphere; report of the International Geological Correlation Programme, Project 24 (International Union of Geological Sciences and UNESCO): Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 514 p.
Richard, P. R., Laake, J. L., Hobbs, R. C., Heide-Jørgensen, M. P., Asselin, N. C., & Cleator, H. H. (2010). Baffin Bay Narwhal Population Distribution and Numbers: Aerial Surveys in the Canadian High Arctic, 2002-04. Arctic, 63(1), 85-99.
...Clague, John J., Luckman, Brian H., Wiles, Gregory C. “Tree-Ring Dating of the Nineteenth-Century Advance of Brady Glacier and the Evolution of Two Ice- Marginal Lakes, Alaska.” The Holocene 21.4 (2001): 641-649. Sage Journals. Web. 9. Feb. 2014.
http://eaglenet.lambuth.edu/facultyweb/science/biology/RCook/community%20ecologyS10.pdf. Impacts on the Biodiversity. Quebec Biodiversity Website -. Web. The Web.
The Harp Seal lives in the chilly waters of the North Atlantic and Artic oceans. They spend majority of their time swimming, but do go on land. The Harp Seal eats approximately sixty-seven species of fish and seventy species of invertebrates. These animals are prey of Polar Bears, Killer Whales, and Greenland Sharks (Kovacs, 2015). The Harp Seal’s status is least concerned. They move to Newfoundland, the Greenland Sea, and the White Sea for breeding. As a result of climate change and overfishing, it is predicted that Harp Seal populations will decrease because of loss of pup raising space and loss of food supply. National Geographic. (2016)
Perrin, William, Bernd Wursig, and J. Thewissen. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press, 2008. 787. Print.
The areas that have been studied have often been chosen due to the lakes and the surroundings. Different types of vegetation allowed aspects such as the tree line to show how they effected the chironomids populations compared to tundra. Another aspect of the lakes that have been examined was the fact that they did not stratify. Due to this trait the surface temperature will reflect the overall temperature of the
Roach, John “Source of Half’s Earths oxygen Gets little Credit” National Geographic. 28 October 2010. 16 April 2014 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0607_040607_phytoplankton_2.hyml
Krabbenhoft, D.P. and D.A. Rickert. Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems. [Online] Available http://wwwdwimdn.er.usgs.gov/pubs/FS-216-95/index.html, October 27, 1998.
The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) has had a slow recovery since the cessation of commercial...
Hester, R. and Harrison, R., 2002. Global environmental change. 1st ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Royal Society of Chemistry.
Ian Stirling, Nicholas J. Lunn and John Iacozza, 1999. "Long-term trends in the population ecology of polar bears in western Hudson Bay in relation to climate change", Arctic 52(3):294-306. September 1999.
In many parts of the world, ecosystems’ temperatures begin to rise and fall to extreme levels making it very difficult for animals and plants to adapt in time to survive. Climate has never been stable here on Earth. Climate is an important environmental influence on ecosystems. Climate changes the impacts of climate change, and affects ecosystems in a variety of ways. For instance, warming could force species to migrate to higher latitudes or higher elevations where temperatures are more conducive to their survival. Similarly, as sea level rises, saltwater intrusion into a freshwater sys...
The name of the paper is; An assessment of killer whale (Orcinus orca) stocks off Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Rep. Int. Whal. Commn. 32:655-666, M.A. Bigg.