Using cutting-edge biologging and physiological tools to map environmental sensitivities in the Arctic: application to shipping associated with Baffinland Mines

加拿大北部的资源开发有可能造福所有加拿大人。然而，以尊重环境、经济和社会复杂性的方式开采和运输加拿大资源可能是具有挑战性的。在北极，航运和相关工业活动的增加提供了经济潜力，但至关重要的是，这些活动必须将环境风险降至最低。微型生物学家和最先进的生理分析可以与基于个体的建模相结合，以估计种群和景观水平对敏感物种的威胁。通过新的统计技术生成的这种估计，然后可以创建风险图，为环境影响评估提供信息，并可用于将航运的影响降至最低。与此同时，资源开发也会影响陆生鸟类，但这些影响很难对分布在冻土带上的物种进行评估。巴夫兰德矿业公司总部设在加拿大魁北克省蒙特利尔，是世界领先的铁矿公司之一。Baffland目前正在运营Mary River矿，并为其制定了环境监测和缓解计划，作为其最终环境影响声明的一部分。作为声明的一部分，巴夫兰德被要求监测对海鸟的影响。特别重要的是厚喙海鸟，这是加拿大北极最丰富的海鸟，每年有数十万只海鸟按传统方式收获，其卵是因纽特人传统收获的重要组成部分。滨鸟物种，如红结，也是关键物种，但很难监测，因为它们分布稀少。我们开发的技术将帮助巴夫兰德实施他们的计划，也将是他们持续监测的关键。这些新颖的技术将帮助巴夫兰德提供最先进的环境影响，从而为一家加拿大公司创造数十亿美元的收入，同时达到并超过他们在环境责任方面的预期。

Resource development in Canada's North has the potential to benefit all Canadians. However, extracting and transporting Canadian resources in a manner that respects environmental, economic and social complexities can be challenging. In the Arctic, increased shipping and associated industrial activities provide economic potential, but it is essential that such activities minimize environmental risks. Miniature biologgers and state-of-the art physiological assays can be combined with individual-based modeling to estimate population and landscape levels threats to sensitive species. Such estimates, generated via novel statistical techniques, can then create risk maps that can inform environmental impact assessments and can be used to minimize the impacts of shipping. At the same time, resource development can also impact terrestrial birds, but these impacts are hard to assess for species that are distributed sparsely across the tundra. Baffinland Mines, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada is one of the world's leading iron mine companies. Baffinland is currently operating the Mary River Mine, for which it has developed an Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan as part of their Final Environmental Impact Statement. As part of the statement, Baffinland is required to monitor impacts on seabirds. Of particular importance is the thick-billed murre, the most abundant seabird in the Canadian Arctic, of which hundreds of thousands are harvested traditionally each year and whose eggs are an important component of Inuit traditional harvests. Shorebird species, such as red knots, are also key species, but are difficult to monitor because they are distributed sparsely. The techniques we develop will help Baffinland implement their Plan, and will also be essential for their ongoing monitoring. These novel techniques will help Baffinland provide state-of-the art environmental impacts, thereby generating billions of dollars in revenue for a Canadian company while meeting and exceeding their expectations in terms of environmental responsibility.