Adaptation of Arctic marine mammals to climate warming

全球变暖对极地环境的影响最大。北极海洋生态系统将如何应对全球变暖带来的日益严重的物理影响？变化是逐渐发生还是迅速发生？以气温上升相关的环境变化为解释变量，以海洋哺乳动物的分布和丰度变化为因变量，研究它们之间的相互作用。我将通过观察能量如何在食物网中移动以及能量集中在哪个营养水平来衡量能量和健康与人口变化的关系。为了理解健康，我将使用遗传学和繁殖成功。这个想法是应用这些知识来了解与全球变暖和北极海洋哺乳动物相关的能量和健康变化。我计划建立模型来预测海洋哺乳动物的数量将如何变化，以及它们将生活在哪里。模型将整合知识，帮助我们了解北极海洋生态系统是抵抗变化、快速变化还是随着全球变暖而持续变化。为了更好地理解这些问题，我将使用卫星遥测技术、因纽特人收获的生物标本和饮食研究。将这些信息结合到数学模型中，就可以提供关于气候变化将如何在北极展开的可检验的预测。了解极地海洋生态系统的变化将有助于我们为鲸鱼、海豹和以海洋哺乳动物为食物和文化支撑的因纽特人制定适应性保护和管理计划。***目标是确定和评估在未来气候变化和人类发展加剧的情况下，能够改善海洋哺乳动物种群持久性的保护措施。气候变化将影响海洋哺乳动物，这是普通加拿大人日益关注的问题，特别是对因纽特人的文化意义。因此，这项研究预计将得到公众和媒体的相当重视。我将向公众、利益相关者和海洋哺乳动物恢复团队展示这项研究的保护成果。本研究对生态系统弹性的非线性动力学和海洋生态系统对扰动的响应机制有重要的推动作用。这项研究与当地社区很好地结合在一起，并与北方人广泛合作。拟议的研究结果将有助于北方社区的健康和福祉，这些研究结果将预测具体的人口/物种在分布和数量方面将如何发生变化，从而提供管理和保护备选办法，以维持维持生计的文化和社会经济安全。

The increasing effects of global warming are greatest in polar environments. How will Arctic marine ecosystems respond to the increasing physical affects of global warming and will change occur gradually or will it come quickly? Using environmental changes associated with rising temperatures as the explanatory variable and changes in distribution and abundance of marine mammals as the dependent variable, I propose to study their interaction. I will measure energy and fitness connections to population changes by looking at how energy moves through the food web and at which trophic level is energy concentrated. To understand fitness, I will use genetics and reproductive success. The idea is to apply this knowledge to understand energy and fitness changes associated with global warming and Arctic marine mammals. I plan to build models to predict how marine mammal populations will change in numbers and where they will live. Models will integrate knowledge and help us understand whether Arctic marine ecosystems will resist change, change quickly, or change in a constant manner with global warming. To better understand these questions I will use satellite telemetry, biological collections from Inuit harvests, and diet studies. Combining this information into mathematical models provides testable predictions on how climate change will unfold in the arctic. Understanding how polar marine ecosystems change will help us to develop adaptive conservation and management programs for whales, seals, and the Inuit that rely on marine mammals for food and cultural sustenance.***The goal is to identify and assess conservation practices that will improve marine mammal population persistence under future climate change and increased human development. Climate changes will affect marine mammals that are of increasing concern to the average Canadian and particularly of cultural significance to Inuit. As such, the research is anticipated to garner appreciable attention from the public and the media. I will parlay the conservation results of this research to the public, stakeholders, and marine mammal recovery teams. The proposed research significantly advances understanding of nonlinear dynamics of ecosystem resilience and the mechanism of how marine ecosystems respond to perturbation. The research is well integrated with local communities and collaborates extensively with northerners. The health and well-being of Northern communities will be assisted by proposed research results that will provide forecasts of how specific population/species changes in distribution and abundance will occur, thereby providing management and conservation options to maintain subsistence culture and socio-economic security.