TRANSITIONS: Using the ecological response to previous climate changes to predict the future changes in the Canadian Arctic ecosystem

了解生态系统如何应对气候变化是当今生态学面临的主要挑战之一。气候变暖正在改变物种的分布以及支持它们的生态系统和食物网。要了解这将如何影响加拿大，一种方法是检查以前在其他领域的变化。例如，在大约1万年前的最后一次冰川末期，地球急剧变暖。在此期间，许多加拿大北极常见的动物(如驯鹿、狼和旅鼠)被从爱尔兰灭绝。我们将使用化学示踪剂和放射性碳测年来确定这些动物在最后一个冰河时代结束时的饮食。通过了解这些动物在进食过程中留下的骨骼的化学组成，我们将了解环境的变化如何影响它们以及支撑它们的食物网，从而为今天加拿大北极的类似过程提供线索。

Understanding how ecosystems respond to climate change is one of the main challenges in ecology today. Climate warming is changing the distribution of species along with the ecosystem and food webs which support them. One way to understand how this will affect Canada is to examine previous changes in other areas. For instance, the Earth warmed dramatically at the end of the last glaciation, some 10 thousand years ago. Many animals common to the Canadian Arctic (e.g. caribou, wolves and lemmings) were extirpated form Ireland during this time. We will use chemical tracers and radiocarbon dating to determine the diet of these animals at end of the last ice age. By understanding the chemical make-up of bones left behind as these animals diet out we will learn how the changes to the environment affected them and the food webs which support them, shedding light on similar processes in the Canadian Arctic today.