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Paradise lost already? A naturalist interpretation of the pelagic avian and marine mammal detection database of the IceAGE cruise off Iceland and Faroe Islands in fall 2011

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Abstract

We present naturalist sightings of seabirds and marine mammals made during a research cruise with the IceAGE project off Iceland and the Faroe Islands during September 2011. Our findings from the obtained pelagic database are in-line with many other, more in-depth studies, showing major declines for pelagic seabirds and likely sea mammals, thus revising the role that Iceland now plays for such species. Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) was the most recorded species, followed by different gulls, Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) and Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus). However, Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and Common Murre (Uria aalge) were only seen very rarely, and no observations were made of Dovekie (Alle alle) or Thick-billed Murre (U. lomvia). These observations were surprising since Iceland is known, so far, to host globally relevant populations of these auk species. A surprising high number of thirteen species of passerines were also detected offshore, mostly Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) and Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus). Only a few marine mammals (Balaenoptera and Megaptera sp.) were encountered. Our detections present underestimates but are discussed in relation to ongoing and recently reported but dramatic anthropogenic changes of Iceland and in the North Atlantic overall. These include the substantial decrease in bird populations, overfishing and subsequent trophic cascades, as well as climate change, Arctic shipping and more industrial development to come. In light of these dramatic ecological changes, we conclude with an urgent request for an improved effective conservation management for Iceland, the North Atlantic and its stakeholders for directly related global governance to handle problems proactively.

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Acknowledgments

This research does not necessarily reflect the views of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) Environment Canada and ArcOD. The following individuals kindly contributed to the species observations: FH, TR, KM, S. Hoffmann, D. Fiorentino, M. Yasuhara, M. Langhinrichs, D. Fiege and some members of the ‘Meteor’ and IceAGE crews. This MS follows Open Access citizen science and satisfies the animal care requirements of the hosting cruise, Iceland, Germany, RV Meteor and all authors and the IPY and GBIF data policies. FH thanks the IceAGE and BioICE/FarICE project for the invitation to participate as the data manager on this cruise. Also, all naturalists are thanked for their hard work and efforts in Iceland, offshore and beyond. Further, FH is grateful to S. Linke, L. Strecker, B. Bluhm, A.W. Diamond, O. Young, D. Klein, T. Chapin, as well as R. Ruffian, C. Cambu, H. Hera and the IceAGE group for wider discussions and help about the study subject. This is EWHALE publication # 104, and it is deeply devoted to R.G.B. Brown and R. O’Connor for their ground-breaking naturalist and bird work in the North Atlantic region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. -EWHALE lab-, Biology and Wildlife Department, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Falk Huettmann

  2. Center for Natural History, Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Torben Riehl

  3. Senckenberg Research Institutes and Natural History Museum, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), Biocentre Grindel, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Karin Meißner

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  1. Falk Huettmann
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  2. Torben Riehl
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Correspondence to Falk Huettmann.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10669_2015_9583_MOESM1_ESM.html

Database in ASCII format (comma delimited) of the publicly available raw sightings of 802 avian and marine mammal detections for the IceAGE database (HTML 175 kb)

ISO Metadata for the raw sightings of 802 avian and marine mammal detections for the IceAGE database (CSV 213 kb)

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Huettmann, F., Riehl, T. & Meißner, K. Paradise lost already? A naturalist interpretation of the pelagic avian and marine mammal detection database of the IceAGE cruise off Iceland and Faroe Islands in fall 2011. Environ Syst Decis 36, 45–61 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-015-9583-0

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