Coastal marine biodiversity in the western Canadian Arctic

Abstract

Establishing a baseline of Arctic marine biodiversity is necessary for monitoring impacts of climate change in the vulnerable Canadian Arctic and protecting sensitive regions that are of significant importance to Inuit cultural and socio-economics. Under the goals of improving documentation of Arctic marine communities and creating a tool for assessing coastal Arctic biodiversity across different regions, relative abundance data of fishes, benthic invertebrates, and prey items found in fish stomach contents from coastal areas near Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories, and Kugluktuk, Nunavut were used to calculate Shannon-Wiener Biodiversity Indices. Biodiversity varied among and within regions and trophic groups; fish and stomach content biodiversity were highest in Kugluktuk, whereas benthic biodiversity was highest near Paulatuk. The methods presented here can be used as a tool for assessing low- to mid-trophic Canadian Arctic coastal biodiversity and would also facilitate spatial comparisons and long-term monitoring as climate warming impacts Arctic ecosystems.