{"title":"The challenges of a small population exposed to multiple anthropogenic stressors and a changing climate: the St. Lawrence Estuary beluga","authors":"V. Lesage","doi":"10.33265/polar.v40.5523","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The beluga (Dephinapterus leucas) has a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic and Subarctic regions, with eight populations occurring in Canadian waters (Stewart & Stewart 1989; COSEWIC 2016). The lack of a dorsal fin and a relatively thick dermis (5–12 mm) make the species particularly well adapted to environments with seasonal and extensive ice cover. The population in the SLE, Canada, is at the southern limit of the species’ global distribution and probably established itself thereafter the Wisconsin glaciation (Harington 1977, 2008). The beluga persistence in the SLE is probably largely due to the combination of an extensive and seasonal seaice cover and the cold and productive environmental conditions that are maintained in this region in part from the influx and upwelling of Arctic waters of the Labrador Current (El-Sabh & Silverberg 1990). The SLE beluga, like several other populations, undertakes seasonal movements, but its extent appears limited to a few tens or hundreds of kilometres (Mosnier et al. 2010). The core of its distribution remains in the SLE year-round, but an unknown and likely variable proportion of the population moves eastward each fall to winter in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence (Fig. 1). While immigration from other populations might have been notable a century ago (Vladykov 1944), the SLE beluga population now has the lowest haplotype diversity of all beluga populations and shares none with other populations (Postma 2017; Skovring et al. 2019). Abstract","PeriodicalId":49684,"journal":{"name":"Polar Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"12","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Polar Research","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v40.5523","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 12
Abstract
The beluga (Dephinapterus leucas) has a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic and Subarctic regions, with eight populations occurring in Canadian waters (Stewart & Stewart 1989; COSEWIC 2016). The lack of a dorsal fin and a relatively thick dermis (5–12 mm) make the species particularly well adapted to environments with seasonal and extensive ice cover. The population in the SLE, Canada, is at the southern limit of the species’ global distribution and probably established itself thereafter the Wisconsin glaciation (Harington 1977, 2008). The beluga persistence in the SLE is probably largely due to the combination of an extensive and seasonal seaice cover and the cold and productive environmental conditions that are maintained in this region in part from the influx and upwelling of Arctic waters of the Labrador Current (El-Sabh & Silverberg 1990). The SLE beluga, like several other populations, undertakes seasonal movements, but its extent appears limited to a few tens or hundreds of kilometres (Mosnier et al. 2010). The core of its distribution remains in the SLE year-round, but an unknown and likely variable proportion of the population moves eastward each fall to winter in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence (Fig. 1). While immigration from other populations might have been notable a century ago (Vladykov 1944), the SLE beluga population now has the lowest haplotype diversity of all beluga populations and shares none with other populations (Postma 2017; Skovring et al. 2019). Abstract
期刊介绍:
Since 1982, Polar Research has been the international, peer-reviewed journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, Norway''s central institution for research, environmental monitoring and mapping of the polar regions. Aiming to promote the exchange of scientific knowledge about the Arctic and Antarctic across disciplinary boundaries, Polar Research serves an international community of researchers and managers. As an open-access journal, Polar Research makes its contents freely available to the general public.
Original primary research papers comprise the mainstay of Polar Research. Review articles, brief research notes, letters to the editor and book reviews are also included. Special issues are published from time to time.
The scope of Polar Research encompasses research in all scientific disciplines relevant to the polar regions. These include, but are not limited to, the subfields of biology, ecology, geology, oceanography, glaciology and atmospheric science. Submissions from the social sciences and those focusing on polar management and policy issues are welcome. Contributions about Antarctica are particularly encouraged.