Polar S e a s

Resolute Bay, Canada Photo: W. Michaud

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• BIOL 450 – Sec 001 – Dr. Wendy Michaud
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Announcements
Final Exam – Monday, April 22, 12:30-3:00 in
STC 1012
40-65% of total mark
Multiple choice, definitions, & short answer
Comprehensive – but will focus more on topics covered
in the second half of the course
Group Project
Group Participation marks due Friday, April 5
Submit the names and allocation of the 16 (for group of
4) or 12 (for group of 3) participation points assigned to
each member of your group.
Announcements
March 21 March 28 April 4
7 16 3
6 14 9
15 21 4
13 17 1
8 19 12
2 20 10
18 11 5
22

Seminar tonight @ 6:30 in MC1056

S e a b ird s
Adaptations to Polar & Marine Life
• Chordata – Aves
• Most species are migratory – travel tens of
thousands of miles to find food
• Spend most of their lives on the open ocean or in
coastal areas, relying on marine prey for their food
• Nest on land, usually in Image: Ecomare
large colonies on
small islands
• Polar species typically
only have small
clutch sizes (1-
2/year)
S e a b ird s
Osmoregulation
• Cells lining the salt gland actively transport NaCl out
of the blood and into the ducts, where it is secreted
out of the nostrils or mouth
S e a b ird s
Water-proofing & Insulation
• Tight fitting, interlocking outer layer of feathers,
constantly preened (cleaned w/ beak) to
keep arranged
• Thick underlayer of downy feathers that traps air for
insulation against the cold water
S e a b ird s
Feeding in t h e Marine Environment
• Wing & beak morphology

Fig.
8.3
S e a b ird s

Image: Stan Shebs

Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelisadeliae)
• Most widely and most southerly distributed
Antarctic seabird
• Can swim at 8 km/h, dive off low cliffs or
s e a ice
• Migrate along ice edge
• Large breeding colonies (up to
250,000 pairs distributed around
coastline of Antarctica
• Huddle together for warmth
S e a b ird s

Image: Stan Shebs

Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelisadeliae)
• Feed mainly on krill and small fish
• Emslie & Patterson 2007; PNAS – based on stable
isotope values of fossil eggshells, observed a shift
in diet from fish to krill ~200 years ago.
- Hypothesized this was due to a shift in the
food web towards an abundance of krill
following the decline of the Antarctic fur seal
and baleen whales

Image: Phillip Image: Megan Image: Dileep

Colla Cimino
S e a b ird s

Image: Stan Shebs

Adélie Penguin
(Pygoscelisadeliae)
• Cimino et al. 2016;
Scientific Reports –
predict that ~30% of
current colonies will be
in decline by 2060
and
~60% by 2060 due to
site-specific changes in
climate, particularly
during the breeding
season
S e a b ird s

Image: Stan Shebs

Adélie Penguin
(Pygoscelisadeliae)
• Cimino et al. 2016;
Scientific Reports –
predict that ~30% of
current colonies will be
in decline by 2060
and
~60% by 2060 due to
site-specific changes in
climate, particularly
during the breeding
season
S e a b ird s
Little Auk (Allealle)
• Can “fly” in air and water – wing morphology
adapted to both environments
- short wings great for diving for crustaceans
(copepods, krill) and small fish
- not great aerial flyers, only short, direct
flights
• Legs positioned near rear of
body – stand erect, paddle
S e a b ird s
Little Auk (Allealle)
S e a b ird s
Little Auk (Allealle)
• Spends most of the year in open ocean
• Breeds in large, cliffside colonies on islands in the
high Arctic (Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Franz-
Josef Land)

Image: Allan Image: Michael Haferkamp

Hopkins
S e a b ird s
Little Auk (Allealle)
• Karnovsky et al. 2010; MEPS
& Grémillet et al. 2015;
Global Change Biology
• ave body mass of adults
has decreased by 4% since
1979, chicks remain same
S e a b ird s
Little Auk (Allealle)
• Karnovsky et al. 2010; MEPS
& Grémillet et al. 2015;
Global Change Biology
• ave body mass of adults
has decreased by 4% since
1979, chicks remain same
• attributed to increasing
abundance of a southern
species of copepod that is
smaller and less energy-rich
than the two predominant
Arctic species
Marine Mammals
Adaptations to Polar & Marine Life
• Chordata – Mammalia
• Seals, whales, polar bears
• Mostly migratory
Marine Mammals
S p e r m Whale (Physetermacrocephalus)
• Second deepest diving marine mammal – can stay
under water for over 90 min and dive over 3000
m deep
• Adaptations to diving:
 Flexible ribcage – allows lungs to
collapse
 Decreases metabolism & heart
rate
 Large aortic arch to ensure blood
flow a s heart rate slows when
diving
 More abundant myoglobin in muscles and
hemoglobin in blood
Marine Mammals
S p e r m Whale (Physetermacrocephalus)
• Ecolocation – emit a directional beam of
broadband “clicks”
• Probably used in intraspecies communication &
locating prey
Marine Mammals
S p e r m Whale (Physetermacrocephalus)
• Sought after for it’s spermaceti – waxy substance
found in the head of sperm whales
• Used in cosmetics because it doesn’t have a smell
or taste
• Not clear of it’s function;
maybe used in
echolocation,
buoyancy, or
ramming other
whales?

Image: Ali Nabavizadeh

Marine Mammals
Thermoregulation
• Dense fur and blubber
• Smaller appendages
and larger bodies
(decreased SA:V)
• Counter-current heat
exchange to keep heat
near body core, away
from extremities
Climate C h a n g e
S e a Ice
• S e a ice declining more rapidly in Arctic, but growing
in Antarctic?

Image:
NASA
Climate C h a n g e
S e a Ice
• Changes in extent and duration of Arctic s e a ice
[VIDEO]
• Krumpen et al. 2019; Scientific Reports – 80% of the
ice formed along Siberian continental shelf is now
melting within the year it formed
Climate C h a n g e
S e a Ice
• Olsen et al. 2017; Journal of Geophysical Research
– observed ice algae in first-year Arctic s e a ice
was seeded from multi-year s e a ice
Climate C h a n g e
S e a Ice
• Changes to s e a ice have implications up the
food web

Ice Pelagic Krill & resident and

Sea Ice phytoplankto
Arctic
migrating
algae n blooms predators
blooms Cod

Image: Image:
NASA NASA