Introduction: Biology of the Canadian Arctic: A Crucible for Change in the 21st Century

Abstract

Canada is a northern country. Whether defined in terms of geography, climate, culture, or political boundaries, the North is an integral part of Canadian national identity and a strategic component of the country’s future (Coates, 1995). Often defined as the half of the landmass and water that lies above the line of discontinuous permafrost, extending from northern British Columbia to Labrador, this vast region is home to only 1% of the human population in Canada. However, many other species are endemic to the North and many more seasonal migrants depend on northern environments for a significant part of their life history. The Canadian North, and indeed the entire circumpolar region, is a sensitive environment, facing rapid and unprecedented social, biophysical, and environmental changes. Several long-term, persistent, and pervasive changes are affecting northern environments simultaneously. Global climate change, ozone depletion, long-distance transport of contaminants, and rapid economic development have placed undue stress on terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. These stressors may have a wide range of ecologically significant effects on populations that will cascade upwards to affect the integrity of entire communities. World demand for energy supplies has increased interest in Canada’s northern oil and gas fields with the resultant prospect of a pipeline snaking down the Mackenzie River becoming ever closer to reality. The Canadian North is also the world’s third largest producer of diamonds, and mining for these precious stones now accounts for 20% of the Northwest Territories economic activity (McDonald, 2004). At the same time, new governance realities are being shaped by the settlement of aboriginal land claims and devolution of federal government responsibilities to the territories. These stressors and changes are a great cause of concern for aboriginal peoples as their health is affected by the consumption of country foods and their culture is linked to their desire to maintain traditional livelihoods. Nevertheless, much of the Canadian North is still in a natural, relatively undisturbed state, where most wildlife species are intact in terms of population abundance, distribution, and movement, and their hab1 From the Symposium Biology of the Canadian Arctic: A Crucible for Change in the 21st Centurypresented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 4‐8 January 2003, at Toronto, Canada.