Abstract
The little auk is the most numerous seabird in the North Atlantic and its most important breeding area is the eastern shores of the North Water polynya. Here, a population of an estimated 33 million pairs breeds in huge colonies and significantly shapes the ecosystem. Archaeological remains in the colonies document that the little auk has been harvested over millennia. Anthropological research discloses how the little auk has a role both as social engineer and as a significant resource for the Inughuit today. The hunting can be practiced without costly equipment, and has no gender and age discrimination in contrast to the dominant hunt for marine mammals. Little auks are ecological engineers in the sense that they transport vast amounts of nutrients from sea to land, where the nutrients are deposited as guano. Here, the fertilized vegetation provides important foraging opportunities for hares, geese, fox, reindeer, and the introduced muskox. We estimate that the relative muskox density is ten times higher within 1 km of little auk fertilized vegetation hotspots.
Highlights
Keywords Ecosystem engineer Á North Water polynya Á Seabird ecosystem service Á Seabird guano Á Seabird cultural importance. While it is well described in the literature how marine mammals are the cornerstone of human life around the North Water () polynya (Born 1987), it is less recognized that a small seabird, the little auk (Alle alle), has profound influence on human life and the ecosystem in the region (Gonzales-Bergonzoni et al 2017)
We explore the benefits to people from the immense little auk population in the region using the concept of ecosystem services
Ecosystem services have been defined as ‘‘the benefits provided by ecosystems that contribute to making human life both possible and worth living’’,1 and the concept is often applied with a focus including ecosystem regulation, human provisioning, and cultural importance
Summary
While it is well described in the literature how marine mammals are the cornerstone of human life around the North Water () polynya (Born 1987), it is less recognized that a small seabird, the little auk (Alle alle), has profound influence on human life and the ecosystem in the region (Gonzales-Bergonzoni et al 2017). We explore the benefits to people from the immense little auk population in the region using the concept of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services have been defined as ‘‘the benefits provided by ecosystems that contribute to making human life both possible and worth living’’,1 and the concept is often applied with a focus including ecosystem regulation, human provisioning, and cultural importance. We focus both on the ecological and social aspects of the harvest of little auks and on the indirect effect of the little auk as ecosystem engineer. We take a broad view on the notion of social engineer, recognising that the little auk is but one of the many aspects that play into human social and cultural life, and that the little auk is ‘‘engineered’’ by ‘‘the social’’ (see Ellen 1999)
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