Abstract
Climate-driven changes are affecting sea ice conditions off Tasiilaq, Southeast Greenland, with implications for marine mammal distributions. Knowledge about marine mammal presence, biodiversity, and community composition is key to effective conservation and management but is lacking, especially during winter months. Seasonal patterns of acoustic marine mammal presence were investigated relative to sea ice concentration at two recording sites between 2014 and 2018, with one (65.6°N, 37.4°W) or three years (65.5°N, 38.0°W) of passive acoustic recordings. Seven marine mammal species were recorded. Bearded seals were acoustically dominant during winter and spring, whereas sperm, humpback, and fin whales dominated during the sea ice-free summer and autumn. Narwhals, bowhead, and killer whales were recorded only rarely. Song-fragments of humpback whales and acoustic presence of fin whales in winter suggest mating-associated behavior taking place in the area. Ambient noise levels in 1/3-octave level bands (20, 63, 125, 500, 1000, and 4000 Hz), ranged between 75.6 to 105 dB re 1 μPa. This study provides multi-year insights into the coastal marine mammal community composition off Southeast Greenland and suggests that the Tasiilaq area provides suitable habitat for various marine mammal species year-round.
Highlights
Located off Southeast Greenland, the Tasiilaq region is considered an area of “heightened ecological significance” providing critical habitat for endemic Arctic marine mammals and seasonally migrating cetaceans (AMAP/CAFF/ SDWG, 2013)
Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) off Southeast Greenland revealed the acoustic presence of three marine mammal species endemic to Arctic waters: bearded seals, narwhals, and bowhead whales
Sperm, humpback, and fin whales showed a strong seasonality in their acoustic presence linked to the seasonal sea ice concentration (SIC) in the study area (Fig. 2)
Summary
Located off Southeast Greenland, the Tasiilaq region is considered an area of “heightened ecological significance” providing critical habitat for endemic Arctic marine mammals and seasonally migrating cetaceans (AMAP/CAFF/ SDWG, 2013). Knowledge on species diversity and on the spatial and temporal (seasonal and inter-annual) distributions of marine mammals in coastal Southeast Greenland are based on a handful of visual surveys (HeideJørgensen et al, 2007; Boertmann et al, 2009; Merkel et al, 2010; Boertmann and Rosing-Asvid, 2014; Hansen et al, 2019) and on subsistence hunting reports (e.g., Dietz et al, 1994). These surveys and hunting reports are often a)This paper is part of a special issue on Ocean Acoustics in the Changing Arctic. Biodiversity measures were applied to explore the relationship between the acoustic marine mammal community composition and sea ice concentration
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