Southern Labrador Research Articles

Acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off eastern Canada, 2015-2017

Several beaked whale species occur off eastern Canada. However, except for the northern bottlenose whale (NBW; Hyperoodon ampullatus), their distribution and annual occurrence remain largely unknown, which complicates management efforts to assess the status of poorly known species and effectively protect those species considered at risk. The main objective of this paper is to provide a year-round and pluriannual description of the minimum acoustic occurrence of the NBW, Sowerby’s (SBW; Mesoplodon bidens), Cuvier’s (CBW; Ziphius cavirostris), True’s (TBW; M. mirus) and Gervais’ (GBW; M. europaeus) beaked whales. Twenty-five acoustic recorders were deployed off eastern Canada between May 2015 and November 2017. Beaked whale echolocation clicks were detected using a combination of automated detectors and manual validation at 12 of these stations. Detections were generally restricted to deep continental slope waters. All detected species occurred in the southern part of the study area (off the Scotian Shelf and southern Grand Banks), while only NBWs were detected at the northern edge, off southern Labrador. Clicks identified as TBW or GBW were restricted to, but occurred annually in, the southern areas. All other species were present, at least seasonally, east and north of the Grand Banks. NBWs occurred every day in the Gully Canyon, where SBWs also occurred regularly. While these results should be interpreted as minimum species presence and considered with regards to detector performance, they provide important information regarding beaked whales’ use of areas off eastern Canada where these species have generally received no or very limited monitoring effort.

Northern cod re-establish historical migration patterns linked to capelin: insights from pop-up satellite archival tags

In May 2012–2015, 90 large (85–117 cm) Northern cod ( Gadus morhua) with pop-up satellite archival tags (PSATs) set to release 1 year later were released from offshore spawning aggregations on the northeast Newfoundland shelf. Forty-nine (54%) transmitted or were recovered; 82% migrated inshore and 15% remained offshore (balance predated). Geo-locations were based on release, capture, and surfacing positions, and at tag-recorded depths <50 m, on Kalman-predicted light-based longitudes matched with coastal bathymetry. Migrating fish moved southwestward on average 5° longitude (350 km) and 2° latitude (222 km) to the northeast coast of Newfoundland, southern Labrador, and northern Grand Bank, as historically from similar release points. Migration onset through the Labrador Current (<0 °C) and arrival inshore were correlated with capelin ( Mallotus villosus) peak spawning, inshore duration with capelin, and cod biomass. Both species were delayed a month from historical norms. The probability of a cod remaining inshore after 1 December was 50%, which could impact time-dependent surveys. Fishing exploitation was 6% and predation 5%. Northern cod have re-established historical spatial migration patterns, with capelin a key influence on timing and duration inshore.

Fresh Water and Atmospheric Cooling Control on Density-Compensated Overturning in the Labrador Sea

Abstract As they rim the basin from the southern tip of Greenland to the southern Labrador coast, the waters in the Labrador Sea boundary current undergo a significant transformation in salinity and temperature, but much less so in density. Motivated by these observations, a previously developed simple three-layer model is adapted to understand the processes responsible for this density-compensated overturning in the Labrador Sea. From our model simulations, we find that the density-compensating water mass transformation in the boundary current can be largely attributed to the combined effect of 1) direct atmospheric cooling of the relatively warm boundary current and 2) freshening due to mixing with the shallower and fresh waters derived from Greenland meltwater discharge and Arctic Ocean inflow. Freshening of the boundary current waters due to the excess of precipitation over evaporation in the basin has an important, but less impactful, role in the density compensation. Studies examining the sensitivity of the density compensation to the freshwater entry location reveal a larger impact when the freshwater enters the boundary current on the Greenland side of the basin, compared to the Labrador side. These results yield insights into how increasing meltwater in the subpolar North Atlantic will affect the overturning.

Sea surface temperature evolution of the North Atlantic Ocean across the Eocene–Oligocene transition

Abstract. A major step in the long-term Cenozoic evolution toward a glacially driven climate occurred at the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT), ∼34.44 to 33.65 million years ago (Ma). Evidence for high-latitude cooling and increased latitudinal temperature gradients across the EOT has been found in a range of marine and terrestrial environments. However, the timing and magnitude of temperature change in the North Atlantic remains highly unconstrained. Here, we use two independent organic geochemical palaeothermometers to reconstruct sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from the southern Labrador Sea (Ocean Drilling Program – ODP Site 647) across the EOT. The new SST records, now the most detailed for the North Atlantic through the 1 Myr leading up to the EOT onset, reveal a distinctive cooling step of ∼3 ∘C (from 27 to 24 ∘C), between 34.9 and 34.3 Ma, which is ∼500 kyr prior to Antarctic glaciation. This cooling step, when compared visually to other SST records, is asynchronous across Atlantic sites, signifying considerable spatiotemporal variability in regional SST evolution. However, overall, it fits within a phase of general SST cooling recorded across sites in the North Atlantic in the 5 Myr bracketing the EOT. Such cooling might be unexpected in light of proxy and modelling studies suggesting the start-up of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) before the EOT, which should warm the North Atlantic. Results of an EOT modelling study (GFDL CM2.1) help reconcile this, finding that a reduction in atmospheric CO2 from 800 to 400 ppm may be enough to counter the warming from an AMOC start-up, here simulated through Arctic–Atlantic gateway closure. While the model simulations applied here are not yet in full equilibrium, and the experiments are idealised, the results, together with the proxy data, highlight the heterogeneity of basin-scale surface ocean responses to the EOT thermohaline changes, with sharp temperature contrasts expected across the northern North Atlantic as positions of the subtropical and subpolar gyre systems shift. Suggested future work includes increasing spatial coverage and resolution of regional SST proxy records across the North Atlantic to identify likely thermohaline fingerprints of the EOT AMOC start-up, as well as critical analysis of the causes of inter-model responses to help better understand the driving mechanisms.

A Tonian volcano-sedimentary succession in Newfoundland, eastern North America: A post-Grenvillian link to the Asgard Sea?

Abstract Early Tonian bimodal volcanic and sedimentary rocks (the Pine Pond succession) were identified in the Appalachians of eastern Laurentia for the first time, with U-Pb ages of igneous zircon at 951.4 ± 9 Ma for a felsic tuff and 952 ± 10 Ma for a crosscutting granite sheet. This Neoproterozoic succession is part of the East Pond metamorphic suite on the Baie Verte Peninsula (Newfoundland, Canada), which also contains 1491 Ma orthogneiss and is consistent with deposition over Mesoproterozoic basement in a pre-Iapetan extensional setting. Collectively, the data suggest a correlation with the southern Labrador Pinware terrane of the Grenville Province, where 1.52–1.46 Ga bedrock is intruded by 975–950 Ma granite. In addition, the age and location of this 952 Ma succession are consistent with deposition on the western margin of the Asgard Sea. Thus, the Pine Pond succession provides a link between key events in the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia: the end of the Grenville orogeny, which led to the amalgamation of Laurentia and Amazonia, and the early Neoproterozoic evolution of the Asgard Sea, which separated Laurentia and Baltica.

Structured Relationalism in the Classroom: A Collaborative Approach to Teaching Indigenous Literatures

Structured Relationalism in the ClassroomA Collaborative Approach to Teaching Indigenous Literatures Kristina Fagan Bidwell (bio) and Adar Charlton (bio) With special thanks to the students in ENG 114 and ENG 811, whose varied contributions to, critiques of, and sometimes resistance to the pedagogical project described here shaped this essay. Kristina Fagan Bidwell is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Saskatchewan. Adar Charlton came to the U of S as a PhD student in English and was a student in Fagan Bidwell's graduate seminar. Together, Fagan Bidwell and the seminar students designed a multi-phased collaborative project for Fagan Bidwell's all-Indigenous introductory English course. To reflect their different roles and positions, Fagan Bidwell and Charlton wrote their introductory positionings and concluding reflections separately but the sections describing the project itself together. introductory positions kristina fagan bidwell: I believe that academic work is, ultimately, personal, and that is certainly true of this project. I am a member of NunatuKavut, the Inuit community of southern Labrador; grew up in Newfoundland; and have lived in Saskatchewan for many years, with the result that I am neither fully at home "back home" nor on the prairies. I am Indigenous, but I am not Indigenous to the lands now known as Saskatchewan as are the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, or Métis. And so, I am always aware of the diversity of Indigenous people and our complex relationships to one another and to place, an awareness that shaped my thinking as I prepared, in 2012, to teach an introductory literature course to a group of all-Indigenous students [End Page 183] and a same-term graduate seminar in Indigenous literatures. But when I decided to take advantage of this teaching schedule to bring the two classes together, I did not anticipate how the resulting project, and the long process of thinking collaboratively about it, would change how I think about my teaching, turning my primary focus to the relationships to and around course content, rather than to the content itself. adar charlton: I am a white settler from Thunder Bay, Ontario, situated on the lands of the Anishinaabeg, the traditional territory of Fort William First Nation under the Robinson-Superior Treaty of 1850. I grew up witnessing the injustices of systemic and outward racisms and violence toward Indigenous peoples in Thunder Bay perpetrated by ongoing processes of settler colonialism. Coming to understand my own privilege and complicity within these processes motivates me to combat settler amnesia and hold space for Indigenous presence in my work in order to support a decolonial future. I read, teach, and share Indigenous literature now as an emerging scholar and teacher because this literature carries the transformative power to create such a future. Participating in Kristina's seminar and in this collaborative project as a first-year PhD Student at the University of Saskatchewan started a process for me of continual, critical, and self-reflexive positioning. course creation Indigenization of the classroom is often understood as incorporating course materials and interpretive frameworks in which Indigenous students can see themselves reflected. However, the diversity of even the nineteen Indigenous students in the introductory English class challenged that conception: they came from First Nations, Métis, urban, rural, and northern communities across different language groups and treaty areas and brought with them widely varying experiences and belief systems.1 Attempting to reflect this diversity through course content would inevitably leave some students feeling misrepresented or excluded. In the same term, the graduate seminar was focusing on relationalism, a theoretical approach that assumes people are primarily constituted by relationship. In the seminar, we explored how relationalism offers an alternative way of thinking about Indigenizing the classroom—through relational processes rather [End Page 184] than through content—and designed a project that put this thinking into pedagogical practice. While this project centered on a text by an Indigenous author, its focus was not on bringing any particular or fixed form of Indigenous culture into the classroom. Instead, we worked from the assumption that Indigenous cultures were inevitably present in a class that included Indigenous students, and that those cultures were relational and continually recreated...

Congruence of stock production and assessment areas? An historical perspective on Canada’s iconic Northern cod

Fisheries management requires spatially congruent production and assessment areas. Canada’s Northern cod (Gadus morhua), initially considered a stock complex distributed from northern Labrador to the northern Grand Bank, had its northern boundary reduced to southern Labrador in the early 1970s. Spatial incongruence has resulted in spawning stock biomass (SSB) and recruitment (R) between historical and recent eras. To investigate temporal changes, four stanzas of SSB and R were derived from statistical Perron breaks. In stanza 1, the 1960s, spawning off northern Labrador coincided with higher SSB and R than in following stanzas from the 1970s onward. SSB–R relationships that include 1960s data do not represent potential production from a more southerly distributed stock. Loglinear models of R (density-dependent models did not improve fit) indicated SSB had greatest effect and, with indices of climate and south–north distribution, explained 86% of variance. Lack of density dependence suggests long-standing recruitment overfishing, making reference points problematic. SSB growth is suggested as an alternative management target. Rebuilding the Northern cod to historical abundance requires a full “portfolio” of spawning from northern Labrador to the Grand Bank (a remanaged 2+3KL stock). With a contracted range, lower production should be anticipated.

Updated distribution of four stenohaline fish species in Labrador, Canada

Distributions of freshwater fish species in Labrador are poorly documented as the region is remote and sparsely inhabited. Here, we update distributions of four species native to the Labrador Peninsula based on data collected over 10 years: Burbot (Lota lota), Round Whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum), Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush), and Slimy Sculpin (Cottus cognatus). In northern Labrador, our findings extend their ranges inland and northwest of their formerly reported distributions. Their presence in previously unknown locations indicates an alternative post-glacial colonization pathway to one previously proposed that suggested an isolated pocket of Lake Trout in a northern coastal area colonized through marine invasion. Instead, we suggest that overland colonization occurred when glacial Lake Naskaupi withdrew across Quebec into several northern drainages. In southern Labrador, we found Lake Trout and Round Whitefish to the southeast of their previously reported ranges. The discovery of an isolated population of Lake Trout in a remote location of southeast Labrador implies that they may have existed in the area historically (6000 years ago), but have undergone a range contraction with a warming climate. In addition, 22 new locations are documented for Lake Trout within their established range.

Aspects of Socio-Economic Success in a Labrador Village

During the last generation, the people of southern Labrador have enjoyed increasing contact with a number of sources of external information and, consequently, have developed middle class Canadian and American consumer desires. The degree to which these desires can be satisfied only partially determines the status of families in the community studied. This paper concerns how the community limits the definition of “success”. First, I briefly sketch the history and development of the community since its settlement to show the nature of traditional and modern values. Then the current community concept of “success” is examined with respect to its material and social constraints.

Transport of fine-grained sediment in oceanic currents: Holocene supply to sediment drifts around Flemish Cap by the Labrador Current

Hemipelagic sediment on the upper continental slope is commonly transported from the adjacent continental shelf, but along-slope transport of sediment by thermohaline currents may be an important source of sediment. One such case is Flemish Cap, a promontory of the eastern Canadian continental shelf protected from direct continental sediment supply by the deep-water Flemish Pass. Pleistocene sediment drifts around Flemish Cap accumulated glacially derived sediment from the north, transported by the Labrador Current. This study determines the changing sources and controls on the accumulation of bioturbated hemipelagic sediment through the Holocene. From a set of >150 box cores in water depths of 600–1200 m, some 30 push cores, up to 55 cm long, were studied in detail for stratigraphic variation in grain size, bulk geochemistry (XRF) and detrital petrology (granule petrology and qXRD). Criteria were developed to identify trawling disturbance. Two Holocene stratigraphic units, A) almost lacking ice-rafted detritus and B) with some coarse IRD and higher detrital carbonate, correlate with similar units farther north on the Labrador Shelf and Slope. Sedimentation rates based on 26 radiocarbon dates were ~ 0.02–0.03 m/ka over much of the region below the 800 m isobath, locally reaching 0.1 m/ka in some sediment drifts, but as low as 0.01 m/ka on southeastern Flemish Cap. Where sedimentation rate was >0.03 m/ka, the record of flow vigor from the sortable silt proxy since 6 ka shows three different zones of Labrador Current flow with different timing of changes in flow vigor. The mid to early Holocene record shows that the meltwater-driven inner Labrador Current extended across the entire study area. Where sedimentation rates are lower, periods of sediment bypassing are inferred and the sortable silt record varies little. Correlation with external drivers is hampered by century-scale core resolution and sparse dating control. The distinctive abundance of dolomite rock flour in hemipelagic sediments around Flemish Cap indicates important supply from Baffin Bay icebergs during the entire Holocene, diluted prior to 6 ka by sediment from Hudson Strait and some Labrador ice streams. Baffin Bay icebergs melt preferentially in the southern Labrador Sea, dropping their load, with the fine grained component transported to the south by the Labrador Current. Similar partitioning of coarse- from fine-grained components of IRD may take place on other high-latitude outer continental margins.

Role of Extratropical Wintertime Cyclones in Regulating the Variations of Baffin Bay Sea Ice Export

AbstractA cyclone is an intensive synoptic activity that occurs frequently over Baffin Bay. By modifying the large‐scale distribution pattern of sea level pressure, a passing cyclone can serve as an important regulator of sea ice outflow via the Davis Strait. We obtain a nearly 40‐year‐long record (1979/1980–2017/2018) of the sea ice area flux (SIAF) through the Davis Strait and Arctic cyclone activities in winter. A case study and statistical results indicate that the sea ice concentration and motion fields can be greatly altered by the occurrence of cyclones, thereby contributing to changes in sea ice export. Moreover, the effects of cyclones on sea ice export in Baffin Bay are dependent on the spatial distribution pattern of the storms. In terms of the cyclone center count and intensity, the key regions with significant impacts on sea ice export out of Baffin Bay are identified, one around Baffin Island (80°W–60°W, 60°N–70°N) and the other over the southern Labrador Peninsula (70°W–50°W, 40°N–60°N). A robust correlation exists between the winter‐accumulated SIAF via the Davis Strait and the average winter cyclone intensity (center count) in the critical regions with R = −0.57 (+0.49), affirming the vital role of cyclone activity in modulating the interannual variability of sea ice export in Baffin Bay.

A Warm, Stratified, and Restricted Labrador Sea Across the Middle Eocene and Its Climatic Optimum.

Several studies indicate that North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation might have initiated during the globally warm Eocene (56–34 Ma). However, constraints on Eocene surface ocean conditions in source regions presently conducive to deep water formation are sparse. Here we test whether ocean conditions of the middle Eocene Labrador Sea might have allowed for deep water formation by applying (organic) geochemical and palynological techniques, on sediments from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 647. We reconstruct a long‐term sea surface temperature (SST) drop from ~30°C to ~27°C between 41.5 to 38.5 Ma, based on TEX86. Superimposed on this trend, we record ~2°C warming in SST associated with the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO; ~40 Ma), which is the northernmost MECO record as yet, and another, likely regional, warming phase at ~41.1 Ma, associated with low‐latitude planktic foraminifera and dinoflagellate cyst incursions. Dinoflagellate cyst assemblages together with planktonic foraminiferal stable oxygen isotope ratios overall indicate low surface water salinities and strong stratification. Benthic foraminifer stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios differ from global deep ocean values by 1–2‰ and 2–4‰, respectively, indicating geographic basin isolation. Our multiproxy reconstructions depict a consistent picture of relatively warm and fresh but also highly variable surface ocean conditions in the middle Eocene Labrador Sea. These conditions were unlikely conducive to deep water formation. This implies either NADW did not yet form during the middle Eocene or it formed in a different source region and subsequently bypassed the southern Labrador Sea.

Mortality of Atlantic salmon after catch and release angling: assessment of a recreational Atlantic salmon fishery in a changing climate

Human activities have the potential to accelerate population-level decline by contributing to climate warming and decreasing the capacity of species to survive warming temperatures. Here we build a predictive model to test interactions between river warming and catch and release mortality in recreational fisheries for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) by compiling and analyzing published data. We then test whether warming has occurred in rivers where angling occurs and whether angling opportunities have been restricted through increased river closures due to high water temperatures. We find that catch and release mortalities are low (<0.05) at cool river temperatures (<12 °C). At river temperatures often leading to fishery closures (between 18 and 20 °C), mortalities range from 0.07 to 0.33 (mean = 0.16). River temperatures on the east and southeast coasts of Newfoundland have warmed, leading to an increase in fishery closures in recent years. By contrast, river temperatures in southern Labrador have warmed slightly, with only one documented river closure. Accordingly, increasing temperatures will increase the frequency of river closures and likely result in higher mortality in caught and released Atlantic salmon in rivers that remain open to catch and release angling at warm water temperatures.

Marine temperature and depth use by anadromous Arctic char correlates to body size and diel period

Acoustic and archival telemetry were used to study the marine movements of 115 anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) at two sites in southern Labrador, Canada, in relation to daily variation in temperature and depth use, body size, and their effects on marine activity patterns. Although evidence varied between locations, Arctic char generally utilized ambient water temperatures available in the upper water column, possibly in aid of physiological processes such as digestion, whereas deeper waters were suggested to be used for feeding purposes. Size-dependent thermal preferences were evident, with larger individuals utilizing cooler water temperatures (8.5 °C) compared with smaller individuals (9.5 °C), a pattern suggestive of ontogenetic changes in thermal habitat use for the purposes of growth maximization. Diurnal patterns of diving activity were interpreted to reflect the vertical migration of prey items and (or) the visual capabilities of Arctic char. Dive duration was dependent on body size and external body temperature with smaller individuals performing shorter dives in colder water temperatures (<1 min at 5 °C) than larger fish (∼2 min at 5 °C), likely to maintain their core temperature and abilities to both effectively capture prey and avoid predation.

Late Quaternary sporadic development of Desmophyllum dianthus deep-coral populations in the southern Labrador Sea with specific attention to their 14C- and 230Th-dating

About 70 fossil and live-collected specimens of Desmophyllum dianthus were collected from steep rocky surfaces and time-averaged assemblages at their base (“coral graveyards”) in the southern Labrador Sea at depths ranging from ~1700 m (Orphan Knoll) to ~2200 m (Flemish Cap). Aside from stable isotope and mineralogical analysis, U-series and 14C age determinations were performed on the samples. Fossil corals from the coral graveyards display two principal age clusters corresponding respectively to the Holocene and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5c intervals. Three samples lay outside these clusters, at ~13.5 ka (Bølling-Allerød), ~ 64 ka (MIS 3) and at ~181 ka (MIS 7a). The clusters are thought to record intervals with both i) high food availability, either through pelagic primary production in the overlying water column or more effectively in relation with particulate and dissolved organic carbon transport via an active Western Boundary Undercurrent (WBUC), and ii) high carbonate micrite advection by this current from more open North Atlantic coccolithophorid production areas, maintaining an aragonite saturation horizon (now at 2300 m) slightly deeper than the coral habitat (~ 2200 m). Attempts at estimating ventilation ages from 230Th vs 14C age offsets in Holocene samples failed. This is due to uncertainties about the initial 14C-apparent age of coral skeletons and to their high initial excesses in 230Th. This initial excess relates mostly to the scavenging of 230Th produced by the dissolved marine U by the coral-feeding organic matter carried along the WBUC trajectory. In addition, discrete diagenetic U-fluxes can be documented in fossil samples. They are well illustrated in specimens from MIS 5c age, which depict variable excesses in 234U vs 238U, but similar 230Th/238U activity ratios, pointing to a recent but fractionating redistribution of uranium in the samples. These are also documented by the development of FeMn coatings of specimens exposed at the sea floor, due to the winnowing of embedding slope sediments, with the mid- to late Holocene intensified WBUC. Such diagenetic processes are to be notably taken into consideration for the dating of pre-Holocene samples. Thus, both the initial isotopic properties of corals from this WBUC-influenced, mid-continental slope, and subsequent diagenetic effects impact their calculated ages, and blur estimates of “ventilation ages” based on their 14C vs 230Th-ages offsets.

Evolutionary impacts differ between two exploited populations of northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus).

Interpretation of conservation status should be informed by an appreciation of genetic diversity, past demography, and overall trends in population size, which contribute to a species' evolutionary potential and resilience to genetic risks. Low genetic diversity can be symptomatic of rapid demographic declines and impose genetic risks to populations, but can also be maintained by natural processes. The northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus has the lowest known mitochondrial diversity of any cetacean and was intensely whaled in the Northwest Atlantic over the last century, but whether exploitation imposed genetic risks that could limit recovery is unknown. We sequenced full mitogenomes and genotyped 37 novel microsatellites for 128 individuals from known areas of abundance in the Scotian Shelf, Northern and Southern Labrador, Davis Strait, and Iceland, and a newly discovered group off Newfoundland. Despite low diversity and shared haplotypes across all regions, both markers supported the Endangered Scotian Shelf population as distinct from the combined northern regions. The genetic affinity of Newfoundland was uncertain, suggesting an area of mixing with no clear population distinction for the region. Demographic reconstruction using mitogenomes suggests that the northern region underwent population expansion following the last glacial maximum, but for the peripheral Scotian Shelf population, a stable demographic trend was followed by a drastic decline over a temporal scale consistent with increasing human activity in the Northwest Atlantic. Low connectivity between the Scotian Shelf and the rest of the Atlantic likely compounded the impact of intensive whaling for this species, potentially imposing genetic risks affecting recovery of this population. We highlight how the combination of historical environmental conditions and modern exploitation of this species has had very different evolutionary impacts on structured populations of northern bottlenose whales across the western North Atlantic.

Spatial and ontogenetic variation in isotopic niche among recovering fish communities revealed by Bayesian modeling.

Exploitation and changing ocean conditions have resulted in altered species interactions and varied population dynamics within marine fish communities off northeast Newfoundland and southern Labrador, Canada. To understand contemporary species interactions, we quantified the isotopic niches, niche overlap, and ontogenetic niche change among seven dominant fish species using stable isotope analyses. Analyses used fishes from three regions differing in fish and prey diversities. Differences in fish and diet composition diversity among regions were found using Simpson’s inverse diversity index. The regions of lowest diversities had higher instances of niche overlap and higher percentage of niche overlap area. The region of highest diversity had the widest spread of niches with greater distances from the community centroid. Ontogenetic shifts were observed such that larger individuals shifted towards the community centroid with the exception of Atlantic cod. Atlantic cod in particular was found to consistently be the top predator of the analyzed species. Our results reveal: (a) overlap in isotopic niches and spread within niche space was correlated with fish and diet diversity; (b) ontogenetic shifts are important when considering a species’ niche and quantifying spatial variation in community niche profiles.

Diel activity patterns in overwintering Labrador anadromous Arctic charr

Anadromous Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, migrate back to freshwater in late summer to spawn and/or overwinter. While seasonal movement patterns during the freshwater residency period are generally understood, specifics of the short temporal activity patterns remain poorly characterized. This study used temperature and accelerometer sensing telemetry to describe the diel activity patterns of 21 overwintering anadromous Arctic charr in a lake in southern Labrador, Canada. Tagged individuals displayed diurnal activity patterns throughout the overwinter residency period marked by greater activity during the day than at night and distinctive peaks of activity at the beginning and the end of each daylight period. Diurnal patterns were interpreted as driven by prey and light availability in the upper water column because of known linkages between light and foraging efficiency. Movement activity also increased as a function of temperature during the spawning and ice breakup periods, but not during winter when increased movement activity was correlated with colder temperatures. No association was found between movement activity and body size over the size range (36.0–48.5 cm) of fish studied. Our data suggest a complex set of behavioural determinants of overwinter activity, among which temperature and foraging are the most significant.

REE distribution and Nd isotope composition of estuarine waters and bulk sediment leachates tracing lithogenic inputs in eastern Canada

The rare earth element (REE) concentrations and the neodymium (Nd) and strontium (Sr) isotope compositions of the detrital fraction and authigenic FeMn oxyhydroxide coatings of marine sediments may provide valuable information for better understanding the pathways of weathering inputs and estuarine and coastal exchange processes on different time scales. Here, we present the REE concentrations and 143Nd/144Nd (expressed in epsilon units, εNd) and 87Sr/86Sr ratios of detrital and authigenic (leached FeMn oxyhydroxides) fractions from sediment core-top samples and of estuarine water samples collected in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence (EGSL) and continental shelf off southeastern Canada. The REE distribution patterns, εNd values, and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic values from the detrital fraction allow for the discrimination of sediment from continental sources in the EGSL. Sediments in the Baie des Chaleurs and on the continental shelf, which have εNd values ranging from −14.3 to −16, 87Sr/86Sr values ranging from 0.72708 to 0.71475, and low La/Yb and Gd/Yb ratios, are mainly supplied by the early Paleozoic Appalachian Mountains. In contrast, sediments in the Laurentian and Esquiman channels (εNd = −18.7 to −21.8, 87Sr/86Sr = 0.72068 to 0.72607, and high La/Yb and Gd/Yb ratios) come from the Grenvillian metamorphic rocks in the Canadian Shield, and surface sediments on the southern Labrador Shelf (εNd = −28.7, 87Sr/86Sr = 0.73062, and high La/Yb and Gd/Yb ratios) mainly originate from the Hudson Strait and Baffin Bay. The εNd values obtained from estuarine water samples and bulk sediment leachates are unradiogenic, with values ranging between −18.9 and − 21.7 and between −16.1 and − 27.2, respectively. Based on these results and the dissolved REE concentrations, we speculate that salt-induced coagulation of colloidal matter, dissolution of lithogenic sediments from the adjacent continents (notably from the erosion of the Grenville Province on the North Shore), bottom scavenging within the nepheloid layer, and brine rejection during sea ice formation significantly influence the distribution of REEs and the authigenic εNd signal throughout the water column in the EGSL. Overall, our results both underscore the fact that caution must be exercised when interpreting authigenic εNd records due to bottom water-mass mixing in estuarine and coastal marine environments and highlight the potential of REE and NdSr isotope compositions in investigating changes in sediment sources and transport pathways in the EGSL.

The Onomastics of Inuit/Iberian Names in Southern Labrador in the Historic Past

The Onomastics of Inuit/Iberian Names in Southern Labrador in the Historic Past