The ringed seal (Phoca hispida) spring diet in northwestern Spitsbergen, Svalbard

A total of 284 ringed seals (Phoca hispida) were sampled to determine their diet in the spring of 1981 and 1982. Few seals contained identifiable stomach contents. No significant age-or sex-related differences in choice of prey were found. It seems that in spring northwestern Spitsbergen ringed seals prey upon arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) , decapods and larger amphipods.? Diet, ringed seal, Svalbard .     

Ecological influences of Thule Inuit whalers on high Arctic pond ecosystems: a comparative paleolimnological study from Bathurst Island (Nunavut,Canada)

Until recently, major anthropogenic impacts on freshwater ecosystems were believed to be rare in North America prior to the period of European colonization. However, recent paleolimnological and archaeological data collected from the Canadian Arctic suggest that the whaling activities of Thule Inuit, who lived in small, nomadic communities, altered freshwater ecosystems centuries earlier. Using a comparative paleolimnological approach from two ponds situated adjacent to a former Thule winter settlement on south-eastern Bathurst Island (Nunavut, Arctic Canada), we record marked ecological changes in pond ecology due to eutrophication from the Thule’s activities. The geography of our study site provided an interesting and rare opportunity for a comparative paleolimnological study of long-term Thule impacts on polar limnology, because our two study ponds (only ~50 m apart) were nearly identical in size and in geological and climatic settings, but differed markedly in the magnitude of Thule influence. Here, we recorded striking changes in diatom species assemblages, spectrally-inferred primary production, and nutrient geochemistry, indicating eutrophication in a small pond draining 18 Thule whale houses. Input of marine-derived nutrients from sea mammal carcasses used by the Thule for both sustenance and the construction of winter settlements, as well as other anthropogenic activities, coincided with a notable increase in the eutrophic diatom taxon Stephanodiscus minutulus, whereas no comparable changes were recorded in the nearby control pond for the duration of the sedimentary record. Although the diatom changes recorded in the affected site persisted after the period of Thule occupation, the most recent sediments and water chemistry suggest that the pond has largely recovered to near pre-impact conditions.     

Studies of the ringed seal (Phoca hispida Schreber 1775) in its breeding habitat in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard

This study was conducted in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, from mid-March through April 1984. Local Greenland sled dogs were used to locate subnivean ringed seal lairs. A total of 90 lairs were found and excavated. These constituted 28 lairs classified as birth lairs, 22 as tiggak (rutting male) lairs, and 40 which could not be classified. The first birth lair was found on 24 March. There was significantly more snow covering birth lairs than tiggak lairs, and birth lairs were also shown to be significantly larger than tiggak lairs. The positions of the lairs were plotted on a map, and distances between neighbouring seal lairs were used as an indicator of territorial size. Arctic foxes had attacked 19 lairs and 6 of these had resulted in a kill (32%). Polar bears had attacked 13 lairs with one kill (8%).     

Climate change in the Arctic: current and future vulnerability in two Inuit communities in Canada

Climate change is already occurring in the Arctic and the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment recently concluded that future climate change could be devastating for Inuit. This paper characterises vulnerability to climate change in two Inuit communities in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, focusing on the resource harvesting sector. In both communities, Inuit have demonstrated significant adaptability in the face of current changes in climatic conditions. This adaptability is facilitated by traditional Inuit knowledge, strong social networks, flexibility in resource use, and institutional support. Changing Inuit livelihoods, however, have undermined certain aspects of adaptive capacity and have resulted in emerging vulnerabilities. Global and regional climate projections indicate that climatic conditions which currently pose risks are expected to be negatively affected by future climate change. These projections are not without precedent and analysis of current vulnerability and identification of adaptation constraints by Inuit in the two communities indicate the continued importance of traditional coping mechanisms. The ability to draw on these coping mechanisms in light of future climate change, however, will be unequal and the research indicates that young Inuit and those without access to economic resources, in particular, are vulnerable.     

Commercial hunting activities in the Greenland Sea: The impact of the European blubber industry on East Greenland Inuit societies/Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating of Inuit settlement structures in coastal landscapes of Northeast Greenland

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):357–363, 2010

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):365–371, 2010     

Availability of suitable land-fast ice and predation as factors limiting ringed seal populations, Phoca hispida, in Svalbard

We examined the stability of fast ice areas in western and northern Spitsbergen, the area north of Nordaustlandet, the bays and sounds of Hinlopen Stretet and the large area in the northern part of Storfjorden. NOAA satellite imagery from 1974 and 1988 and NOAA (AVHRR) imagery from 1980-87 were used to determine the dates of freeze-up and break-up. The number of days of fast ice present before the nominal birth date of ringed seal pups were computed for all major bays and fjords. Ice thickness was then computed from these data. Known prime breeding habitat in Svalbard is found in areas near glacier fronts in protected fjords and bays, where densities of birth lairs are 5.46 km⁻², corresponding to a ringed seal female density of 2.6 km⁻². Most of the ringed seal breeding habitat in Svalbard, however, consists of flat fjord ice where snow accumulation is rarely deep enough to permit birth lair construction. In these areas pups are often born in the open. Based on breathing hole densities, the density of adult females in the flat ice areas in the breeding period was estimated to 0.98 km⁻². A preliminary estimate is that approximately 19,500 pups could be born annually in the fast ice of Svalbard. Annual recruitment could be quite variable given the unpredictable nature of the fast ice areas and the high predation mortality on newborn pups. Discrepancies between our calculated ringed seal production and numbers of seals required to feed the large polar bear population in the area signal cause for management concern.     

Local physiographic controls on the responses of Arctic lakes to climate warming in Sirmilik National Park,Nunavut, Canada

Twenty high Arctic lakes and ponds were sampled for water chemistry and modern diatom assemblages in two distinct physiographic sectors of Sirmilik National Park, Nunavut, Canada. Sites on southwestern Bylot Island were warmer, more alkaline, less dilute, and had higher concentrations of nutrients, DOC and Chl-a (mesotrophic to oligo-mesotrophic), whereas sites on Qorbignaluk Headland on northern Baffin Island were deeper, very dilute, mostly oligotrophic and had lower pH. Diatom assemblages differed markedly between these two regions as a consequence of limnological differences between them. Paleolimnological records, spanning > 200 years and dated by ²¹⁰Pb activity, were produced from each region to compare biological responses to recent warming inferred from glaciological studies on Bylot Island and regional syntheses for the Arctic. Diatom assemblages began to change around AD 1900 at both sites. At Qorbignaluk Headland, marked shifts in diatom community composition occurred during the twentieth century, with large increases in the abundance of planktonic diatoms. At Bylot Island, diatom community changes began around the same time, and involved modest decreases in planktonic diatoms and increases in inferred specific conductance, likely because of a decrease in the areal extent of the small lake as a response to warming. The study confirms that responses of freshwater ecosystems to climate warming vary depending on local physiographic factors.     

Diagenetic magnetization of the Caerfai Bay Shales (Cambrian), South Wales

Summary. The Lower Cambrian Caerfai Bay Shales in Dyfed, South Wales, are marine red beds which have been reddened by the diagenetic alteration of volcanic detritus. The pole position of their dominant component of magnetization coincides with those from Lower Ordovician igneous rocks in Great Britain. There is also a subordinate antiparallel component, and some indication of magnetization spanning the folding of the strata, implying a relatively slow acquisition of CRM in a predominantly reversed field. This is consistent with our observation that the magnetization of these marine beds is carried by authigenic haematite.     

Abundance,biomass and composition of spring ice algal and phytoplankton communities of the Laptev Sea(Arctic)

<正> Abundance,biomass and composition of the ice algal and phytoplank-ton communities were investigated in the southeastern Laptev Sea in spring 1999.Diatoms dominated the algal communities and pennate diatoms dominated the dia-tom population.12 dominant algal species occurred within sea ice and underlyingwater column,including Fragilariopsis oceanica,F.cylindrus,Nitzschiafrigida,N.promare,Achnanthes taeniata,Nitzschia neofrigida,Naviculapelagica,N.vanhoef fenii,N.septentrionalis,Melosira arctica,Clindrothecaclosterium and Pyrarnimonas sp.The algal abundance of bottom 10 cm sea icevaried between 14.6 and 1562.2×10~4 ceils l~(-1)with an average of 639.0×10~4cells l~(-1),and the algal biomass ranged from 7.89 to 2093.5μg C l~(-1)with an av-erage of 886.9μg C l~(-1),which were generally one order of magnitude higherthan those of sub-bottom ice and two orders of magnitude higher than those ofunderlying surface water.The integrated algal abundance and biomass of lower-most 20 cm ice column were averagely 7.7 and 12.2 times as those of upper 20 mwater column,respectively,suggesting that the ice algae might play an importantrole in maintaining the coastal marine ecosystem before the thawing of sea ice.Icealgae influenced the phytoplankton community of the underlying water column.However,the“seeding”of ice algae for phytoplankton bloom was negligible be-cause of the iow phytoplankton biomass within the underlying water column.     

长三角地区复杂知识的空间特征及地方知识库类型

知识基础是技术变革和经济长期发展的关键驱动力。已有研究也证明了不同知识类型的价值具有差异。然而在经济地理学领域,常常因知识的质量难以量化而将研究停留在知识投入-产出的数量层面。论文以长三角地区为例,基于该地区41个城市的专利数据,对城市和技术的知识复杂度和多样化水平进行量化,并分析城市-技术知识网络的空间格局和网络结构。研究发现：长三角地区的知识复杂度存在空间异质性,最复杂的技术仅由少数城市生产;从知识库的多样性和知识复杂度2个维度对城市进行类型划分,获得创新型、赌博型、后进型和锁定型4种区域知识库类型,并基于区域知识库异质性提出针对性的区域发展建议。     

The outflow of polar water through the Arctic Archipelago and the oceanographic conditions in Baffin Bay

The transports of mass, heat, and salt through the Arctic Archipelago are estimated by two different approaches. First: A baroclinic, rotationally controlled flow is assumed through the Arctic Archipelago and the Davis Strait, with all passages transporting at maximum capacity. Second: Mass, salt, and energy balances are considered for the upper 'cold core' in Baffin Bay. The mass transport in the first case decreases and in the second case increases with increasing salinity in the Beaufort Sea. It is thus possible to determine a salinity at which both approaches give the same mass transport. The outflow in the upper layers is estimated at 0.7 · 10⁹ kg s⁻¹ with a salinity of 32.9. The amount of water from the Polar Ocean entering the deeper (Atlantic) layer in Baffin Bay is more difficult to assess. A tentative value of 0.3 10·kg s⁻¹ with a salinity cf 34.3 is proposed.     

批判地缘政治学视角下原住民组织对北极事务的参与和影响

从自发组建的非政府组织到北极事务中颇具影响力的权力组织,原住民组织已经成长为北极事务中不可忽视的利益攸关方。在获取北极事务参与权及实施行动决策中,北极原住民组织展现了独特的思考和实践。基于批判地缘政治学的理论视角观察因纽特环北极理事会为代表的原住民组织的发展历程,发现：（1）北极原住民组织强调基于文本生产的知识权力获取方式;（2）制度性参与是原住民组织的主要行动路径。北极事务参与权的获取及针对性行动策略的实施帮助原住民组织成功影响和重塑了北极的治理理念、身份认同与地理空间,推动北极地区向着善治和良治发展。通过对因纽特环北极理事会案例的解析,可以为中国拓展自身在北极地区的合作空间提供参考。     

Oakes Bay 1: A Preliminary Reconstruction of a Labrador Inuit Seal Hunting Economy in the Context of Climate Change

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(2):245–259, 2010

This paper presents results of recent archaeological research at the site of Oakes Bay 1 (HeCg-08), on Dog Island, Labrador, dated from the late 17th to late 18th century. Analyses of faunal remains provide a means of reconstructing the site's subsistence economy. The site's inhabitants practiced a very consistent mode of hunting throughout this time period, depending heavily on adult ringed seals taken on the fast ice in winter and spring. Juvenile ringed seals, taken at the ice edge in the spring were a secondary resource. A lack of evidence for the hunting of harp seals in the fall and of ringed seal pups in late spring suggests that the site had a relatively short season of occupation. The consistent pattern of hunting through time suggests that the impacts of climatic variability on Inuit subsistence in the Nain region were relatively limited, moderated by their capacity for mobility on the sea ice rather than by whole scale changes in hunting practices and species choice. The Oakes Bay 1 site presents an example of a different subsistence economy than that seen at other recently examined sites in Labrador, suggesting that the impacts of the so-called Little Ice Age were not global or uniform.     

Volcanic style in the Strand Fiord Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Axel Heiberg Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

The Strand Fiord Formation is a volcanic unit of early Late Cretaceous age which outcrops on west-central and northwestern Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The formation is part of the thick Sverdrup Basin succession and immediately precedes the final basin foundering event. The Strand Fiord volcanics are encased in marine strata and thin southward from a maximum thickness of 789+ m on northwestern Axel Heiberg to a zero edge near the southern shore of the island. Tholeiitic icelandite flows are the main constituent of the formation with volcaniclastic conglomerates, sandstones, mudrocks and rare coal seams also being present. The lava flows range in thickness from 6 to 60 m and subaerial flows predominate. Both pahoehoe and aa lava types are common and the volcanic pile accumulated mostly by the quiet effusion of lavas. The volcaniclastic lithologies become more common near the southern and eastern edges of the formation and represent lahars and beach to shallow marine reworked deposits. The Strand Fiord volcanics are interpreted to represent the cratonward extension of the Alpha Ridge, a volcanic ridge that was active during the formation of the Amerasian Basin.     

新时代粤港澳大湾区人地关系的全球模式与区域响应

全球化时代人口、产业、能源、贸易等关键生产要素跨区域快速流动,人地关系由静态走向动态,由孤立化走向网络化,地理尺度被充分放大,标志着人地关系从区域性向全球性转变。粤港澳大湾区作为我国对外开放的前沿阵地之一,改革开放四十年来其人地关系已经发生了深刻的变化,亟需重新认识和研究粤港澳大湾区人地关系的全球配置与区域响应模式,为粤港澳大湾区在全球和区域尺度合理配置人地关系核心要素,建设世界一流湾区提供理论支撑。本文在把握新时代人地关系的全球性转变基础上,对粤港澳大湾区人地关系研究进行了展望：① 从理论上探讨世界一流湾区人地关系从区域性转向全球性的一般模式和规律;② 分析改革开放以来粤港澳大湾区人地关系的全球配置过程及其驱动因素变化;③ 剖析全球模式下湾区内部的区域响应差异与区域协同机制;④ 探索“创新-产业-环境”关键系统全球模式的重构路径;⑤ 提出新时代粤港澳大湾区人地关系的优化与调控路径。     

Estimates of energy expenditure and energy consumption of ringed seals (Phoca hispida) throughout the year

We have employed a model for the energy balance of seals to estimate the energy consumption and energy expenditure of ringed seals throughout the year, using biological and physical parameters as input. Data on growth and seasonal changes in body mass and fat content "drives" the seasonal dynamics of the model output. The energy requirements for lactation and activity are based on data from earlier published studies. The analysis suggests that the food intake of ringed seals is highly seasonal. In adult males it is low during the periods of territory defense, mating and moulting from March to June. During this period the seals lose body mass, mainly as fat. The model predicts that lactating females increase their food intake to some extent during the approximately six-week lactation period. After the ice breakup, food intake increases in both sexes, partly as a result of increasing maintenance energy requirements, and partly because the body fat stores are rebuilt in late summer and autumn. The over-all energy requirements of the ringed seal appear to be basically similar to those of terrestrial mammals.