Hypothesis
The fluctuations in the number of ice-free days in the Canadian Arctic marine ecosystems with changing climate (i.e., change in food webs and water chemistry) are the main controlling factors of mercury transformation and bioaccumulation in Arctic marine ecosystems which can be traced and quantified using mercury stable isotopes fractionation.
4 Research objectives
The main goal of this research is to investigate mercury stable isotopes fractionation during biouptake and biomagnification in Arctic marine ecosystems and use mercury stable isotopic signatures to study mercury transformation, fate and bioaccumulation in the context of the changing environment. The specific objectives are:
1) To determine the total mercury and isotopes fractionation of Hg during short and long ice-free seasons in the Canadian high Arctic (Ulukhaktok, NWT) ringed seals’ muscle. Which shed light on the mercury transformation and fate in Arctic marine ecosystems in two different environmental conditions and mercury fate in Arctic marine mammals (Chapter 2).
2)
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To determine the total mercury, and mercury stable isotopes fractionation and turnover rates of muscle, liver, and kidney in low and high ice cover conditions (Chapter 3).
3) To study the changes in the total mercury (HgT) and mercury stable isotopes ratio in Arctic biota as it moves up in trophic levels of Arctic marine ecosystems (Chapter 4).
4) To determine the HgT and Hg stable isotopes ratio in Arctic cod to study of sources and exposure pathways of Hg and MeHg in the Western Canadian Arctic, Beaufort Sea (Chapter 5).
5) To draw a conclusion about the use of Hg isotopes to understand Hg biogeochemical cycles in the Canadian Arctic marine
ecosystems. 5 Description of the study site and tissue sampling The sampling site is located in the western Canadian Arctic near Ulukhaktok (formerly Holman; 70⁰43’N, 117⁰ 45’W) along the northwest coast of Prince Albert Sound, NWT, Canada (Figure 1). The collected cryogenically archived ringed seal (Phoca hispida) muscle, liver, kidney and blubber tissue samples from the study site in both high ice cover (2003 to 2005) and low ice cover (2011 to 2013) periods will be available through our collaborators at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO, Freshwater Institute, Winnipeg, MB. The ice cover data will be available from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). We will measure the total mercury and mercury stable isotopes in archived tissue samples from three years with high ice cover (2003-2005; mean ice-free days = 89) three years with low ice cover (2011-2013, mean ice-free days = 128) as explained in the following methodology sections. B Figure 1. A Sampling region in the western Canadian Arctic, Ulukhaktok (formerly Holman Island), NWT, B 6 Number of ice-covered days versus years in Ulukhaktok, NWT, Canada
The nature of the long- necked seal is very shy and they have retiring behavior, the features and geography of the Loch Ness fully support the animal’s reluctance and timid actions. The animals are more likely to appear on warmer days, this also results in the appearance of people which can account for the recorded findings in Scotland. The speed of these animals, over twenty knots, can also account for why their identity can be mistaken for other animals or why there are so many theories (Shovlin 28). A Weddell seal, a species of Antarctic seal, have been known to hyper oxygenate their blood stream for long dives, up to half an hour below the freezing ice. This relates to the long-necked seal because it illustrates how they could have survived the freezing temperatures of the loch for so long, and with being below the surface it accounts for the rare sightings (Shucker). The mystery of Loch Ness is slowly, but surely being uncovered by new scientific findings and the piecing together of well- known
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The reduction in photosynthesising biomass led to an increased reliance on the Worlds other carbon sink, Oceans. Between 26-44% of CO2 in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans by photosynthesising organisms, mainly phytoplankton (Archer, D. and Pierrehumbert, R., 2011), seawater chemically reacts with aqueous Carbon Dioxide, one of the end products is Hydrogen ions (H+) (NOAA, 2013). The increased concentration of H+ results in the ocean becoming more acidic, since pH is determined by concentration of Hydrogen ions.
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In many parts of the world, ecosystems’ temperatures begin to rise and fall to extreme levels making it very difficult for animals and plants to adapt in time to survive. Climate has never been stable here on Earth. Climate is an important environmental influence on ecosystems. Climate changes the impacts of climate change, and affects ecosystems in a variety of ways. For instance, warming could force species to migrate to higher latitudes or higher elevations where temperatures are more conducive to their survival. Similarly, as sea level rises, saltwater intrusion into a freshwater sys...
The areas that have been studied have often been chosen due to the lakes and the surroundings. Different types of vegetation allowed aspects such as the tree line to show how they effected the chironomids populations compared to tundra. Another aspect of the lakes that have been examined was the fact that they did not stratify. Due to this trait the surface temperature will reflect the overall temperature of the
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The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) has had a slow recovery since the cessation of commercial...
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