Description du projet
Impact du réchauffement de l’océan Arctique sur les cétacés
Malgré le rôle crucial des cétacés arctiques en tant que bio‑indicateurs de l’écosystème marin arctique, notre compréhension de leur capacité à adapter leur comportement et leur physiologie aux perturbations induites par le climat reste limitée. Cette lacune sera comblée par le projet WARMM, financé par l’UE, qui compilera un ensemble de données multi‑espèces à long terme de 25 ans et comprenant deux prédateurs suprêmes de l’Arctique (narval et baleine boréale) et deux prédateurs suprêmes subarctiques (baleine à bosse et marsouin commun) afin d’étudier les réponses comportementales et physiologiques de ces espèces au changement climatique. Le choix de ces quatre cétacés est basé sur leur régime alimentaire, leurs habitats et leur niveau d’activité contrastés, ce qui rend cet ensemble de données unique pour mener une analyse comparative de la façon dont ces quatre espèces feront face au réchauffement imminent des océans.
Objectif
Over the past 30 years, sea ice in the Arctic has declined by 3-4% per decade, making the Arctic the area experiencing the most rapid ecological changes due to climate change. Understanding the consequences of climate change on the Arctic ecosystem is therefore part of the European Union’s (EU) wider efforts. As a consequence of rapid sea-ice loss and increasing temperatures, the abundance, diversity and distribution of low trophic level organisms will be inevitably altered, generating cascading effects through the entire marine food chain from phytoplankton to apex predators. Despite their crucial role as bio-indicators of the Arctic marine ecosystem, the capacity of Arctic cetaceans to adjust their behaviour (foraging, movement patterns) and physiology (fat storage, thermoregulation) to climate-induced perturbations remains poorly understood. By compiling a multi-species long-term dataset covering 25 years and including 2 Arctic (narwhal and bowhead whale) and 2 sub-Arctic (humpback whale and harbour porpoise) apex predators, the WARMM project aims at investigating the behavioural and physiological responses of these species to climate change. The choice of the 4 cetaceans is based on their contrasting diet, habitats and level of activity, making this dataset unique to feed a comparative analysis of how these 4 species will cope with an imminent warming ocean. I will exploit a large existing dataset that will be augmented by physiological data collected during the project to (1) identify the foraging strategies from acoustic and accelerometry data, (2) link the behaviours and physiology to the environment, to finally (3) predict the future responses of apex predators in terms of thermal stress and geographical range. Our project will constitute an unprecedented scientific baseline to advise the EU and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in mitigating the effects of climate change and safeguarding the Arctic marine biodiversity.
Champ scientifique
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesmarine biology
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogycetology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinateur
3900 Nuuk
Groenland