Why study the Arctic?
The Arctic region, extending from the Arctic Ocean to the tundra and northern boreal forest of North America and Eurasia, is home to ecosystems and peoples uniquely adapted to extreme conditions. Due to the direct and diverse effects of climate change, the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe, and changes are already underway. As a result, species that live there or are reliant on the Arctic for much of their life cycle, are at serious risk.
Ecosystem Health in the Arctic
The Arctic health is impacted by a range of anthropogenic stressors, from overharvesting to environmental contaminants and the degradation of habitats. In the face of climate change, the conservation of Arctic ecosystems is one of the greatest ecological and political challenges of our time.
BRI’s Arctic Program is involved in a range of research and conservation initiatives. These are generally interdisciplinary in nature and include collaborators from national agencies within Arctic countries and local and international conservation organizations. Staff from BRI’s Center for Waterbird Studies, Center for Mercury Studies, and Marine Bird Program contribute to these broad efforts in the Arctic.
Program Director:
Contributing Staff:
Highlighted Species We Study
Black Guilemont
Arctic Warbler
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Red-throated Loon
Dunlin
Arctic Research at BRI
Contaminants Monitoring
Even without large-scale development in the region, Arctic species are increasingly exposed to environmental contaminants (e.g., mercury) which tend to deposit more in the Arctic than elsewhere. Since its inception, BRI has studied the exposure and effects of mercury in many species of fish and wildlife around the world.
Movement and Tracking Studies
Many species that rely on the Arctic for a critical part of their life cycle migrate to other regions of the globe. In doing so, these species are often exposed to a series of threats along their migratory routes and on their wintering grounds; therefore, conserving these species requires a detailed understanding of their annual movements.
Inventory and Population Studies
Many bird species are considered good indicators of overall ecosystem health. Evaluating the conservation status of bird populations can be difficult, but gathering reliable data on the trends in the abundance and distribution of birds breeding in remote Arctic regions is enormously challenging.
Publications
- “A Synthesis of Maternal Transfer of Mercury in Birds: Implications for Altered Toxicity Risk,” Environmental Science and Technology (2020)
- “Mercury exposure and risk in breeding and staging Alaskan shorebirds,” The Condor: Ornithological Applications (2016)
- “Ecological insights from three decades of animal movement tracking across a changing Arctic,” Science (2020)
