Trophic Relationships at High Arctic Ice Edges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic2303Keywords:
Algae, Animal behaviour, Animal ecology, Animal food, Arctic cod, Food chain, Marine ecology, Marine mammals, Sea birds, Sea ice ecology, Zooplankton, Pond Inlet, NunavutAbstract
At ice edges in the Canadian High Arctic, seabirds and marine mammals eat arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) and to a lesser extent, zooplankton (calanoid copepods and Parathemisto) and ice-associated amphipods. Cod eat ice-associated amphipods, other ice-associated taxa (harpacticoid and cyclopoid copepods), and zooplankton. Calanoid copepods, Parathemisto, and the ice-associated amphipods studied (Onisimus glacialis, Apherusa glacialis, Gammarus wilkitzkü) all eat primarily diatom algae characteristic of the under-ice flora. From this information, a food web at the ice edge is constructed.
Key words: trophic relationships, arctic, ice edges, seabirds, marine mammals, cod, epontic community, zooplankton
