Estimating and Mitigating Perinatal Mortality in the Endangered Saimaa Ringed Seal (<i>Phoca hispida saimensis</i>) in a Changing Climate

Auttila, Miina; Niemi, Marja; Skrzypczak, Teresa; Viljanen, Markku; Kunnasranta, Mervi

doi:10.5735/086.051.0601

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Saimaa ringed seal is a critically endangered endemic species that only lives in one inland watershed in eastern Finland. The seals breed on the lake ice and build the lairs in snow banks (Auttila et al, 2014). The shortening and, in the long run, potential disappearance of thermal winters hampers the reproduction of the seals, increasing the risk of extinction of this species despite active conservation efforts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal seasons in northern Europe in projected future climate

Ruosteenoja

Markkanen

Räisänen

2020

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Global warming acts to prolong thermal summers and shorten winters. In this work, future changes in the lengths and timing of four thermal seasons in northern Europe, with threshold temperatures 0 and 10 C, are derived from bias-adjusted output data from 23 CMIP5 global climate models. Three future periods and two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios are discussed. The focus is on the period 2040-2069 under RCP4.5, which approximately corresponds to a 2 C global warming relative to the preindustrial era. By the period 2040-2069, the average length of the thermal summer increases by nearly 30 days relative to 1971-2000, and the thermal winter shortens by 30-60 days. The timing of the thermal springs advances while autumns delay.Within the model ensemble, there is a high linear correlation between the modelled annual-mean temperature increase and shifts in the thermal seasons.Thermal summers lengthen by about 10 days and winters shorten by 10-24 days per 1 C of local warming. In the mid-21st century, about two-thirds of all summers (winters) are projected to be very long (very short) according to the baseline-period standards, with an anomaly greater than 20 days relative to the late-20th century temporal mean. The proportion of years without a thermal winter increases remarkably in the Baltic countries and southern Scandinavian peninsula. Implications of the changing thermal seasons on nature and human society are discussed in a literature review. K E Y W O R D S2 C global warming target, bias correction, climate change, representative concentration pathways (RCPs), temperature deviation integral method, thermal summer, thermal winter

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal seasons in northern Europe in projected future climate

Ruosteenoja

Markkanen

Räisänen

2020

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…Pinniped females do not consume placentas after birth [47, 48]; thus, the presence of a placenta can be used as confirmation of pup birth in a specific location. Therefore, the exact birth locations in the main study area were confirmed, based on the finding of placentas and dead pups collected in underwater surveys in years 2011–2013 [39, 49]. During the study years, 46% of the birth lairs classified by lanugo hair could be confirmed based on the finding of a placenta [39].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the exact birth locations in the main study area were confirmed, based on the finding of placentas and dead pups collected in underwater surveys in years 2011–2013 [39, 49]. During the study years, 46% of the birth lairs classified by lanugo hair could be confirmed based on the finding of a placenta [39].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate change has negative effects in the endangered Saimaa ringed seal population, especially on juvenile survival [34, 35], which is already weakened due to incidental by-catch mortality [36–38]. To date, fishing restrictions have been established (e.g., [8]), and the negative effects of mild winters have been mitigated by a unique method in which volunteers pile snow along the shorelines, and the ringed seals adopt these drifts as their breeding and haul out sites [39]. Recent findings on the negative effects of land usage and other human activities on the Saimaa ringed seal population [40] suggest urgent spatial conservation needs during the breeding season, when the ringed seal is suggested to be the most sensitive to disturbance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Niemi¹,

Liukkonen²,

Koivuniemi³

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

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Climate change, together with increasing human activity, poses a threat to the breeding success of endangered landlocked ringed seals (Phoca hispida saimensis). In this study, we estimated the spatial ecology of Saimaa ringed seals during the breeding season in the ice-covered period of December-April. The telemetry data on tagged seals (n = 20), with a total of 25 separate tracking periods and birth lair locations (n = 59) of non-tagged seals, were studied to estimate the movement ecology and breeding density. The movements of the ringed seals were more restricted during the ice-covered season; the total home range size (average 7.4 km2) in winter was 13 times smaller than that in summer. Individual tagged seals occupied an average of 5 ± 3 SD subnivean haul outs (snow lairs or ice cavities), and the mean distance between the haul outs was 1.6 ± 1.1 SD km (range 0.2–5.9 km). Moreover, our data indicated that ringed seal females likely exhibited breeding time avoidance of each other’s core areas, which may indicate some degree of territoriality. This was supported by the findings that the core areas (mean 1.2 km2) of tagged adult females (n = 9), did not overlap with each other. Also data on non-tagged seals showed that females did not give birth to pups within the core area radius of other parturient females. This study, together with earlier findings on the home ranges of nursed pups and perinatal mortality rates, has implications into land usage planning in Lake Saimaa by highlighting the need of undisturbed area between seal lairs and anthropogenic disturbances.

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“…, Niemi , Auttila et al . , Valtonen ). Perinatal mortality fluctuates from 5% to near 30% among breeding seasons, and it has been shown that changes in water level during the ice covered season and mild winters elevate the mortality, but still the causes of preweaning mortality are not fully understood (Sipilä , Ranta et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

Morphometrics, body condition, and growth of the ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) in Lake Saimaa: Implications for conservation

Auttila

Kurkilahti

Niemi

et al. 2015

Marine Mammal Science

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Morphometrics and growth of the critically endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis), which inhabits a freshwater lake in Finland were studied using data from 344 carcasses. This study presents the first detailed information on ringed seal pup growth and body condition from birth to the age of one year. Newborn pups were on average 68 cm long and weighed 5 kg. Pups attained the majority of their first year growth during the nursing period. Body condition and growth declined after weaning, but pups recovered from postweaning nutritional deprivation at the age of 8 mo. The seals achieved their maximum body length, girth, and mandible size around the age of 4 yr, and asymptotic body mass two years later. Baculum growth indicated that males reached sexual maturity at age 5–6 yr. The Saimaa ringed seals' asymptotic body length and mass were 132 cm and 59 kg, respectively, which is similar to medium sized marine ringed seals. Saimaa ringed seals' survival to adulthood is extremely low due to high bycatch mortality; furthermore climate change may hamper pup growth and elevate mortality. Therefore we recommend continuation of fishing closures to improve pup survival.

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Estimating and Mitigating Perinatal Mortality in the Endangered Saimaa Ringed Seal (Phoca hispida saimensis) in a Changing Climate

Cited by 22 publications

References 27 publications

Thermal seasons in northern Europe in projected future climate

Thermal seasons in northern Europe in projected future climate

Winter behavior of Saimaa ringed seals: Non-overlapping core areas as indicators of avoidance in breeding females

Morphometrics, body condition, and growth of the ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) in Lake Saimaa: Implications for conservation

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