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Seascape as an organizing principle for evaluating walrus and seal sea‐ice habitat in Beringia
Author(s) -
Ray G. Carleton,
Overland James E.,
Hufford Gary L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2010gl044452
Subject(s) - seascape , sea ice , habitat , oceanography , climate change , mesoscale meteorology , geography , environmental science , ecology , fishery , climatology , geology , biology
The term “seascape”, as used here, relates the natural history of ice‐dependent pinnipeds to their sea‐ice environments at different spatial scales, following concepts of landscape ecology. Habitats are characterized by heterogeneous but repeatable structures of sea ice. As an example, multiple mesoscale (3–50 km) seascapes present conditions for different ecological preferences of five Beringian ice‐dependent pinnipeds, as observed during 2006–2009 winter‐spring icebreaker cruises. Seascape partitioning concepts are important for understanding and projecting species' responses to change under climate‐change scenarios.