Recommendations

Project Type # Outcome Report Year FEC
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingFood resources are being lost for many Arctic species in Arctic marine environments. Many species have to travel further and expend more energy to feed, leading to concerns about individual health and potential effects at the population levelState of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Seabirds

  • Develop methods for assessing diet to increase our understanding of changes in the ecosystem and how they affect seabird populations.
  • When selecting sites for new monitoring, consider proximity to hotspots for marine activities, access to the sea, and inclusion of plankton monitoring.
  • Expand colony-based monitoring and strive to include a more complete array of parameters, in particular, diet and measures of survival.
  • Consider a higher frequency of monitoring as current levels make it difficult to identify mechanisms or causes of change in populations.
  • Conduct targeted surveys and individual tracking studies of seabird interactions at sea to improve our understanding of seabird interactions at sea, where seabirds spend most of their time.
  • Continue to conduct at sea surveys on an opportunistic basis.
State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Traditional and Local Knowledge (TLK): Utilizing Traditional and Local Knowledge and involvement of TK holders allows for increased understanding of relationships and changes underway in Arctic ecosystems, current and historical trends, and serves to build valuable partnerships on the ground in Arctic communities.

  • Use Traditional and Local Knowledge within the design and implementation of monitoring plans. The Traditional and Local Knowledge of people living along and off the Arctic Ocean is an invaluable resource for understanding changes in Arctic marine ecosystems and its inclusion should be supported by national governments.
  • Increase engagement and partnerships with local residents and easy to access technology in monitoring programs. Indigenous communities are important ‘first responders’ to catastrophic events. More importantly, their knowledge systems provide a wealth of knowledge that should be involved in the analysis of collected data for increased understanding of current trends and filling historical gaps.
  • There is a need for TLK on a range of FECs and to engage networks of TLK holders and Indigenous organisations.
  • Use both TLK and scientific information on the analysis of harvest levels and status when evaluating overall population health and managing hunts.
State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingNorthward movement is easier for more mobile openwater species. Open water species such as polar cod, are more mobile compared to those linked to shelf regions, such as benthic species including some fishes for which suitable habitat may be unavailable if they move northward.State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Community-based monitoring networks and community relationship building:

  • Increase the span of networks in the CBMP to include Community-based monitoring networks.
  • Communicate information on changes and the results of monitoring between scientists and the public in both directions. This is crucial to the development of effective management strategies and human activities.
State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingCurrent trends indicate that species reliant on sea ice for reproduction, resting or foraging will experience range reductions as sea ice retreat occurs earlier and the open water season is prolonged.State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringAdvicePlankton• Follow standardized protocols for monitoring plankton, including sample collection and preservation, microscopic and genetic analyses with taxonomic harmonization.• Ensure that full data sharing occurs between scientists, and is deposited in publicly-accessible nationaldata centers. Continue to consolidate older data.• Train highly qualified personnel to perform plankton sampling and species-level analyses, including theuse of molecular techniques.• Establish long-term funded annual monitoring programmes of plankton from selected Arctic field stations or Arctic campaigns/cruises in Canada, the U.S. and Russia, which together with the ongoing monitoring in Greenland, Iceland and Norway will secure a pan-Arctic coverage. • Develop species indexes and if possible, identify indicator taxa for monitoring.State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingIncreases in the frequency of contagious diseases are being observedState of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Marine Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Marine fishes

  • Conduct pan-Arctic taxonomic analyses to clarify zoogeographic patterns that are important for detecting and understanding change.
  • Establish and conduct a monitoring plan that is independent of fisheries-related programs to assess changes in fish abundance and distributions. Use information from non-commercial fish species caught in groundfish surveys to provide a first step in this direction.
  • Use information from TK holders for monitoring marine fishes.
  • Connect monitoring initiatives across scales.
  • Conduct laboratory studies to examine the possible effects of abiotic and biotic changes (e.g. temperature, salinity, acidity and diseases) on fish species
  • Ensure that data on fisheries (commercial as well as artisanal) are accurate and registered in catch databases (such as the Food Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations). Information from logbooks is also relevant as it can be used to estimate the bycatch and the effects of fisheries.
State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2017
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingMany populations with the poorest population information are those which we suspect are showing the greatest declines.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Ecosystem-based Monitoring and Reporting: Monitoring and reporting should encompass all key taxonomic groups and their likely relationships, linking responses to main biotic and abiotic drivers of change.

  • Better coordinate between disciplines and knowledge systems both within and among Arctic states and Indigenous organizations, including experts in abiotic drivers of change (the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program) and other monitoring initiatives.
  • Promote long-term integrated studies across biomes and taxonomic groups for examining trophic dynamics and other key interactions.
  • Improve integration of factors that underpin changes in phenology, demography, and abundance.
State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2021
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey finding“Black” geese (Branta) number c. 13.7 million individuals of 27 populations from 5 species, of which 19 populations show stable or increasing trends over the last 10 years.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Mammals: The START reports on half of mammal FECs including large herbivores (caribou/reindeer, muskoxen), small herbivores (lemming), and medium-sized predators (Arctic fox). Data deficiencies prohibited reporting on medium-sized herbivores, and large and small predators.

  • Develop synchronized protocols that include more attributes and reduce geographical knowledge gaps.
  • Establish or expand international monitoring networks for medium-sized herbivores and large and small carnivores.
  • Emphasize spatial structure and diversity in monitoring efforts due to the northward advance of southern competitors and vegetation changes.
  • For large herbivore, small herbivore, and medium-sized predator FECs:
  • Agree on priorities and harmonize data collection across sites and programs;
  • Share and standardize protocols, in cooperation with relevant partners including Indigenous Peoples and organizations, to include abundance, demographics, spatial structure, health, phenology and, for harvested species, harvest rates; and
  • Ensure monitoring programs employ existing methods with new harmonized methods to allow data comparisons.
  • Monitor health as an attribute and develop standardized health assessment protocols due to the anticipated impact of climate change on distribution and prevalence of disease.
  • Monitor abiotic factors and drivers of change, across greater spatial distributions to assess the cumulative impacts of climate and other anthropogenic change on populations across their ranges.
  • Conduct research on the vulnerabilities of populations to climate change and human impacts, and on genetic diversity and spatial structure of FECs.
  • Increase collaboration using interdisciplinary and multi-knowledge approaches to share site- and population-specific information. This can improve monitoring and lead to better models to assess the vulnerabilities and resilience of specific populations.
  • Address challenges in assessing abundance of FECs across the Arctic, including:
  • reliability of abundance estimates, such as lack of precision and accuracy;
  • changing baselines, such as changes in species distribution, sampling methodology, and areas monitored; and
  • differences in frequency and spatial extent of monitoring.
State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2021
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingTo interpret changes in population size, there is an increasing need to understand whether these are due to shifts in range, changes in reproductive success or changes in annual survival.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Methods : Increased attention to methodology facilitates more precise and comparable results, standardized data collection, and ability to link regional monitoring to circumpolar efforts.

  • Standardize how data is collected, managed, and reported, including field and sampling protocols, data collection methods, terminology, database harmonization and management, tools for data archiving and specimen libraries, including identification and curation.
  • Create a harmonized, accessible, and long-term taxonomic framework for Arctic monitoring.
  • Complete baseline studies and structured inventories to improve circumpolar data across FECs.
  • Promote multi-species studies and long-term time series data.
State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2021
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingMost estimates derive from total counts of all individuals, 8 populations combine some form of capture-mark-recapture approach (almost exclusively in North America) but 15 populations are based upon expert opinion, mostly in East and Central Asia. Less than half of the estimates for all populations were thought to fall within 10% of the true totals.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingChanging frequency, intensity and timing of extreme and unusual weather events due to climate change are affecting some species, with unknown effects on populations.State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2021
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingThere is a very clear need to establish or expand annual reporting on population size and demographic trends to make such information accessible to decision makers and stakeholders in a timely fashion.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringAdvice

Local Knowledge and Citizen Science: Local Knowledge exists on a spectrum from long-term, place-based experiential knowledge held by local residents, including harvesters, to knowledge of more recent residents. As such, monitoring efforts to work with Local Knowledge must interact with a wide range of diverse knowledge holders.

  • Dedicate more time to collaboration with Local Knowledge holders in monitoring design, analysis and interpretation.
  • Encourage and support citizen science platforms that engage Arctic residents, as well as visitors. Platforms should reflect strong scientific goals, have transparent methods for evaluating data quality, build communities of observers, engage a strong volunteer base, and devote consistent efforts to communicating results.
  • Identify and collaborate across existing platforms to increase awareness and participation in citizen science and consider new approaches to address knowledge gaps.
  • Invest in digital infrastructure as a prerequisite for fully accessible platforms to inform biodiversity monitoring.
State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity: Key Findings and Advice for Monitoring2021
CBMP Terrestrial Biodiversity MonitoringKey findingIn North America, population estimates are good; trends are generally of the best quality and most populations are increasing or stable.A Global Audit of the Status and Trends of Arctic And Northern Hemisphere Goose Populations2018
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