Low Density of Top Predators (Seabirds and Marine Mammals) in the High Arctic Pack Ice

Table 1

Seabirds and marine mammals encountered during the PS86 and PS87 expeditions of RV Polarstern in 2014; total numbers recorded; mean per count; and = number of 30 min counts.

Species	Species	Expedition>	PS86		PS87		All
		Period>	July		Aug-Sept		July–Sept
		>	387		1235		1622
			Sum	Mean	Sum	Mean	Sum	Mean
Fulmar light	Fulmarus glacialis		920	2.31	362	0.29	1282	0.79
Fulmar dark	Fulmarus glacialis		835	2.16	323	0.26	1158	0.71
Fulmar all	Fulmarus glacialis		1755	4.53	721	0.43	2476	1.53
Manx shearwater	Puffinus puffinus		1				1
Fork-tailed storm-petrel	Oceanodroma furcata				2		2
Common guillemot	Uria aalge		14		1		15
Brünnich’s guillemot	Uria lomvia		93	0.23	262	0.18	355	0.22
Guillemot unidentified	Uria sp. (aalge/lomvia)		4		18		22
Little auk	Alle alle		498	1.25	568	0.46	1066	0.66
Black guillemot	Cepphus grylle		9		76	0.05	85
Puffin	Fratercula arctica		273	0.69	1829	1.48	2102	1.30
Razorbill	Alca torda				51	0.04	51
Gannet	Sula bassana		2		4		6
Great skua	Stercorarius skua		3		4		7
Pomarine skua	Stercorarius pomarinus		2		7		9
Arctic skua	Stercorarius parasiticus		8		25		33
Long-tailed skua	Stercorarius longicaudus		31				31
Ivory gull	Pagophila eburnea		200	0.50	332	0.27	532	0.33
Glaucous gull	Larus hyperboreus		11		18		29
Herring gull	Larus argentatus		5		27		32
Great black-backed gull	Larus marinus		14		17		31
Lesser black-backed gull	Larus fuscus		2		5		7
Kittiwake	Rissa tridactyla		278	0.68	3338	2.70	3616	2.23
Sabine’s gull	Xema sabini				1
Ross’s gull	Rhodostethia rosea				1770	1.22	1770	1.09
Arctic tern	Sterna paradisaea		11		2		13
Tern unidentified	Sterna sp. (hirundo/paradisaea)				15		15
Phalarope unidentified	Phalaropus sp.				1		1
(identified)			3214	9.19	11932	7.17	15146	9.34
Blue whale	Balaenoptera musculus		6				6
Fin whale	Balaenoptera physalus		34	0.085	4		38	0.02
Minke whale	Balaenoptera acutorostrata				1		1
Humpback whale	Megaptera novaeangliae		7		1		8
Sperm whale	Physeter macrocephalus		9		2		11	0.01
Killer whale	Orca orca		9				9
Large whale unidentified	Cetacea		35		6		41	0.03
Narwhal	Monodon monoceros				7		7
White-beaked dolphin	Lagenorhynchus albirostris		215	0.540	34	0.03	249	0.15
Dolphin unidentified	Delphinidae		3		14		17	0.01
(identified)			280	0.723	49	0.03	329	0.20
Bearded seal	Erignathus barbatus		5				5
Harp seal	Pagophilus groenlandicus		5		18	0.01	23	0.01
Ringed seal	Pusa hispida		7		2		9
Hooded seal	Cystophora cristata		16	0.038	2		18	0.01
Walrus	Odobenus rosmarus				1
Seal unidentified	Pinnipedia		36		18		54	0.03
(identified)			33	0.085	22	0.01	55	0.03
Polar bear	Ursus maritimus						9
Polar bear tracks	Ursus maritimus		1		64	0.07	65	0.04
Arctic fox/wolf tracks	Canidae				3		3

For mean values above 0.2 per count for birds and above 0.01 for mammals; partim North of 66°30′N; out of effort.