Resilience and Adaptation: Yukon River Watershed Contaminant Risk Indicators

Table 2

Potential indicators of change and variation across ecological levels.

Ecological level	Indicators/metrics	Rationale
Individual species	Salmon	Common; abundant; widespread; eaten by higher trophic levels
	Shellfish
	River otter, sea otter, mink, and muskrat	Represents higher trophic levels; monitors different food webs
Populations	Colonial birds	Of interest to the public, vulnerable because they breed and feed in aquatic habitats that concentrate toxins
	Red fox and Arctic fox	Of less interest to the public, but have circumpolar perspective
Community	Sled dogs	Of interest to the public, vulnerable because they eat what humans eat
	Lichens and plants	Low trophic level and thus indicative of higher level effects; monitors global transport
Ecosystem	Species diversity	Of interest to the public, can be used to observe trophic dynamics
Landscape	Percent habitat	Of interest to the public, used to assess quality of habitat as well as temporal changes