Claudia Stile - Capstone Approach

Question: How do Arctic marine mammals utilize biological mechanisms to detect their migration pathways, and how are their mechanisms impacted by increasing climate change impacts?

Goal: This project aims to understand marine mammal biological reactions to their environment as climate change effects become more prevalent in the Arctic. By investigating migration patterns in marine mammals, it can be inferred whether their internal magnetic sensing mechanisms have altered alongside climate change.

Objectives:

Understand how climate change has impacted Arctic marine mammals from a biological perspective
- Migration patterns for food, distribution across Arctic space

Examine migration patterns of marine mammals in the Arctic and see how warming has correlated with movement
Determine how different organisms are responding to climate change
- Focus on 1-2 cetaceans, 1-2 pinnipeds, polar bears
- Highlight one year round species each, and one seasonal migratory species each

Approach:

Determine scope and proposal in 1st capstone course this coming fall
- Literature review
- Methodology planning: utilize datasets from other researchers and compare distribution across years, then overlap distribution with ice maps and climate change impacts, lastly use literature to examine climate changes
Conduct research and determine results in 2nd capstone course
- Data analysis: coding, RStudio mapping
- Determine how strong climate change and marine mammal behavioral responses, such as migration and distribution, are correlated
Write paper and synthesize results in in 3rd capstone course

References

Bauer, G. B., Cook, P. F., Harley, H. E., Bruck, J., Cosentino, M., Deutsch, C. J., Erdsack, N., Fellner, W., Gunnars, T., Hill, H. M., Kumar, S. V., Lilley, M. K., McHugh, K. A., Moore, J., Moron, J. R., Ravignani, A., Reep, R. L., Rycyk, A. M., Sayigh, L. S., & Szegedi, A. (2026). Exploring Marine Mammal Cognition as a Conservation Tool. Marine Mammal Science, 42(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70114

Hamilton, C. D., Vacquié-Garcia, J., Kovacs, K. M., Ims, R. A., Kohler, J., & Lydersen, C. (2019). Contrasting changes in space use induced by climate change in two Arctic marine mammal species. Biology Letters, 15(3), 20180834. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0834

Huntington, H. P. (2009). A preliminary assessment of threats to arctic marine mammals and their conservation in the coming decades. Marine Policy, 33(1), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2008.04.003

Kovacs, K. M., & Lydersen, C. (2008). Climate change impacts on seals and whales in the North Atlantic Arctic and adjacent shelf seas. Science Progress, 91(Pt 2), 117–150. https://doi.org/10.3184/003685008X324010

Kovacs, K. M., Lydersen, C., Overland, J. E., & Moore, S. E. (2010). Impacts of changing sea-ice conditions on Arctic marine mammals. Marine Biodiversity, 41(1), 181–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-010-0061-0

Kuletz, K. J., Ferguson, S. H., Frederiksen, M., Gallagher, C. P., Hauser, D. D. W., Hop, H., Kovacs, K. M., Lydersen, C., Mosbech, A., & Seitz, A. C. (2024). A review of climate change impacts on migration patterns of marine vertebrates in Arctic and Subarctic ecosystems. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12: 1434549. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1434549

Laidre, K. L., Stern, H., Kovacs, K. M., Lowry, L., Moore, S. E., Regehr, E. V., Ferguson, S. H., Wiig, Ø., Boveng, P., Angliss, R. P., Born, E. W., Litovka, D., Quakenbush, L., Lydersen, C., Vongraven, D., & Ugarte, F. (2015). Arctic marine mammal population status, sea ice habitat loss, and conservation recommendations for the 21st century. Conservation Biology, 29(3), 724–737. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12474

Laidre, K. L., Stirling, I., Lowry, L. F., Wiig, Ø., Heide-Jørgensen, M. P., & Ferguson, S. H. (2008). Quantifying The Sensitivity Of Arctic Marine Mammals To Climate-Induced Habitat Change. Ecological Applications, 18(sp2), S97–S125. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-0546.1

Moore, S. E., & Huntington, H. P. (2008). Arctic Marine Mammals and Climate Change: Impacts and Resilience. Ecological Applications, 18(sp2), S157–S165. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-0571.1