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Sentinels Of Arctic Ecosystem Health: Polar Bear And Arctic Fox Item Type Thesis Authors Kirk, Cassandra M. Download date 28/09/2021 13:19:16 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9086 SENTINELS OF ARCTIC ECOSYSTEM HEALTH: POLAR BEAR AND ARCTIC FOX A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Cassandra M. Kirk, B. A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 2010 UMI Number: 3451881 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI- Dissertation Publishing UMI 3451881 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. uestA ® ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 SENTINELS OF ARCTIC ECOSYSTEM HEALTH: POLAR BEAR AND ARCTIC FOX By Cassandra M. Kirk RECOMMENDED BY: - Q r ci-t M- f/tn o~ Advisory-Committee Chair Chair, Department of Biology and Wildlife -7 / .---------------- 2^0 // Date ABSTRACT Climate change is impacting human, wildlife, and ecosystem health in the Arctic. Currently, we lack sufficient information to fully appreciate the ramifications of these changes and are thus ill equipped for predicting, mitigating or adapting to the outcome of such impacts. Warming in the Arctic has generated a need for baseline information on biodiversity and ecosystem health such that change over time may be assessed. Sentinel species can be used to monitor and therefore, intervene to prevent adverse health outcomes before they manifest at the population level. This dissertation examines the use of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and arctic foxes Alopex( lagopus) as sentinels for climate change in the Arctic. To this end we: develop hematological biomarkers in polar bears which can be used to model change over time in health; demonstrate relationships between this biomarker and infectious agent exposure (e.g serology); and establish prevalence and risk factors for infectious agents that can serve as indicators of change in disease occurrence at the Arctic marine-terrestrial interface. We found that den emergent female polar bears with dependent young were the most immunologically vulnerable cohort and suggest therefore, that they be targeted in future monitoring efforts. We also detected evidence suggesting serologic exposure of polar bears to morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii may be associated with immunological status and age (morbillivirus only). Furthermore, we used molecular epidemiologic techniques to identify the strain of the highly lethal morbillivirus in arctic fox as “arctic” canine distemper virus and the species ofEchinococcus in arctic fox on the Alaska North Slope asEchinococcus multilocularis. The results of this study illustrate the utility of the “One Health” approach in addressing the impacts of climate change. Understanding Arctic ecosystem health will require the collaborative efforts of experts in diverse fields as well as input from local, traditional ecological knowledge over the proper spatial and temporal scales. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page SIGNATURE PAGE.................................................................................................................i TITLE PAGE.............................................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES..................................................................................................................x LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................xiii LIST OF ABREVIATIONS.................................................................................................. xv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.................................................................................................... xix INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 1 Concerns for Climate Change and Human Health ....................................................... 1 Climate Change Impacts on Arctic Marine Food Web Dynamics..............................3 Climate Change and Security of Traditional Foods in the Arctic...............................4 Climate Change Impact on Biodiversity and Infectious Disease in the Arctic 5 Climate Change and Ecosystem Health: The “One Health” Approach...................... 8 Using Sentinels to Assess Arctic Ecosystem Health.................................................. 10 Using Biomarkers to Evaluate Ecosystem Health...................................................... 14 Thesis Objectives...........................................................................................................16 References..................................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 1. Hematology of southern Beaufort Sea polar bears (2005-2007): Biomarker for an arctic ecosystem health sentinel................................................................................. 29 1.1 ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................29 1.2 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 31 1.3 METHODS...........................................................................................................34 1.3.1 Animal Capture.....................................................................................34 1.3.2 Blood Collection and Processing........................................................ 35 1.3.3. Hematology..........................................................................................36 1.3.4 Statistical Analyses............................................................................ 38 1.4 RESULTS.............................................................................................................40 1.5 DISCUSSION...................................................................................................... 41 1.6 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................... 49 1.7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................50 1.8 REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 51 Chapter 2. Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma exposure and association with hematological parameters for southern Beaufort Sea polar bears: Potential response to infectious agents in a sentinel species.................................................................................................................72 2.1 ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................72 2.2 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 74 2.3 METHODS...........................................................................................................78 2.3.1 Serology.............................................................................................. 78 2.3.2 Molecular Analyses............................................................................. 79 2.3.3 Statistical Analyses.............................................................................. 79 2.4 RESULTS.............................................................................................................81 2.4.1 Hematology and Serology Associations.............................................82 2.4.2 Risk factors for morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii exposure 82 2.5 DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................83 2.5.1 Hematology and Serology Associations.............................................84 2.5.2 Risk factors for morbillivirus and Toxoplasma gondii exposure.. ..88 2.6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 92 2.7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................................................................94 2.8 REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 95 Chapter 3. Arctic Fox(Vulpes lagopus) Morbillivirus Ecology in Northern Alaska: Characterization of phosphoprotein gene fragment and comparison to serology of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus)........................................................................................................I l l 3.1 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................I l l 3.2 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 113 3.3 METHODS.........................................................................................................117