Photo: Bjørn Frantzen
Seabirds tend to aggregate at ice edges or in marginal ice rine mammals, reductions in sea-ice cover will also ben-
zones where suitable prey is abundant and easily availa- efit many seabird species as new feeding areas become
ble. Wind-driven upwelling along ice-edges often concen- available and primary production increases
99
.
trates important invertebrate and fish prey and thus im-
proves foraging conditions. Diving seabirds also exploit Impacts of sea-ice changes on culture and
the fauna associated with the subsurface of sea-ice as well livelihoods of Arctic Indigenous Peoples
as other sorts of prey found in leads deep inside the ice.
Environmental and seasonal cycles are an integral part of
In the Arctic, species such as ivory gulls and little auks are the human-environment system in Arctic regions, and the
very likely to be negatively impacted by reductions in sea peoples of the north have a long tradition of adapting to
ice and the subsequent changes to the communities in shifting environmental conditions. However, the rapidity
which they live
96
. Ivory gulls in the Canadian Arctic have and pervasiveness of current and projected climate change
shown significant declines in recent years and these de- pose new and unprecedented challenges to the adaptive
clines have been attributed to changes in sea-ice cover
97
. capacity of local communities and Arctic societies
31
.
In the Antarctic, species such as the emperor penguin, Nearly four million people live in the Arctic today, in-
the snow petrel and the Antarctic petrel are likely to be cluding indigenous and non-indigenous people. Some
negatively impacted if sea-ice extent changes markedly are hunters and herders living on the land, and others
in the Southern Oceans
98
. However, as with polar ma- are city dwellers. Many indigenous groups are exclusive
CHAPTER 5 ICE IN THE SEA 87