Brendan Kelly

University of Alaska Fairbanks · International Arctic Research Center

Pinniped diversity is greatest in seasonally ice-covered seas where the risk of predation is minimised. In recent decades, the thickness and extent of seasonal ice cover has decreased in the Arctic, and climate models predict that positive feedback from melting ice covers will result in rapid warming in the polar regions. Correlational studies link...

We present the first analysis of snow depth on Arctic sea ice in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) because of its importance for sea ice thermodynamics and ringed seal (Phoca hispida) habitat. Snow depths in April on Arctic sea ice decrease over the 21st century in RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 scenarios. The chief cause is loss of s...

Hybridization in polar species could hit biodiversity hard, say Brendan Kelly, Andrew Whiteley and David Tallmon.

Behavioral adaptations for maintaining breathing holes in sea ice and lairs in the overlying snow cover allow ringed seals to occupy sea ice environments from which other marine mammals are excluded for much of the year. The broad distribution of ringed seals in the ice-covered seas of the northern hemisphere created a niche for an apex predator, a...

Report of an international conference in which Arctic scientists, Indigenous People, and policy makers addressed environmental research needs in the Arctic.

Spotted seals Phoca largha and bearded seals Erignathus barbatus are ice-associated seals that have overlapping range in the Beaufort, Chukchi, and Bering Seas, but have different foraging ecologies. The link between foraging behaviour and specific oceanographic variables is not well understood for these species, nor is the influence of different d...

We collated available satellite telemetry data for six species of ice-associated marine mammals in the Pacific Arctic: ringed seals (Pusa hispida; n=118), bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus, n=51), spotted seals (Phoca largha, n=72), Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens, n=389); bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus, n=46), and five Arctic an...

Ch 7. Regional Climates: f. Europe and the Middle East

International Workshop to Reconcile Methane Budgets in the Northern Permafrost Region; Seattle, Washington, 7–9 March 2017

The Columbia Climate Center, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund, Woods Hole Research Center, and Arctic 21, held a workshop titled A 5 C Arctic in a 2 C World on July 20 and 21, 2016. The workshop was co-sponsored by the International Arctic Research Center (University of Alaska Fairbanks), the Arctic Institute of North America (Canada), the M...

We focus on understanding the structure and function of the Beaufort Sea marine ecosystem by linking atmospheric and oceanic drivers to sea ice patterns and marine mammal distribution and availability to local subsistence communities. • Focuses on the marine ecosystem along the Beaufort Sea shelf with emphasis on the Mackenzie River delta region •...

This report was prepared by the North Pacific Research Board (NPRB). Summary: The Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC, a sub-committee of the National Science and Technology Committee) in partnership with the North Pacific Research Board, ConocoPhillips and Shell, recognizes the need to increase our understanding of the marine ec...

Ringed seals (Pusa hispida) are broadly distributed in seasonally ice covered seas, and their survival and reproductive success is intricately linked to sea ice and snow. Climatic warming is diminishing Arctic snow and sea ice and threatens to endanger ringed seals in the foreseeable future. We investigated the population structure and connectednes...

We in the lower forty-eight and Hawaii join Alaska's residents in recognizing one simple truth that the Arctic is an amazing place. The Arctic is one of our planet's last great frontiers. Our pioneering spirit is naturally drawn to this region, for the economic opportunities it presents and in recognition of the need to protect and conserve this un...

We analyzed the three-dimensional movements within individual dives of five freely swimming ringed seals (Phoca hispida). We divided dives into a series of moves, each of which represented continuous movement in one direction, and evaluated several three-dimensional movement variables to distinguish between types of movement within dives. Horizonta...

Thirteen ringed seals monitored by radiotelemetry in the shore-fast ice of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas were faithful to subnivean haulout sites from March to June. Each seal frequented as many as four lairs; the distances between lairs used by individual seals were as great as 3438 m. Mean distances between lairs used by individual males and fema...

The behavior of 14 ringed seals (Phoca hispida) diving under shore-fast sea ice was monitored acoustically during the spring breeding season. Frequent dives with extended periods at depth by subadult and adult seals, including lactating females, were interpreted to be foraging dives. Median dive durations were less than 10.0 min for all seals, and...

Regional variation in the percentages of harbor seals, Phoca vitulina, in light- and dark-phase pelages has been reported recently. Distributions of color phases among sex classes and age-classes and within family groups were examined during two pupping seasons on Tugidak Island and one season on Otter Island, Alaska. The ratio of light phase to da...

One spotted seal (Phoca largha) and two ringed seals (Phoca hispida) were studied in experiments designed to determine which sensory modalities were employed in pilotage from one under-ice breathing hole to another. Breathing holes were drilled in the ice of a frozen freshwater pond and a lake near Fairbanks, Alaska. Holes were located 22–150 m apa...

Ringed seals are strongly adapted to inhabiting seasonal ice cover throughout the Arctic Ocean, marginal seas, and some freshwater lakes. Their distribution has expanded and contracted with northern hemisphere ice cover and is expected to mirror declining ice cover in coming decades. Ringed seals require snow cover to provide shelter from extreme c...

Population structure and patterns of habitat use among ringed seals (Phoca hispida) are poorly known, in part because seasonal movements have not been adequately documented. We monitored the movements of 98 ringed seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas between 1990 and 2006 using three forms of telemetry. In the winter—spring period (when the seals...

Population structure and patterns of habitat use among ringed seals (Phoca hispida) are poorly known, in part because seasonal movements have not been adequately documented. We monitored the movements of 98 ringed seals in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas between 1990 and 2006 using three forms of telemetry. In the winter—spring period (when the seals...

We monitored the movements of ringed seals using radio and ultra-sonic tags during the winter – spring period when the seals were occupying shorefast ice and using satellite-linked transmitters in summer and fall when the seals ranged away from their winter sites. In the shorefast ice habitat, the home ranges of 27 breeding males ranged from < 1 km...

Ringed seals are the primary prey of polar bears, and they are found in all seasonally ice covered seas of the northern hemisphere as well as in several freshwater lakes. The presence of snow covered sea ice is essential for successful ringed seal reproduction. Ringed seals abrade holes in the ice allowing them to surface and breathe under the snow...

Obtaining a sufficient number of DNA samples from ice-breeding marine phocids, in a noninvasive manner, has proven difficult and has limited the ability to use molecular genetics on these species. We evaluate the ability to genotype ringed seals using a novel source of DNA, skin cells shed by the seal as it moults on sea ice. We found that shed ski...

The Pacific walrus population has been depleted and subsequently allowed to recover three times in the past 150 yr. As we see it, the population has been made to fluctuate like an r-selected species, rather than being maintained at a high, stable level, as befits a K-selected species. The latest depletion began in the 1930s but was not recognized u...

A bstract A new approach for evaluating the potential biases of walrus ( Odobenus rosmarus ) diet data derived from stomach contents was examined based on the rates at which different prey types were digested. In this study controlled digestion experiments on polychaetes, echiurid and sipunculid worms, clams, snails, and crabs demonstrated that the...

A bstract The Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) population is an important ecological and economic resource of the Bering Sea region. We describe population change, beginning with a low in 1950, through a high in about 1980, and ending in 1989. Estimates of abundance for the years after 1989 were not attempted due to the lack of harvest...

A bstract Airborne sensing of emitted infrared (IR) was tested as a means of detecting under‐snow lairs of the ringed seal ( Phoca hispida ) in study areas in Resolute Passage, N.W.T. Lairs and regularly used large breathing holes could in some cases be detected by emitted IR from altitudes of up to 180 m. Lairs were more easily detected if they ha...

Energetic demands are high for Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus during spring, when females are pregnant and lactating and males are preparing for extended fasts on breeding territories. Therefore, we predicted that the distribution of sea lions in SE Alaska in spring would be influenced by the distribution of spring spawning aggregations of hi...

Ringed seal (Phoca hispida) populations may be responding to habitat changes associated with industrial activity and climate change in the arctic. Population assessment, however, has relied on visual surveys of the extensive sea ice habitat, and interpretation of those surveys has proven difficult. Throughout most of the year, ringed seals are not...

A bstract Dives of five freely diving ringed seals were classified into three‐dimentional movement types. Horizontally convoluted dives, defined as dives with angular velocity > 15°/sec, appeared to be foraging or social dives. Simple dives that did not include convoluted movements (angular velocity < 10°/sec) were considered to be exploration dive...

We analyzed the three-dimensional movements within individual dives of five freely swimming ringed seals (Phoca hispida). We divided dives into a series of moves, each of which represented continuous movement in one direction, and evaluated several three-dimensional movement variables to distinguish between types of movement within dives. Horizonta...

A bstract The number of seals on shore at Tugidak Island (Gulf of Alaska) declined 72%–85% between 1976 and 1988 and increased during the 1990s. We compared pupping phenology and the ratio of pupping‐period counts to molting‐period counts between declining (1976–1979) and increasing (1994–1998) years, and examined the sex/age structure of seals ash...

We analysed the use of three-dimensional space by 13 freely diving ringed seals, Phoca hispida, to distinguish between local search, presumably within prey patches, and travel or exploration between prey patches. We subdivided the three-dimensional home ranges of ringed seals into 3×3×3m grid cells. For each dive, we determined the time spent swimm...

Behavioral studies of pinnipeds have been concentrated in the temperate zone, while the majority of phocid seals breed in high latitude, ice-covered waters. The under-ice movements and behavior of ringed seals, the most ice-adapted of northern pinnipeds, were investigated in 1989-1992. Fifteen ringed seals were captured 1 or more times in nets desi...

Fifteen ringed seals (Phoca hispida), from a small pup to fully mature adults, were captured 1 or more times in nets designed to line seal breathing holes in sea ice. Seals surfacing to breathe triggered the fall of a weight, causing an extension of the nets to drop below the undersurface of the ice and to purse. Nets were monitored acoustically to...

This obituary honours the achievements of Francis H. Fay (Bud) who was a distinguished marine mammalogist, a dedicated scholar, and a man of unwavering integrity who inspired colleagues, students, and friends. Bud's life was dedicated to the study of the life history of the Pacific walrus. This study commenced on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, where...

Arctic ringed seals (Phoca hispida) and antarctic Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddelli) were tracked using an attached acoustic tag during their under-ice movements at isolated experimental sites with varying numbers of novel breathing holes. Both natural and artificial visual landmarks were used by the seals during their dives. Seals deprived of...

The ecological importance of lair use and the responses of individual ringed seals to noise disturbance were studied telemetrically over three years. The objectives were: to determine the number of subnivean lairs utilized by individual ringed seals and the spatial distribution of those lairs; to determine the patterns of daily and seasonal use of...

In October-November 1978, several thousand living walruses came ashore in at least four localities on St. Lawrence Island where they had not been present before in this century. They hauled out also at two other sites which they have occupied annually but in much smaller numbers. At least 537 animals died on the haulout areas at that time, and appr...