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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #333129
Title: Small species indicate big changes? Arctic report card

Author
item HOPE, ANDREW - Kansas State University
item GREIMAN, STEPHEN - Georgia Southern University
item TKACH, VASYL - University Of North Dakota
item Hoberg, Eric
item COOK, JOSEPH - University Of New Mexico

Submitted to: Arctic Report Card
Publication Type: Government Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2016
Publication Date: 12/12/2016
Citation: Hope, A., Greiman, S., Tkach, V., Hoberg, E.P., Cook, J. 2016. Small species indicate big changes? Arctic report card. Arctic Report Card. http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2016.

Interpretive Summary: Arctic ecosystems are undergoing substantial perturbations driven by accelerating climate warming. Understanding and anticipating the outcomes of warming and environmental disruption across sensitive terrestrial and marine systems is dependent on a robust picture of biodiversity. As Arctic climate warms, how will terrestrial ecosystems and the communities that they support respond in the coming decades? Small mammals including shrews and their associated parasites can serve as key indicators and proxies of accelerating perturbation, contributing to general models for anticipating outcomes of environmental change and faunal mixing. Spatially broad and temporally deep specimen archives of small mammals and parasites are being coupled with expanding technology (e.g., genomics, metagenomics, isotopes) and improved analytical methods to reveal new insights. Study of historical processes of community assembly and host-parasite interactions provide a broad based and nuanced understanding of multi-scale species interactions emerging from accelerating climate change in northern systems. A coordinated research effort exploring processes linking evolutionary and ecological time is essential for understanding complex community organization and the dynamics of emerging pathogens of consequence for people and for effective management of Arctic diversity. The outcomes of climate change are of critical significance across a broad spectrum encompasing people dependent on subsistence life styles in the north, for conservation management of wildlife in subsistence food chains, for issues related to biological integrity, and for documenting and recognizing changing pattern for pathogens and diseases. Information contained in the Report Card will have significant applications across federal agencies and non-governmental organizations where ecologists, parasitologists and epidemiologists require insights about the nature of environmental change now and into the future.

Technical Abstract: As Arctic climate warms, how will terrestrial ecosystems and the communities that they support respond in the coming decades? Small mammals including shrews and their associated parasites can serve as key indicators and proxies of accelerating perturbation, contributing to general models for anticipating outcomes of environmental change and faunal mixing. Spatially broad and temporally deep specimen archives of small mammals and parasites are being coupled with expanding technology (e.g., genomics, metagenomics, isotopes) and improved analytical methods to reveal new insights. Study of historical processes of community assembly and host-parasite interactions provide a synoptic understanding of multi-scale species interactions emerging from accelerating climate change in northern systems. A coordinated research effort exploring processes linking evolutionary and ecological time is essential for understanding complex community organization and the dynamics of emerging pathogens of consequence for people and for effective management of Arctic diversity.