Agence France-Presse reports that harp seal pups off the coast of eastern Canada are dying at alarming rates due to a loss of winter ice cover, according to US scientists from Duke University. Recently, they questioned if the population will be able to recover. Their study shows that seasonal ice cover in the harp seal breeding regions of the North Atlantic has declined about six percent per decade since 1979, when satellite data began. The result has been entire generations of newly born seal pups dying due to their disappearing habitat, said the study published in the open access science journal PLoS ONE. While harp seals have adapted to the earlier spring melts in recent years by developing shorter 12-day nursing periods, it remains unclear if their population can sustain itself against sea ices losses over time. “The kind of mortality we’re seeing in eastern Canada is dramatic,” said co-author David Johnston. “Entire year-classes may be disappearing from the population in low ice years — essentially all of the pups die,” he said. “It calls into question the resilience of the population.”
Source:
‘Dramatic’ loss of harp seals amid warming: Study. Harp seal pups off the coast of eastern Canada are dying at alarming rates due to a loss of winter ice cover, according to US scientists who questioned on Wednesday if the population will be able to recover. Agence France-Presse
