Abstract:
Climate change is expected to impact species at high latitudes directly through physical changes to the environment and indirectly through changing interactions between species. Vertical interactions, also known as predator-prey interactions, are thought to be particularly important, and may also have downstream impacts for exposure to other environmental stressors, such as contaminants. A series of studies will be presented that highlight climate-driven species redistributions in the Arctic, as documented by monitoring predator diets via chemical tracers, and that illustrate a range of subsequent consequences for Arctic marine mammal exposures to contaminants. Findings underscore the need to consider multiple interacting stressors facing wildlife in a changing polar environment.