The comparative lake ecology of two geographically separated Arctic Charr populations in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut

The lake ecology of Arctic fishes is strongly influenced by seasonal feeding opportunities and environmental variation. Arctic Charr are prevalent throughout the Arctic. They are variable in their growth, number of eggs produced, age when they begin to reproduce and length of life across their range.

Read this open access paper on the Arctic Science website.

Unlike Old World populations, the lake ecology of Arctic Charr populations in southern Baffin Island remains poorly defined. We compared the seasonal lake ecology sea run and landlocked populations in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut.

Sea run Charr showed no evidence of feeding within freshwater once they began seaward migrations. Sea run Charr achieve sexual maturation at a larger size and younger age than landlocked Charr.

Landlocked Charr used more lake habitats than sea run Charr. Landlocked Charr fed year round. They adopted a cannibalistic feeding strategy in the winter but consumed a variety of food items in the fall. Nearshore habitat was found to be important to all sizes of Charr in both seasons. Smaller sea run Charr (<350 mm) did not use the bottom habitat.

The variable ecology and form demonstrated further emphasizes the adaptability of Arctic Charr that allows its widespread distribution in the Arctic.

Read the paper — The comparative lake ecology of two allopatric Arctic Charr, Salvelinus alpinus, populations with differing life histories in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut by A.L. Young and R.F. Tallman.