Supplementary material from "Genetic profiling links changing sea ice to shifting beluga whale migration patterns"

Native peoples of the far north have long appreciated and relied upon the migrations of animals with the changing seasons, including some of the largest and least studied, the Arctic whales. While sea ice is perhaps the most defining feature of their habitat the relationship between Arctic whales and sea ice is still largely a mystery, and there is increasing concern over how these species will adapt to climate related changes in sea-ice. A team of scientists working in collaboration with Native hunters in Alaska and Canada have found that beluga whales exhibited a tremendous ability to deal with widely varying sea-ice conditions from one year to the next over a 20-year time frame in their return to traditional summering grounds each year. Using a combination of genetic profiling, sighting data and satellite microwave imagery of sea ice in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas they also found some dramatic shifts in migration behavior in years with unusually low spring sea ice concentration and in one case with an increase in killer whale sightings and reported predation on beluga whales. Continued reductions in sea-ice may result in increased predation at key aggregation areas and shifts in beluga whale behavior with implications for population viability, ecosystem structure and the subsistence cultures that rely on them