Long-term abundance time-series of the High Arctic terrestrial vertebrate community of Bylot Island, Nunavut
Creators: name: Moisan, Louis
name: Bideault, Azenor
name: Gauthier, Gilles
name: Duchesne, Éliane
name: Fauteux, Dominique
name: Berteaux, Dominique
name: Legagneux, Pierre
name: Cadieux, Marie-Christine
name: Bêty, Joël
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Arctic tundra
biodiversity monitoring
Bylot Island
Canadian Arctic
community composition
Community structure
food web
long-term monitoring
species abundance
species biomass
species body mass

description: Arctic ecosystems present unique opportunities for community-wide monitoring, in part due to their relatively low species richness. However, conducting research in these remote environments poses significant logistical challenges, resulting in long-term monitoring being exceedingly rare. Here, we focus on the long-term, intensive ecological monitoring efforts conducted on the south plain of Bylot Island (almost 400 km2 , Nunavut, Canada), which has generated a remarkable dataset spanning up to 30 years, a rarity in tundra ecosystems. Our goal is to synthesize this dataset and upscale vertebrate abundance data at the landscape level, a prerequisite to conduct community-level analyses. We have standardized data obtained with different field methods to provide readily usable long-term time series of abundance for 35 vertebrate species (30 birds and 5 mammals) present in the study system. Monitoring data includes intensive capture-mark-recapture density estimates of lemmings on trapping grids, systematic or opportunistic nest monitoring conducted across the entire study area or within specific plots for all bird species, transects of vertebrate counts distributed throughout the study area, daily incidental observations of vertebrates and satellite tracking of fox movements. Annual abundance of species was estimated at the landscape level, accounting for spatial variations. Furthermore, we provide body masses for each species, derived from empirical onsite measurements for 18 species and from the literature for the remaining species. Body mass is essential to convert species abundance into biomass for studies of trophic fluxes and ecosystem processes. Our dataset provides a unique opportunity for holistic empirical studies of ecological communities, allowing a deeper understanding of community structure and dynamics. Considering that the study site is a pristine and protected area that has experienced minimal anthropogenic impact, it can also provide an ideal baseline for investigating the impacts of global changes on high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems.
description: Funding provided by: Center for Northern StudiesROR ID: https://ror.org/01q8ytn75Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et TechnologiesROR ID: https://ror.org/00b9f9778Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research CouncilROR ID: https://ror.org/01h531d29Award Number: 
Funding provided by: ArcticNetROR ID: https://ror.org/01tca3t44Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Canadian Wildlife ServiceCrossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Natural Resources CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/05hepy730Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Polar Knowledge CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/00rfash91Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Université du Québec à RimouskiROR ID: https://ror.org/049jtt335Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Université LavalROR ID: https://ror.org/04sjchr03Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Canada First Research Excellence FundROR ID: https://ror.org/01ktx4s83Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Environment and Climate Change CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/026ny0e17Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Canada Foundation for InnovationROR ID: https://ror.org/000az4664Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Parks CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/008sy4716Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Government of CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/010q4q527Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/05xmf1h49Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Ducks Unlimited CanadaROR ID: https://ror.org/04p45sn64Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Kenneth M. Molson FoundationROR ID: https://ror.org/0454mmy42Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Garfield Weston FoundationROR ID: https://ror.org/00rm5fa18Award Number: 
Funding provided by: Nunavut Wildlife Management BoardROR ID: https://ror.org/056r65c22Award Number:
description: See MetadataS1.pdf