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The Ultimate
Predator |
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The food webs outlined so far are
a gross simplification of the real world. Many more species are
involved. Species change their habits and habitats at different
stages in their lives, at different times of year, and in different
parts of the Arctic. A truer picture is drawn by the Inuit and Cree
of the Hudson Bay food web. Here the marine, freshwater and
terrestrial systems are interlinked, from the primary vegetation
source in the outer ring, through the herbivores and predators in
successive rings, to the Inuit and Cree in the centre. The links
are multiple and overlapping, and the food sources change from season
to season. |
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Mans position as Top Predator in the
food web has unfortunate consequences, particularly for Indigenous
peoples. An important physiological adaptation of many Arctic animals
is the accumulation of fat as an insulator and as a food reserve.
This feature, combined with the solubility of persistent organic
pollutants in fat, has meant that this contaminant, although present
in minute amounts in the environment, is accumulated up the food
chain and is now present in Indigenous peoples in significant
amounts. |
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Indigenous peoples have sustained
their use of natural resources for millennia. In recent centuries,
whalers, hunters, trappers and fishermen from lower latitudes have
increasingly exploited the northern resources. The effects have
been direct in that populations are significantly reduced, e.g.
through overfishing, or indirect when a predator switches to a new
prey because its usual food has been overfished. Populations fluctuate
greatly. Cod, herring and capelin have been major targets for
centuries and the exploitation of cod in particular has influenced
the fortunes and culture of many nations. But even the exceptionally
productive cod, a key prey and predator for other species, has been
reduced to a shadow of its former strength by Man - the ultimate
predator! |
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Man is not only the ultimate predator.
Man is an integral part of the Arctic Ecosystem with a pervasive
influence, directly or indirectly, in a continuum from the immediate
effects of hunting or fishing to the diffuse and distant effects
of pollution, emission of greenhouse gases or the global economy.
Many of the adaptations adopted by Man reflect those of other animals
ranging from insulation through clothing to migration when prey
populations are depleted. We tend to view Man as unique, but this
anthropocentric view underestimates our continuity with the rest
of nature. It also artificially distinguishes between natural and
Man-made ecosystems when all ecosystems are influenced by Man; it
is just a question of degree and mechanism. So we, all of us, are
part of the Arctic Ecosystem. Or is it that the Arctic is actually
part of an even bigger ecosystem - the Global Ecosystem - Gaia -
the self regulating Earth postulated by James Lovelock. But that
is another story! |
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