Applied winter biology: threats, conservation and management of biological resources during winter in cold climate regions

Abstract

Winter at high latitudes is characterized by low temperatures, dampened light levels and short photoperiods which shape ecological and evolutionary outcomes from cells to populations to ecosystems. Advances in our understanding of winter biological processes (spanning physiology, behaviour and ecology) highlight that biodiversity threats (e.g. climate change driven shifts in reproductive windows) may interact with winter conditions, leading to greater ecological impacts. As such, conservation and management strategies that consider winter processes and their consequences on biological mechanisms may lead to greater resilience of high altitude and latitude ecosystems. Here, we use well-established threat and action taxonomies produced by the International Union of Conservation of Nature-Conservation Measures Partnership (IUCN-CMP) to synthesize current threats to biota that emerge during, or as the result of, winter processes then discuss targeted management approaches for winter-based conservation. We demonstrate the importance of considering winter when identifying threats to biodiversity and deciding on appropriate management strategies across species and ecosystems. We confirm our expectation that threats are prevalent during the winter and are especially important considering the physiologically challenging conditions that winter presents. Moreover, our findings emphasize that climate change and winter-related constraints on organisms will intersect with other stressors to potentially magnify threats and further complicate management. Though conservation and management practices are less commonly considered during the winter season, we identified several potential or already realized applications relevant to winter that could be beneficial. Many of the examples are quite recent, suggesting a potential turning point for applied winter biology. This growing body of literature is promising but we submit that more research is needed to identify and address threats to wintering biota for targeted and proactive conservation. We suggest that management decisions consider the importance of winter and incorporate winter specific strategies for holistic and mechanistic conservation and resource management.

Keywords: Conservation; Management; Winter.

Figure 1

Examples of winter threats and conservation and management actions. Threats are shown using black circles: (1) anthropogenic disturbance to wintering wildlife (e.g. caribou: Ranger tarandus) such as those introduced by motorized vehicles; (2) poleward migrations of more southern species like smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), pictured here in our northern stream, and their interactions with wintering species (e.g. white sucker: Catostomus commersonii; brook trout: Salvelinus fontinalis); (3) pollution during winter, commonly in the form of thermal effluent from power plants and road salt inputs from roadways; (4) the understudied nature of winter, exemplified by our poor understanding of the characteristics and locations of critical winter habitat (e.g. groundwater upwellings) and consequences of winter disturbances (e.g. road salt pollution); (5) shifting phenologies of flora and fauna commonly signalled by earlier snowmelt and warmer winter temperatures; and (6) winter habitat loss from anthropogenic development (shown here is the construction of a new road). Conservation and management actions are shown using red squares: (7) locating and protecting critical winter habitat using tools like radio telemetry via collars (pictured here on caribou) or tags (which can be observed in the smallmouth bass); (8) adaptive management of natural resources leveraging strategies like flexible harvest windows; (9) habitat restoration/enhancement through the addition of critical habitat structure. This is not an exhaustive list and instead functions to highlight some of the more important threats and actions discussed. It should be noted that any singular threat highlighted here has numerous consequences to winter biota and could threaten biodiversity if not adequately dealt with or managed. Moreover, consideration should be taken whenimplementing these conservation and management practices to ensure their effectiveness. For example, inadequate habitat restoration can be harmful if implemented incorrectly (see 3. Habitat & natural process restoration for more details).