Inuit observations of a Tunicata bloom unusual for the Amundsen Gulf, western Canadian Arctic
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Inuit are at the forefront of ecosystem change in the Arctic, yet their observations and interpretations are rarely reported in the literature. Climate change impacts are rapidly unfolding in the Arctic and there is a need for monitoring and reporting unique observations. In this short communication, we draw upon observations and experiential knowledge from western Canadian Inuit (Inuvialuit) harvesters combined with a scientific assessment to describe and interpret an unusual account of gelatinous organisms at high densities during summer 2019 in eastern Amundsen Gulf, near Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories. The gelatinous organisms were identified as primarily appendicularian larvaceans (Oikopleura spp., pelagic tunicates) and their gelatinous “houses”. The organisms were observed within 3–5 km of the marine coast, from ∼1–2 m below the surface and to depths of ∼30 m with an underwater camera. Pelagic tunicates have rarely been documented in the eastern Amundsen Gulf and, to our knowledge, this was the first time these organisms had been noted by the people of Ulukhaktok. The pelagic tunicates clogged subsistence fishing nets and Inuvialuit harvesters were concerned about negative impacts to marine mammals and fishes, which they depend on for food security. These interpretations highlight major knowledge gaps for appendicularians in the Arctic. Video Inuit Ukiuktaktumi nunamingni tautukpaktut nunaktik aalangnujuhianik, taimaa tautukpaktait ilihimaliktait titiraqtauyuitut titiqani. Nunam aallangujuhia tautuktauyuq kayumikhipluni Ukiuktaktun nunanni, taimatun munariyauyukhak titiraqhimayukhat aallangujuhiit. Uvani tittiqaniInuit tautukpaktait ilihimaliktait titiraqhimayut Inuvialuit anguniaqtiinnit attauttimut iliblugit qablunaat tittiratainnutilituritiarumaplugitumayuutigut tamainnut auyanani 2019mi, tahamani Admundson Gulfmi Ulukhaktuum haniani North west Territoriesmi. Tahapkuat uumayut hauniittut imangmi attauttimiitpaktut. Uumayut tahapkuat tautuktauvaktut pingahunikluunniin tallimanitulluunniin kilometresmik ungahiktilanganik tariukmitalvattauk atauhikmikluunniin, malguknikluunniin metresnik ititigiyumi. Ilaani ititqiyami 30 metresmi takunnaqpaktun ajiliurunmun. Tahapkuninga tautuyuittugaluat taja kihimi tautukpaliktait. Ulukhaktuunmiutat taja tautukpaliktait. Tahapkuat uumayut nuvaktut inmate kuvyanut himiutkpiaqpaktut, kuvyallu iqaluguikhutik. Inuit iqalukhiuktullu anguniaqtullu ihumaalugiliktait anguyamingnik niqiqaramik. Tahapkuat ilituriliktavut ilihimatttaingitnaptigit nunaptingni ukiuktaktumi ilitturrinahuaqqaqhaluavut.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".