Biomarkers for Animal Vulnerability Assessments

The Arctic is experiencing the effects of global heating at an accelerated rate, with unprecedented consequences to this unique

ecosystem. As a Pleistocene survivor, the muskox (Ovibos moschatus) is an iconic representative of this shrinking biome. Given their

key role in tundra ecosystems and their circumpolar distribution, it may act as a sentinel species indicative of biotic change in Arctic

ecosystems. Due to experiencing multiple bottlenecks historically, genetic variability in the muskox is low and populations may thus

be poorly equipped to adapt to rapid environmental change. Increasing temperatures not only facilitate changing environmental

conditions via a northward shift of infectious diseases, pathogens and vegetation but may also push the limits of the upper

thermoneutral zone of muskoxen, causing metabolic stress.

BAVA will investigate the vulnerability of muskox populations facing different degrees of environmental stress across its circumpolar

range. Integrating metabolomics in a space-for-time experimental design allows for the examination of the ecophysiological

response of four wild muskox populations to environmental conditions across a vast gradient of environments representing past,

present and future Arctic climates, and thus contrasting levels of environmental stress, for a species that is highly adapted to cold and

dry Arctic climate.

By using a state-of-the-art biomolecular approach, BAVA will identify biomarkers linked to metabolic pathways, describe their

spatiotemporal patterns of variability and utilise this information to inform population-level modelling of population resilience to

climate change. In doing so, BAVA elucidates individual- and population-level metabolic responses to contemporary and future

environmental change. Eventually, BAVA will not only push my career as a leading scientist but also foster international collaboration

and subject excellency by providing a better understanding of Arctic ecosystem vulnerability.