1 Annotated Bibliography Sable Island National Park

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Jul 24, 2018 - Beyond 51.5 kg (mean population weaning mass) weaning mass ... Fates and Movements: The Feral Horses of Sable Island." Journal of .... host development, condition, health, reproduction and longevity. Improving our .... +2.0 SD [standard deviation]) and was the largest value in the 121 year record. Mean.
Annotated Bibliography Sable Island National Park Reserve Publications acquired as part of a climate change assessment. July 24, 2018 Scott Parker, PhD Office of the Chief Ecosystem Scientist Parks Canada Email: [email protected] A PDF’s copy of each publication available upon request.

AGRG (2015). Sable Island, Nova Scotia: 2014 Topography and Land Cover Report. Middleton, NS, Applied Geomatics Research Group, Nova Scotia Community College. Allan, S. S. (1998). A study of high wind storms affecting Atlantic Canada, 1979--1995. Ann Arbor, McGill University (Canada). MQ44114: 77. A climatology of high wind events (HWEs) affecting Sable Island (44°N, 60°W) and Halifax (44.5°N, 63.5°W) was constructed for the period 1979–1995. We then focussed on HWEs at Sable Island in more detail because of their high frequency relative to Halifax. Events were stratified into four groups based on the direction of the peak speed: NE (1°–90°), SE (91°–180°), SW (181°–270°), and NW (271°–360°). Synoptic structures and statistically significant atmospheric anomalies were identified in composites for each group. More detailed structures were found in composites constructed with the aid of a cluster analysis. NW HWEs were associated with rapidly deepening marine cyclones and lacked clear atmospheric predecessors. NE HWEs were linked to a slow moving offshore cyclone and prominent anticyclone near Labrador. An anomalously weak Icelandic Low was a dominant precursor signal and an important feature found in each of the groups. SE HWEs were related to the strong pressure gradient between a cyclone-anticyclone couplet. The anticyclone was evident four days before the HWE and played a crucial role in the development of the cyclone. SW HWEs were related to a variety of cyclone types, but were typically related to a low-frequency cold surge over eastern North America. The storms most difficult to predict may be NW HWEs, since they lack clear atmospheric precursor signals. They are also among the most dangerous storms affecting Atlantic Canada, since they move and develop rapidly, and have some of the highest wind speeds. Beson, K. (1998). Towards a Conservation Strategy for Sable Island, Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Atlantic Region. Bond, A. L., et al. (2014). "Plastic ingestion by fulmars and shearwaters at Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada." Marine pollution bulletin 87(1): 68-75. Plastic pollution is widespread in the marine environment, and plastic ingestion by seabirds is now widely reported for dozens of species. Beached Northern Fulmars, Great Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Cory's Shearwaters are found on Sable Island, Nova 1

Scotia, Canada regularly, and they can be used to assess plastic pollution. All species except Cory's Shearwaters contained plastic debris in their gastrointestinal tracts. Northern Fulmars, Sooty Shearwaters and Great Shearwaters all showed high prevalence of plastic ingestion (>72%), with Northern Fulmars having the highest number and mass of plastics among the species examined. There was no difference in plastic ingestion between sexes or age classes. In all species user plastics made up the majority of the pieces found, with industrial pellets representing only a small proportion in the samples. Sable Island could be an important monitoring site for plastic pollution in Atlantic Canada. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Bond, J. (2016). Enabling High Accuracy, Position Monitoring of Sable Island Through the Nova Scotia Coordinate Referencing System, Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science 48, Part 2: 265-284. Bowen, W. D., et al. (2015). "Offspring size at weaning affects survival to recruitment and reproductive performance of primiparous gray seals." Ecology and Evolution 5(7): 1412-1424. Offspring size affects survival and subsequent reproduction in many organisms. However, studies of offspring size in large mammals are often limited to effects on juveniles because of the difficulty of following individuals to maturity. We used data from a long-term study of individually marked gray seals (Halichoerus grypus; Fabricius, 1791) to test the hypothesis that larger offspring have higher survival to recruitment and are larger and more successful primiparous mothers than smaller offspring. Between 1998 and 2002, 1182 newly weaned female pups were branded with unique permanent marks on Sable Island, Canada. Each year through 2012, all branded females returning to the breeding colony were identified in weekly censuses and a subset were captured and measured. Females that survived were significantly longer offspring than those not sighted, indicating size-selective mortality between weaning and recruitment. The probability of female survival to recruitment varied among cohorts and increased nonlinearly with body mass at weaning. Beyond 51.5 kg (mean population weaning mass) weaning mass did not influence the probability of survival. The probability of female survival to recruitment increased monotonically with body length at weaning. Body length at primiparity was positively related to her body length and mass at weaning. Three-day postpartum mass (proxy for birth mass) of firstborn pups was also positively related to body length of females when they were weaned. However, females that were longer or heavier when they were weaned did not wean heavier firstborn offspring. Byrne, M.-L. (1991). The development of stratification in vegetated coastal sand dunes, Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Ann Arbor, McMaster University (Canada). NN76242: 411. Sable Island is the emergent portion of Sable Island Bank, located on the edge of the continental shelf about 200 km from the mainland. The island is made up of wide, flat beaches, overwashed spits, brackish and freshwater ponds and vegetated and unvegetated sand dunes. The dunes are organized into a fairly continuous north ridge which is punctuated by blowouts and a less continuous south ridge which ring the island's main body and are vegetated predominantly with Ammophila breviligulata and a variety of woody species of the Shrub Heath community. The spits are covered with low hummock dunes vegetated primarily with Honkenya peploides. A description of the stratification 2

within the dunes provides a basis for an interpretation of the processes operating throughout their history. Particular importance is attached to the role of vegetation because each plant community has an associated set of structures which are the signature of deposition within, around, and in the lee of that group of plants. These sedimentologic signatures are combined to create a sequence which describes the history of deposition in the dunes. Distinct sequences are presented for morphologically different dunes. There are two types of foredunes, which develop in place, that have their own sequence of sedimentologic signatures. Three types of dunes develop from the migration of dune ridges over an area. Of particular importance on Sable Island are the parabolic dunes which move through the body of the island on a west-northwest to east-southeast axis. The structures in the dunes can be used to help explain the surface morphology. Byrne, M. L. and S. B. McCann (1995). "The dunescape of Sable Island." Canadian GeographerGeographe Canadien 39(4): 363-368. Cabrera, D., et al. (2017). "Island tameness and the repeatability of flight initiation distance in a large herbivore." Canadian Journal of Zoology 95(10): 771-778. Antipredator behaviours can be lost relatively quickly in populations that are relieved of predation, as is known for several species inhabiting islands. Flight initiation distance (FID) is often studied in the context of island tameness; however, little is known about the factors that influence and maintain FID variation in predation-free populations. Here, we studied FID in foals of an isolated predator-free population of feral horses (Equus caballus L., 1758) on Sable Island, Canada, to determine if FID could be used for research on consistent individual differences in risk aversion and island tameness. In addition to testing for temporal, spatial, and sex effects on FID, we compared repeatability estimates at two temporal scales (within and among days). Similar FID for measurements obtained on the same day and for males and females indicated an absence of short-term desensitization and sex effects. In contrast, FID decreased for measurements made on subsequent days and from east to west, which could reflect habituation to human presence and (or) other temporal and spatial processes. Repeatability was high (0.42 +/- 0.06), but tended to decrease with increasing time intervals. This study highlights the potential of FID for individual-based research on the ecology and evolutionary dynamics of risk aversion in predation-free populations. Catling, P. M., et al. (1984). The vegetation and phytogeography of Sable Island, Nova Scotia., Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. 34 (3/4): 180-247. Colville, D., et al. (2016). "Mapping the topography and land cover of Sable Island." Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science 48(2). Contasti, A. L., et al. (2013). "Identifying Hidden Sinks in Growing Populations From Individual Fates and Movements: The Feral Horses of Sable Island." Journal of Wildlife Management 77(8): 1545-1552. Identifying the existence of population sinks is critical for conservation and management. However, because of density-dependent dispersal, sinks can sometimes be masked by immigration events, especially during phases of population growth. We present a large3

scale, empirical demonstration of within-population source-sink dynamics using the feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) of Sable Island National Park Reserve, Nova Scotia, Canada, as a model. We tracked the fates and movements of 98.7% of the female population (n=190-237) across 3 demographic clusters (subunits) during a period of rapid population growth (2008-2010; 24.7% increase in density). All subunits experienced increases in population size each year (>1.0). Our individual-based analysis showed that western Sable Island, where water availability was greatest, behaved as a source and would have grown with or without immigration in all years. However, the central (and fastest growing subunit) would have declined from 2008-2009 (=0.951) without immigration. Further, the eastern subunit would have declined in 2 intervals (=0.932, 0.999) without immigration. Our study demonstrates that the propensity of habitat to act as a sink can be masked during a period of population growth because of densitydependent immigration from adjacent habitats. These findings present a caution to managers charged with conserving wide-ranging species with long population cycles for which effects of immigration on local population growth rate can be difficult to isolate using standard methods of enumeration. (c) 2013 The Wildlife Society. COSEWIC (2009). COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Savannah Sparrow princeps subspecies Passerculus sandwichensis in Canada. Ottawa, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. COSEWIC (2014). COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Sable Island Sweat Bee Lasioglossum sablense in Canada. Ottawa, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Crysler, Z. J., et al. (2016). "Differential fall migratory routes of adult and juvenile Ipswich Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis princeps)." Movement Ecology 4: 8. Background: Island breeding birds present an ideal system for studying migratory movements in passerines because their populations are clearly demarcated, and individuals must depart on migration from a single location. The Ipswich Sparrow (Paserculus sandwichensis princeps) is a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow that breeds exclusively on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada and winters along the Atlantic coast of North America. We used a network of 34 automated VHF telemetry receivers to track radio-tagged adult and juvenile Ipswich Sparrows from their breeding island southward through the first half of their fall migratory journey. Results: We compared adult to juvenile timing and routes. We show that juveniles leave the island approximately 24 days prior to adults and remain temporally separated from them during migration through Nova Scotia. Juveniles have different overwater orientations that result in migratory routes with shorter ocean crossings and a longer overall distance travelled compared to adults. Juveniles also have more frequent and longer stopovers, and displayed some reverse migration. Conclusion: We demonstrate that migratory routes differ between adults and juveniles, suggesting that routes change as individuals age, possibly through learning or social interactions. These differential routes also suggest that sparrows experience risk in different ways with juveniles selecting shorter overwater flights with less navigational risk at the cost of increased time spent in migration.

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Dale, C. A. (2008). Links between the winter and breeding seasons in a short-distance migrant, the Ipswich Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis princeps). Ann Arbor, Dalhousie University (Canada). MR43979: 99. While wintering and breeding are geographically separated in migratory bird species, a growing body of evidence suggests that winter events and winter location may have effects that carry over and impact aspects of the breeding season. In this study, I investigated the effects of a winter event (prealternate moult) and winter location on breeding success in a short-distance migrant, the Ipswich Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis princeps). Ipswich Sparrows, a subspecies of Savannah Sparrow, breed almost exclusively on Sable Island, Nova Scotia; and winter along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida. My first goal was to describe the incidence, timing and extent of the partial winter (prealternate) moult of Ipswich Sparrows, and determine if relationships existed between prealternate moult and breeding performance or winter location. Prealtemate moult only occurred in 25% of Ipswich Sparrows and was mainly restricted to tertials, rectrices and back feathers. Approximately half of the individuals that moulted were actively moulting during the breeding season; and stable isotope evidence suggests that some individuals moult during migration. There was no relationship between the incidence of prealternate moult and breeding performance, nor was prealternate moult related to winter location. My results suggest that prealternate moult is a relatively lowcost activity for Ipswich Sparrows, and that it may function to replace plumage degraded by sunlight. My second goal was to determine if aspects of winter location impacted the breeding season in Ipswich Sparrows. I used hydrogen stable isotope analysis to determine wintering latitude and carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to infer aspects of winter diet. My sample of sparrows wintered mainly in the northern and middle portions of the range. Males also wintered further north than females, and winter location impacted reproductive success in both sexes. Males that wintered in the northern part of the wintering range were in better condition, established territories earlier, and tended to produce heavier nestlings than those that wintered further south. Conversely, females that wintered towards the southern part of the wintering range had earlier first egg dates than those wintering further north. Individuals wintering further south relied mainly on a diet of C4 plants, while those wintering further north incorporated C3 plants in their diet. Nitrogen isotope ratios were not useful in determining trophic level, but were related to condition and therefore may provide information regarding quality of winter habitat. Dalrymple, R. W. and E. L. Hoogendoorn (1997). "Erosion and deposition on migrating shoreface-attached ridges, Sable island, Eastern Canada." Geoscience Canada 24(1): 25-36. The shoreface-attached ridges present along the south side of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, are the largest and deepest yet described, but become smaller and finer grained to the east because of decreasing energy levels. Strong, alongshore, storm currents cause them to migrate eastward at rates that may reach 50 m·a-1. Their migrating troughs erode underlying sediments, modifying the wave-ravinement surface and creating shorelineoblique depressions up to 12 m deep. Deposition occurs on their lee side, in the form of gently dipping, graded storm beds up to 1.2 m thick containing both high-angle cross bedding and hummocky cross-stratification. Overall, the ridge deposits coarsen upward and resemble shoreface successions. Obliquely onshore, cross-ridge flow causes 5

upbuilding by the Huthnance process and accounts for the unusually high angle (∼ 50°) between the ridges and the shoreface. Debeffe, L., et al. (2016). "Negative covariance between parasite load and body condition in a population of feral horses." Parasitology 143(8): 983-997. In wild and domestic animals, gastrointestinal parasites can have significant impacts on host development, condition, health, reproduction and longevity. Improving our understanding of the causes and consequences of individual-level variation in parasite load is therefore of prime interest. Here we investigated the relationship between strongyle fecal egg count (FEC) and body condition in a unique, naturalized population of horses that has never been exposed to anthelmintic drugs (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada). We first quantified variation in FEC and condition for 447 individuals according to intrinsic (sex, age, reproductive status, social status) and extrinsic (group size, location, local density) variables. We then quantified the repeatability of measurements obtained over a field season and tested for covariance between FEC and condition. FECs were high relative to other horse populations (mean eggs per gram +/SD = 154328 +/- 20994). FECs generally decreased with age, were higher in lactating vs non-lactating females, and unexpectedly lower in males in some part of the island. FECs and condition were both spatially structured, with patterns depending on age, sex and reproductive status. FECs and condition were both repeatable. Most notably, FECs and condition were negatively correlated, especially in adult females. Debeffe, L., et al. (2017). "Individual quality and age but not environmental or social conditions modulate costs of reproduction in a capital breeder." Ecology and Evolution 7(15): 5580-5591. Costs associated with reproduction are widely known to play a role in the evolution of reproductive tactics with consequences to population and eco-evolutionary dynamics. Evaluating these costs as they pertain to species in the wild remains an important goal of evolutionary ecology. Individual heterogeneity, including differences in individual quality (i.e., among-individual differences in traits associated with survival and reproduction) or state, and variation in environmental and social conditions can modulate the costs of reproduction; however, few studies have considered effects of these factors simultaneously. Taking advantage of a detailed, long-term dataset for a population of feral horses (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada), we address the question of how intrinsic (quality, age), environmental (winter severity, location), and social conditions (group size, composition, sex ratio, density) influence the costs of reproduction on subsequent reproduction. Individual quality was measured using a multivariate analysis on a combination of four static and dynamic traits expected to depict heterogeneity in individual performance. Female quality and age interacted with reproductive status of the previous year to determine current reproductive effort, while no effect of social or environmental covariates was found. High-quality females showed higher probabilities of giving birth and weaning their foal regardless of their reproductive status the previous year, while those of lower quality showed lower probabilities of producing foals in successive years. Middle-aged (prime) females had the highest probability of giving birth when they had not reproduced the year before, but no such relationship with age was found among females that had reproduced the previous year, indicating that prime-aged females bear higher costs of reproduction. We show that individual quality and age were 6

key factors modulating the costs of reproduction in a capital breeder but that environmental or social conditions were not, highlighting the importance of considering multiple factors when studying costs of reproduction. Freedman, B. (2014). Final Report to Parks Canada: An Ecological and Biodiversity Assessment of Sable Island, Unpublished manuscript, available from Parks Canada. Freedman, B., et al. (2011). "Effects of Feral Horses on Vegetation of Sable Island, Nova Scotia." Canadian Field-Naturalist 125(3): 200-212. To provide necessary information for the management of biodiversity on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, we studied the effects of feral horses on vegetation using exclosures and ancillary observations. Nine plant communities inside and outside of six exclosures were compared using various vegetation parameters and Mann-Whitney tests to evaluate the significance of differences. The most important findings were as follows: (I) effects of horses were greatest in the Marram (Ammophila breviligulata) grassland and much less in the communities that were not dominated by Marram Grass; (2) effects on Marram grassland varied substantially among sites; (3) the cover of standing litter of herbaceous plants was on average of 9.3 times greater inside exclosures in grassland habitats; (4) the cover of living foliage was usually higher inside exclosures, but not all differences were significant; (5) species richness and species diversity were not substantially affected; (6) the average cover of Marram Grass, the most abundant plant and a key sand binder on the island, was greater inside exclosures in six of seven study sites, significantly so in three of them; and (7) there were inconsistent differences in cover of other species at different sites. Wetland habitats cover a relatively small portion of Sable Island, but they support much of the plant biodiversity. There is evidence of strong but variable effects of horses on wetland vegetation. "Horse lawns" are littoral habitats dominated by Agrostis stolonifera (Carpet Bentgrass) and other low-growing plants. The lawn habitats represent less than 1% of the island's vegetation, and their presence is believed to be due to grazing and trampling by horses. Griffin-Allwood, M. (2014). Sable Island National Park: Design with a Dynamic Ecosystem. Halifax, NS, Dalhousie University. Master of Architecture. To design with a changing ecosystem requires examining and understanding site dynamics, extracting guidelines for making architectural decisions and defi ning processes that allow for change. Sable Island National Park is an ideal case study to test this method because its simple and dynamic ecosystem defi nes clear guidelines and requirements for adaptation. The proposed National Park infrastructure remodels human interaction with Sable Island by replacing and remediating existing settlements. Designed to be sensitive to and participate in the island’s natural processes, the new architecture protects the delicate ecosystem and facilitates low impact visitation. The systems, spaces and experiences serve to deepen understanding of human interdependence with the environment. Hebert, D., et al. (2016). Meteorological, Sea Ice and Physical Oceanographic Conditions on the Scotian Shelf and in the Gulf of Maine during 2015, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2016/083. 7

In 2015, the North Atlantic Oscillation index was above the 1981-2010 mean (+17.8 mb, +2.0 SD [standard deviation]) and was the largest value in the 121 year record. Mean annual air temperature anomalies were negative at all sites except Sable Island at +0.5oC (+0.7 SD) and slightly positive at Yarmouth, with values ranging elsewhere from slightly negative at Boston to -0.5oC (-0.7 SD) at Halifax. Positive satellite-based sea surface temperature (SST) annual anomalies prevailed throughout the region except at Cabot Strait at -0.1oC (-0.1 SD), with values ranging from +0.4 to +1.1oC (+0.4 to +1.0 SD) above the 1981-2010 mean values. Sea ice coverage on the Scotian Shelf in 2015 was above the 1981-2010 average unlike the 20102013 period that had extremely low coverage and volume. Long-term coastal monitoring sites at St. Andrews (New Brunswick) and Halifax (Nova Scotia) recorded annual SST anomalies of +0.3oC (+0.3 SD) and +0.0oC (+0.0 SD), respectively, in 2015. At selected sites across the region, annual water temperature anomalies were positive in 2015: +0.9oC (+2.6 SD) for Cabot Strait at 200-300 m depth range (the third largest anomaly; 2012 was the largest); +0.9oC (+1.4 SD) for Misaine Bank at 100 m; +1.2oC (+1.3 SD) for Emerald Basin at 250 m; +1.1oC (+1.4 SD) for Lurcher Shoals at 50 m; and +1.0oC (+1.2 SD) for Georges Basin at 200 m (the warmest year was 2013). Bottom temperature anomalies in Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Divisions 4VWX were all positive in 2015 ranging from +0.9oC (+1.3 SD) in NAFO Division 4X to +1.9oC (+2.8 SD) in NAFO Division 4Vs. Average stratification on the Scotian Shelf continue to weakened from 2013 and was less than the 1981-2010 mean value. Since 1948, the stratification has slowly been increasing on the Scotian Shelf due mainly to onethird freshening and twothirds warming of the surface waters. A composite index, consisting of 18 ocean temperature time series from surface to bottom across the region, indicated that 2015 was the fifth warmest of 46 years (2012 was the warmest), with an averaged normalized anomaly of +1.2 SD relative to the 1981-2010 period. Hennigar, T. W. (1976). Water Resources and Environmental Geology of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia, Department of the Environment. 76-1. Hennigar, T. W. (2013). Groundwater Monitoring Report Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Prepared for Parks Canada. Rae-Anne LaPlante, and Friends of Sable Island. Hennigar, T. W. and G. W. Kennedy (2016). "The precarious freshwater resources of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada: Occurrence and management considerations." Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science 48(2). Kennedy, G. W., et al. (2014). Groundwater Resources of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. Open File Report ME 2014-001. Laforge, M. P., et al. (2016). "Scale-dependent effects of density and habitat on foal survival." Journal of Wildlife Management 80(2): 347-354. Identifying the most appropriate scale to study factors influencing life history is important to evolutionary ecology and wildlife management. For example, the scale at which density is assessed and explains variation in survival can affect how biologists observe and interpret population dynamics, which can influence plans for managing 8

populations. Feral horses (Equus ferus caballus) contrast with most ungulates by exhibiting a mating system characterized by female-defense polygyny with persistent, non-territorial breeding groups (bands) and female-biased initial (natal) and subsequent (breeding) dispersal. We predicted that for horses, offspring movements coupled with female-biased breeding dispersal would increase the scale at which density best related to juvenile survival compared to species with greater female philopatry. From 2008 to 2013, we censused the population of feral horses on Sable Island, Canada. We annually computed individual-specific local densities for 442 foals (horses/km(2) in radii of 2,000m, 4,000m, and 8,000m fixed to a band's centroid of movements) and whole-island (total) population density, group (band) size, and local access to surface freshwater, which affected movement patterns and selection of vegetation by females. The population of feral horses increased from 380 in 2008 to 559 in 2013. Overwinter survival of foals averaged 82.8%. Island-wide density was the most important predictor of foal mortality and was negatively associated with survival, with a lesser negative effect from local density. Increased access to surface freshwater (ponds) was an important predictor of foal survival but only at certain scales. Our study emphasizes the relevance of a multi-scale approach when analyzing the response of fitness components to changes in habitat and population processes, which may be influenced by the particular social organization of the species. (c) 2015 The Wildlife Society. Lalbeharry, R., et al. (2009). "Numerical simulation of extreme waves during the storm of 20–22 January 2000 using winds generated by the CMC weather prediction model." Atmosphere-Ocean 47(1): 99-122. Abstract The storm of 20–22 January 2000 over Canada's Atlantic Provinces was an exceptional storm for several reasons, these include extremely high coastal ocean waves, widespread coastal damage due to the storm surge, very strong winds over a large area, an extremely fast deepening rate, and a very low central pressure. It produced unusually large waves which caused significant damage in communities along the south coast of Newfoundland and the eastern shores of Nova Scotia. Bottom scouring was observed around the feet of three mobile offshore oil and gas drilling platforms operating near Sable Island. Using buoy data enhanced with a detailed data set from one of the platforms, this study examines the growth of destructive waves and the performance of two state‐of‐the‐art third generation ocean wave models running in shallow water mode. The wave models perform well in numerically simulating the extreme waves associated with this storm. They correctly predict the growth of wind waves and handle the arrival of long‐period swells well. Unprecedented waves that damaged buildings and a lighthouse in the Channel Head area of Port‐Aux‐Basques retained most of their deep‐ water energy until they were less than one wavelength from the beach. Computations show that dynamic (or trapped) fetch was not a contributing factor in the generation of the observed extreme sea states although the long‐period swells were supported by winds for a significant part of their transit northward. However, it appears that the model‐ generated enhanced wave growth at the buoy location just off the southwestern coast of Newfoundland may be partially linked to the creation of model trapped fetch. The January 2000 storm was indeed an extreme storm and was the most intense non‐tropical storm to form over Atlantic Canada in decades.

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Li, M. Z. and E. L. King (2007). "Multibeam bathymetric investigations of the morphology of sand ridges and associated bedforms and their relation to storm processes, Sable Island Bank, Scotian Shelf." Marine Geology 243(1-4): 200-228. Storm-formed sand ridges are important morphologic features occurring on many continental shelves of the world. Our understanding of the morphology, migration, and the controlling processes over this type of sand ridges under different environmental settings is still limited. In the present study, an integrated approach of combining multibeam bathymetry survey, seabed sampling, sidescan/seismic surveys and seabed instrumentation measurements was used to characterize the surficial geology and morphology of offshore sand ridges on Sable Island Bank, Scotian Shelf, and to evaluate the relationship between sand ridge morphology, migration and the storm processes on this storm-dominated outer shelf bank. Multibeam data obtained at selected sites demonstrated the series of NE-SW oriented sand ridges with an average height of 4.3 m and wavelength of 1.5 km. Sand ridges attain maximum spacing, height and steepness in the intermediate depths. Sand ridge size and steepness also decrease from west to east and this decrease is correlated with decreasing dynamic condition, sediment grain size, and depth. Sand ridge profiles show weak easterly asymmetry. This morphological asymmetry augments the sediment texture and grain size asymmetry to suggest eastward long-term sand ridge migration and net sediment transport in the study area. Sand ridge asymmetry also shows strong local variation and the number of sand ridges asymmetric to the west is nearly equal to that asymmetric to the east. The likely cause is the nearly equal number of major storms passing to the south versus to the north of the Island so that the westerly and easterly peak storm-driven currents associated with these storm path scenarios affect equally the sand ridges on Sable Island Bank. A suite of smaller bedforms were found superimposed on the sand ridges: sand waves widely superimposed on both flanks of sand ridges, mixed 2D and 3D megaripples commonly occurring in the sand ridge troughs and on the lower western flanks, and large-wave ripples ubiquitously found in the troughs of all megaripples. Surficial sediment is coarsest (coarse sand with shell fragments) in the sand ridge trough and becomes progressively finer eastward toward the sand ridge crest and down the eastern flank, while best sorting occurs near the sand ridge crest. Box cores collected across sand ridges reveal characteristic storm event bed structure that reflects the development and migration of bedforms with the evolution of storms. Loder, J. W., et al., Eds. (2013). Aspects of Climate Change in the Northwest Atlantic off Canada. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Manning, J. A. and P. D. McLoughlin (2017). "Climatic conditions cause spatially dynamic polygyny thresholds in a large mammal." Journal of Animal Ecology 86(2): 296-304. 1. The polygyny threshold (PT) is a critical transition point in the sexual selection process for many organisms in natural populations, characterizing when females choose to mate with an already mated male over an unmated one to improve fitness. Understanding its causes and consequences is therefore of high interest. While both theoretical and empirical work suggest that the degree of polygyny within a species is plastic and a function of male inequality, the functional relationship between underlying availability of 10

resources occupied by breeding males under variable climatic conditions and the dynamics of PTs across space and time has received less attention. 2. Here, we use a standardized measure of male mating inequality as the culmination of female mate choices to analyse how spatially dynamic PTs in a naturally regulated feral horse (Equus ferus caballus) population emerge along a geographic gradient in a known, limiting resource (freshwater) each year from variable climatic conditions. Polygyny threshold distance from permanent freshwater increased with increasing precipitation during the breeding season of each year, suggesting a relationship between annual resource availability and female mate choice. 3. The mechanism by which climatic conditions underpin the spatial dynamics of PTs was likely through precipitation providing ephemeral freshwater sources across the study area that effectively weakened the gradient in availability of permanent freshwater, thereby providing mating males that occupied home ranges far from permanent water with access to this limiting resource and enabling them to attract and retain females. Increased precipitation also coincided with a decreased proportion of males in the population that experienced sexual selection pressure attributed to female mate choice in relation to the acquisition and/or defence of freshwater sources. 4. Climatic conditions caused spatial shifts in PTs annually along the geographic gradient in resource availability. Our findings reveal that such environmental gradients may either buffer or amplify impacts of climatic variation on selection pressure operating in natural populations, and emphasize the importance of integrating spatially explicit PTs with atmospheric fluctuations when predicting the effect of climatic change on selection processes within populations that occupy environmental gradients. Manning, J. A., et al. (2015). "Climate fluctuations interact with local demography and resources to predict spatially dynamic adult sex ratios in a megaherbivore." Oikos 124(9): 1132-1141. Adult sex ratio (ASR) is a fundamental concept in population and evolutionary biology, with implications for management and conservation. Although ASR is typically measured at the population-level, local mate competition points toward spatial variation in ASR within populations, the causes of which remain unclear. Over five breeding seasons (2008-2012), we tracked the life histories and movements of all male and female feral horses known to be alive (n = 721) on Sable Island, Canada, to investigate determinants of spatially explicit ASRs. We show that local demographic traits (density, adult female abundance, and abundance of unpaired males (e.g. floaters, adult bachelors)) operate together with inter-annual changes in weather to determine asymmetrical ASRs across time and space that deviate from the population-level mean. While accounting for possible confounding effects of unpaired male movements and weather, we also show that local demographics are best explained by different responses to an environmental gradient (distance to surface water). Our results demonstrate that local demographic traits operate as mechanisms by which environmental gradients and weather can shape spatial variation in ASR within wild populations, which has important implications for predicting how opportunities for sexual selection may follow from changes in resource availability and climate. Marjamaki, P. H., et al. (2013). "Local density and group size interacts with age and sex to determine direction and rate of social dispersal in a polygynous mammal." Ecology and Evolution 3(9): 3073-3082. 11

Movement away from an area or social group in response to increasing density (densitydependent dispersal) is known for most species; why it evolves is fundamental to our understanding of ecology and evolution. However, we have yet to fully appreciate how individuals of varying conditions (e.g., age and sex) might differently consider effects of density (quorum) when deciding to disperse or not, and scale dependence in their sense of quorum. We tracked movements of all individuals of a naturalized population of feral horses (Equus ferus caballus; Sable Island National Park Reserve, Nova Scotia, Canada) during a period of rapid population growth (N increased from 375 to 484 horses from 2008 to 2010). Permanent dispersal from breeding groups (bands) was positively density dependent for all age and sex categories with respect to local density (horses/km(2), bounded by the 99th percentile of individual movements [8000 m]), but was negatively and positively density dependent for males and females, respectively, in relation to group (band) size. Dispersal was generally female biased, with the exception of foals which moved with their mothers (no sex effect), and for yearlings and subadults when band sizes were smaller than average, in which case males dispersed at higher rates than females. Dispersal distance was positively related to local density. We conclude that dispersal rate can be both positively and negatively density dependent for feral horses, contingent on the state of individuals and the scale at which quorum with respect to choosing to disperse or not is assessed. Scale effects and interactions of densitydependent and sex- and age-biased dispersal may have both ecological and evolutionary consequences through effects on resource and mate competition. McCann, S. B. and M. L. Byrne (1994). "Dune Morphology and the Evolution of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, in Historic Times." Physical Geography 15(4): 342-357. We describe the dunescape and its evolution on Sable island, Nova Scotia, and consider the role of aeolian processes in developing and maintaining the present morphology of the island. The wind regime is characterized by strong winds from all directions, with a wind resultant towards 99 degrees E of north. The important dunes are the foredune backing the north beach and a series of parabolic dunes, migrating towards the ESE, which dominate the topography of the eastern part of the island. The contemporary dunescape is very dynamic, but the presence and age of paleosols within the dunes indicates that there were more stable conditions prior to 1650. Unequivocally documented changes in the last 200 years are short-term variations in the terminal spits and the loss of a line of dunes along the south shore. Overall the morphology of, and recent changes in, the dunes suggest that they are being reduced in area and that aeolian processes are transferring sand across the island from the west and northwest towards the east and southeast. McLoughlin, P. D., et al. (2016). "Density-dependent resource selection by a terrestrial herbivore in response to sea-to-land nutrient transfer by seals." Ecology 97(8): 1929-1937. Sea-to-land nutrient transfers can connect marine food webs to those on land, creating a dependence on marine webs by opportunistic species. We show how nitrogen, imported by gray seals, Halichoerus grypus, and traced through stable isotope (delta N-15) measurements in marram grass, Ammophila breviligulata, significantly alters foraging behavior of a free-roaming megaherbivore (feral horses, Equus ferus caballus) on Sable Island, Canada. Values of delta N-15 correlated with protein content of marram and 12

strongly related to pupping-seal densities, and positively influenced selective foraging by horses. The latter was density dependent, consistent with optimal foraging theory. We present the first demonstration of how sea-to-land nutrient transfers can affect the behavioral process of resource selection (resource use relative to availability) of terrestrial consumers. We hypothesize that persistence of horses on Sable Island is being facilitated by N subsidies. Our results have relevance to advancing theory on trophic dynamics in island biogeography and metaecosystem ecology. Moore, A. M., et al. (2018). "Assessing invasion risk of Didemnum vexillum to Atlantic Canada." Management of Biological Invasions 9(1): 11-25. Aquatic invasive species are an ongoing economic and ecological problem in Atlantic Canada. To optimize management efforts of high-risk species, we must quantify risk of invasion at scales relevant to management efforts. Here we provide an updated and improved detailed-level risk assessment (DLRA) for Didemnum vexillum that uses new methods and tools to quantify and discriminate risk of invasion to the region. The screening level risk assessment framework CMIST (Canadian Marine Invasive Screening Tool) was used in a novel context to calculate uncertainty-adjusted invasion risk scores for 13 assessment zones in Atlantic Canada. Assessments were informed by 1) environmental niche modelling (MaxENT) to predict areas suitable for establishment; 2) source-based vector analysis to quantify potential for arrival and spread of D. vexillum via highrisk vectors (i.e., commercial vessels, ferries, fishing vessels, and aquaculture transfers); and 3) updated ecological data from the literature. Overall invasion risk, likelihood of invasion, and impact of invasion were highest in Bay of Fundy assessment zones and lowest in the most northern zones (St. Lawrence estuary, northern Gulf and the east coast of Newfoundland). Connectivity with source zones of D. vexillum via both natural (e.g., currents) and anthropogenic vectors (e.g., vessels) is highest in the Bay of Fundy due to proximity to established populations and high levels of vessel traffic. Potential for impacts is highest where vulnerable populations (e.g., scallops) and highly or moderately suitable areas for establishment exist. These areas are in the Minas Basin, Chignecto Bay, southwest New Brunswick, and southwest Nova Scotia with smaller areas in Mahone Bay and offshore on Western Bank and Sable Island Bank. Projections of environmental suitability for 2075 show a northeastward shift, with areas of high suitability retained in the Bay of Fundy and expanding into the Northumberland Strait. To reduce further local spread in the Bay of Fundy, bottom-disturbing activities, such as dredging and trawling where D. vexillum is present, should be addressed. In addition, movement of vessels between source areas and areas of high environmental suitability should be monitored, especially in anomalously warm years when populations are likely to be larger. Targeted monitoring of areas of current and future environmental suitability with high connectivity to source zones of D. vexillum should also be considered to improve early detection of new populations. © 2018 The Author(s). & 2018 REABIC. Nicholls, K. H. (2013). "New and little-known marine species of Pinaciophora, Rabdiaster and Thomseniophora gen. nov (Rotosphaerida: Pompholyxophryidae)." Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 93(5): 1211-1229. Near-shore benthic sediment samples collected at low tide from the western Atlantic Ocean (Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada) and the eastern Pacific Ocean (Haida Gwaii 13

(Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia, Canada) were searched for little-known species of the rhizarian (Cercozoa) genera Pinaciophora, Rabdiaster and other related rotosphaerids. Several representatives with complete investitures of silica-scales (the structure of which is taxonomically diagnostic) were studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The validity of the genus Pinaciophora (sensu Penard, 1904) as defined by a single type of plate-scale only, was strengthened by the discovery of Pinaciophora rubicunda and of another previously undescribed entity, both of which lacked spine-scales. Several earlier reports of loose scales from marine habitats, and erroneously identified as the freshwater P. fluviatilis, might be assigned to P. marina sp. nov. The new genus Thomseniophora was erected to include all 'Pinaciophora' previously known to produce spine-scales and seven new taxa were described. Six other little-known species of Thomseniophora, Pinaciophora and Rabdiaster were described from the Canadian west coast (Pacific Ocean) including one new species of Pinaciophora. The addition of Thomseniophora brings the number of genera assigned to the Rotosphaerida to six: Pinaciophora, Thomseniophora, Rabdiaster, Rabdiophrys and Pompholyxophrys. The presence of several apparently closely related taxa in the same collection (same location and sampling date) strengthens the conclusion that relatively small differences in the morphology of their siliceous scales were more likely caused by genetic differences than by environmental influences. Parsons, G. (2015). "Why should we save nature's hidden gems?" Journal of Applied Philosophy 32(1): 98-110. Aesthetic preservation is the idea of sparing natural areas from development because of their aesthetic value. In this article I discuss a problem for aesthetic preservation that I call the 'hidden gems problem': in certain cases, the natural area under consideration is so remote and/or fragile that few people can actually experience it. In these cases, it becomes unclear how nature's aesthetic value can justify its preservation when development promises practical human benefits. After rejecting some potential responses to the hidden gems problem, I offer a different solution. I argue that we have an aesthetic reason to preserve nature's hidden gems because they are required to produce 'true judges' of aesthetic value, who are capable of improving the general quality of taste for landscape. I develop this argument using the example of recent preservationist efforts to save the isolated landscape of Sable Island, Nova Scotia. © Society for Applied Philosophy, 2014. Plante, Y., et al. (2007). "Genetic diversity in a feral horse population from Sable Island, Canada." Journal of Heredity 98(6): 594-602. The present-day Sable Island horse population, inhabiting an island off the eastern coast of Canada, is believed to have originated mainly from horses confiscated from the early French settlers in Nova Scotia in the latter half of the 18th century. In 1960, the Sable Island horses were given legal protected status and no human interference has since been allowed. The objective of this study was to characterize the current genetic diversity in Sable Island horses in comparison to 15 other horse breeds commonly found in Canada and 5 Spanish breeds. A total of 145 alleles from 12 microsatellite loci were detected in 1093 horses and 40 donkeys. The average number of alleles per locus ranged from 4.67 in the Sable Island horse population to 8.25 in Appaloosas, whereas the mean observed 14

heterozygosity ranged from 0.626 in the Sable Island population to 0.787 in Asturcons. Various genetic distance estimates and clustering methods did not permit to support that the Sable Island horses originated from shipwrecked Spanish horses, according to a popular anecdote, but closely resemble fight draft and multipurpose breeds commonly found in eastern Canada. Based on the Weitzman approach, the loss of the Sable Island horse population to the overall diversity in Canada is comparable or higher than any other horse breed. The Sable Island horse population has diverged enough from other breeds to deserve special attention by conservation interest groups. Richardson, D. H. S., et al. (2009). "The lichen flora of Sable Island, Nova Scotia: its past, present and likely future status." The Bryologist 112(3): 558-571. Abstract This paper reports the first detailed study of lichens on Sable Island since the pioneering study of John Macoun in 1899 who recorded 27 taxa in his publications. The present survey carried out in 2007, revealed that 39 macrolichens and 42 crusts now colonize sand, bone, lignum and cement substrata. The annotated checklist which includes current and former records contains 62 macrolichens and 46 crustose species plus seven lichen parasymbionts. Specimens have been deposited in the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax (nspm) and in the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa (canl). The changes in the lichen flora, and the possible reasons for them, that have occurred over the past 20 years and since the first survey in 1899, are discussed. Speculations on the future of the present lichen flora on Sable Island are also made. Ronconi, R. A., et al. (2016). "Distribution, Abundance and Trends of Gulls and Terns Breeding on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada." Waterbirds 39: 44-56. Sable Island is the most isolated seabird colony site in eastern Canada and the United States, offering a unique opportunity to study the population dynamics of terns and gulls in an area removed from human activities. Sable Island likely supported tens of thousands of terns prior to 1900, but the population declined during the first half of the 20th century, coinciding with colonization by breeding gulls. An island-wide census of terns and gulls was conducted in 2012 and 2013, and those results were compared with surveys conducted over the previous 45 years to assess changes in population abundance and distribution. The current island-wide population of Common (Sterna hirundo) and Arctic (S. paradisaea) terns was approximately 6,500 and 4,200 combined breeding pairs in 2012 and 2013, respectively, down from about 9,000 pairs estimated in 2008/2009, but higher than all estimates between 1970 and 2006. Population growth of these tern species has been concentrated at two large colonies, each with over 2,000 breeding pairs, whereas the number of small colonies on the island has been in decline since 1998. Fewer than six pairs of Roseate Terns (S. dougallii) have nested on Sable Island since 1993, down from counts of more than 100 individuals in the 1970s. Estimates of breeding pairs ranged from 744 to 951 Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) and 398 to 472 Great Black-backed Gulls (L. marinus) during 2012 and 2013. A survey of gulls documented 33 to 50% fewer Herring Gulls and 23% fewer Great Black-backed Gulls than in 1970. Sable Island's tern and gull populations have fluctuated asynchronously over the past 100 years, and may be returning to a previous ecosystem state when gulls were absent and terns were abundant, but mechanisms underlying these trends are unknown.

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Rozen-Rechels, D., et al. (2015). "Density-dependent, central-place foraging in a grazing herbivore: competition and tradeoffs in time allocation near water." Oikos 124(9): 1142-1150. Optimal foraging theory addresses one of the core challenges of ecology: predicting the distribution and abundance of species. Tests of hypotheses of optimal foraging, however, often focus on a single conceptual model rather than drawing upon the collective body of theory, precluding generalization. Here we demonstrate links between two established theoretical frameworks predicting animal movements and resource use: central-place foraging and density-dependent habitat selection. Our goal is to better understand how the nature of critical, centrally placed resources like water (or minerals, breathing holes, breeding sites, etc.) might govern selection for food (energy) resources obtained elsewhere - a common situation for animals living in natural conditions. We empirically test our predictions using movement data from a large herbivore distributed along a gradient of water availability (feral horses, Sable Island, Canada, 2008-2013). Horses occupying western Sable Island obtain freshwater at ponds while in the east horses must drink at self-excavated wells (holes). We studied the implications of differential access to water (time needed for a horse to obtain water) on selection for vegetation associations. Consistent with predictions of density-dependent habitat selection, horses were reduced to using poorer-quality habitat (heathland) more than expected close to water (where densities were relatively high), but were free to select for higher-quality grasslands farther from water. Importantly, central-place foraging was clearly influenced by the type of water-source used (ponds vs. holes, the latter with greater time constraints on access). Horses with more freedom to travel (those using ponds) selected for grasslands at greater distances and continued to select grasslands at higher densities, whereas horses using water holes showed very strong density-dependence in how habitat could be selected. Knowledge of more than one theoretical framework may be required to explain observed variation in foraging behavior of animals where multiple constraints simultaneously influence resource selection. Stalter, R. and E. E. Lamont (2006). "The historical and extant flora of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada." The Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 133(2): 362-374. Abstract Stalter, R. (Department of Biological Sciences, St. John's University, Jamaica, NY 11439) and E. E. Lamont (Honorary Research Associate, Institute of Systematic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458). The historical and extant flora of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 133: 362–374. 2006.— Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, was surveyed for vascular plants in August 2002. The island's past and present flora comprises 61 families, 156 genera, and 224 species, of which 145 species (65%%) are native and 79 species (35%%) are non-native. The most species-rich families are Poaceae, Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Polygonaceae, Caryophyllaceae, and Rosaceae. The largest genera are Juncus and Carex. Floristic studies of five earlier investigators are presented and discussed, including Macoun, conducted in 1899; Güssow, in 1911; St. John, in 1913; Erskine, in 1952; and Catling et al., in 1981. During the past 100 years, the island's flora has remained relatively stable; the number of native species has changed little and most plants introduced to the island have not become established.

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Timonin, M. E., et al. (2017). "A survey of the antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli isolated from Sable Island horses." Canadian Journal of Microbiology 63(3): 246-251. The feral horses of Sable Island are a geographically isolated population located similar to 160 km off the east coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Because these horses have no contact with domestic animals, have minimal contact with people, and have never received antimicrobials, they offer a unique opportunity to study the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance in unmanaged populations. As part of an ongoing multidisciplinary and individualbased monitoring program, we collected feces from 508 geolocalized horses (92% of the total population) between July and September 2014. We selectively cultured Escherichia coli on MacConkey and CHROMagar ESBL media. Antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined, and organisms resistant to beta-lactam antimicrobials were screened for beta-lactamase genes by PCR. Escherichia coli was recovered from 146 (28.7%) individuals, and the majority of isolates (97%) were susceptible to all drugs tested. Resistance to tetracycline was most common, including organisms isolated from 4 (2.7%) of the colonized horses. A single isolate resistant to ampicillin, ceftriaxone, and ceftiofur was identified, which possessed the CTX-M-1 gene. Our findings demonstrate that although antimicrobial resistance is not common in this remote population, clinically relevant resistance genes are present. Tissier, E. J., et al. (2013). "Distribution of Vegetation along Environmental Gradients on Sable Island, Nova Scotia." Ecoscience 20(4): 361-372. Abstract: Coastal sand dune ecosystems are known to be structured by disturbance along coast-to-inland gradients, but little is known about how such patterns might change on exposed islands where environmental gradients vector in multiple directions. We investigated responses in plant assemblages on Sable Island, a long (49 km) and narrow (1.25 km at the centre) mostly vegetated sand bar located 160 km off the east coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. We sampled vegetation composition across the island using a stratified random design to capture a range of environmental predictors potentially associated with substrate conditions and disturbance from coastal processes, as well as grazing by the island's feral horses. We identified 3 different vegetation assemblages using hierarchical cluster analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling that were associated with predictor variables. Distance from shore (both north and south shore) and slope angle were strongly related to both vegetation distribution and community composition. Areas farther from shore (subject to less wind and wave disturbance) contained greater amounts of shrub and heath vegetation. However, all parts of the island contained non-vegetated areas or stress-tolerant plant communities. Patterns of vegetation succession inferred for Sable Island were not linear and are better described as responses to repeated environmental disturbance rather than to a gradual process of soil development and competitive displacement. In addition to highlighting the multidirectional environmental influences on community composition of island systems, our results establish baseline spatial information on vegetation communities necessary for the ecological monitoring of Sable Island as a new National Park Reserve. Waugh, D., et al. (2010). Sable Island Air Monitoring Program Report: 2003-2006. Dartmouth, Environmental Studies Research Funds Report No. 181.

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Webb, K. J. and E. L. King (2014). Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of Sable Island Bank and adjacent areas, Geological Survey of Canada. Open File 5348. Wegner, C. E. (1999). Rogue waves. Ann Arbor, DalTech - Dalhousie University (Canada). MQ48294: 48. The villages of Goldboro and Isaac's Harbour straddle each side of Isaac's Harbour in Guysborough County on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. While there is evidence of a long and prosperous history, these villages presently appear to be nothing more than a collection of old houses strung along a highway known as Marine Drive, with a total population of somewhat less than one hundred people. The Sable Offshore Energy Project, currently being set up just off the coast of Sable Island, will make landfall about two kilometres south of Goldboro, where the gas will be processed in a large plant before being sent farther inland. This thesis proposes that the construction and engineering jobs required for such a formidable task will result in a swift and dramatic increase in the local population, as the nearest sizable town is almost an hour away by car. Furthermore, this project is expected to last roughly 25 years, at which point the pipeline will be shut down. This thesis examines the scenario from two distinct but interdependent points of view. First, it examines how a work of architecture, explored and experienced at the urban, precinct, building, and detail scales, can reconcile the shock of one thousand people and their families moving into the Isaac's Harbour area, and provide a sound environment for the development of a politically, culturally, and economically successful community. Second, it extrapolates from this situation to predict how the settlement might evolve over the 25-year life of the SOEP, and ultimately what it might become past this point. Weitzman, J., et al. (2017). "Factors influencing and consequences of breeding dispersal and habitat choice in female grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) on Sable Island, Nova Scotia." Oecologia 183(2): 367-378. Selection of breeding location can influence reproductive success and fitness. Breeding dispersal links habitat use and reproduction. This study investigated factors affecting breeding dispersal and its reproductive consequences in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. Breeding dispersal distance was determined in 692 individually marked, known-age female grey seals observed from 2004 to 2014. We used generalized linear mixed-effects models to test hypotheses concerning environmental and demographic factors influencing breeding dispersal distance and the consequences of dispersal distance on offspring weaning mass. Grey seal females rarely exhibited fidelity to previous breeding sites. Median dispersal distance between years was 5.1 km. Only 2.9% of females returned to a previous breeding site. Breeding dispersal distance was affected by parity and density, but effects were small and are presumably of no biological significance. Variation in dispersal distance among adult females was large. Dispersal distance had no significant influence on offspring weaning mass; however, as previously found, pup sex and maternal age did. Although breeding location was not important, heavier pups were born in habitats with no tidal or storm-surge influence indicating that breeding habitat type did influence offspring size at weaning. The lack of site fidelity in grey seals on Sable Island is associated with an unpredictable and changing landscape (sand dunes) that could make it difficult for females to locate previous breeding locations. Although breeding location within habitat type had small consequences on offspring 18

weaning mass, we detected no evidence that breeding site selection within the habitat had consequences to females. Welsh, D. A. (1975). Population, Behavioral, and Grazing Ecology of the Horses of Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University (Canada). PhD: 1. Worthy, D. E. J., et al. (2003). "North American influence on atmospheric carbon dioxide data collected at Sable Island, Canada." Tellus, Series B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology 55(2): 105-114. Continous and flask measurements of atmospheric CO2 taken at Sable Island from August 1992 to April 1993 are presented and characterised as a function of air mass origin. The atmospheric environment over Sable Island (43°56'N, 60°01'W) is continuously influenced by the complex meteorology of synoptic systems moving off North America. This makes the interpretation of the Sable Island CO2 data difficult. However, trajectory analysis shows distinct quantitative differences between the statistics of CO2 measurements associated with air masses from "North America" (regions of high anthropogenic and terrestrial biospheric fluxes associated with much of the United States and the southern half of Canada) and of those associated with air masses from the "Arctic/North Atlantic" (regions of few terrestrial fluxes and oceans associated with the northern half of Canada and the Atlantic Ocean). When the continuous CO2 data are segregated into these two trajectory sectors for the period of observation, air masses originating in the North American sector show a higher CO2 mixing ratio by ∼2 ppm in winter and lower by ∼3 ppm in summer, compared to air masses arriving from the other sector. Furthermore, the continuous Sable Island CO2 measurements show a detectable monthly mean (August/September) diurnal cycle with an amplitude of ∼2 ppm, with a minimum occuring on average around noon local time. Given the timing of the observed diurnal minimum and the lack of vegetation on the island, this indicates that the diurnal pattern observed at Sable Island is a diffused remnant of diurnal cycles transported from the main North American continent. These characteristic details are not captured by the discrete flask sampling program on the island. Wright, B. (1989). The Fauna of Sable Island, Nova Scotia Museum Curatorial Report Number 68.

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