pdf Relationships between biodiversity and environmental drivers in Fenno-Scandian Lakes Popular

Willem Goedkoop
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Arctic lakes in Fenno-Scandia are experiencing rapid environmental changes resulted from climate change and other human-induced activities. Despite this knowledge of the trends in overall biodiversity and their environmental drivers in Arctic Fenno-Scandian lakes is lacking. In particular, ecosystem-scale (i.e. whole-lake) baselines of biodiversity that integrate habitats (pelagic and benthic) and trophic levels (primary producers to predators) are yet to be established. To address these knowledge gaps, we analyzed data of abiotic variables and biodiversity (i.e. fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, phytoplankton, benthic diatoms and macrophytes) collected from 74Arctic and subarctic lakes in Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Both univariate and multivariate analyses have been employed for spatiotemporal comparisons and to address the contemporary monitoring status of Arctic Fenno-Scandian lakes. Our findings identify the biotic components that are sensitive to abiotic changes, provide the basis for regional impact assessments of anthropogenic stressors, and contribute to establishing abiotic and biotic baselines for the biodiversity of these lakes.