Katarzyna Zmudczyńska-Skarbek
Dept. of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

Gwiazdowicz Dariusz, Dept. of Forest Pathology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland
Skubała Piotr, Dept. of Ecology, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
Stempniewicz Lech, Dept. of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
Zawierucha Krzysztof, Dept. of Animal Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty ofBiology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
Zwolicki Adrian, Dept. of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland

In the Arctic, areas within and close to seabird colonies are often regarded as biodiversity hotspots, being characterized by exceptionally rich vegetation communities linked with the high nutrient subsidies transported by seabirds from the marine environment to the land. These areas also support atypically high population densities for several invertebrate species, and specific invertebrate assemblages of which springtails, mites, and tardigrades often represent the most abundant and diverse groups. We present data on abundance and species composition of soil and limnoterrestrial invertebrates from the vicinities of different seabird species nesting sites as compared to impoverished areas, collected from different Svalbard locations: north-west, central, and south-west Spitsbergen, and Bjørnøya. With the use of diversity indices as well as multivariate analytical techniques we quantitatively estimated species diversity at the habitat level (α), the differentiation among habitats (β), and the proportion of total variability in the invertebrate communities explained by seabird influence, and compared these parameters between ornithogenically fertilized and non-fertilized areas. Arctic colonial seabirds are expected to be strongly influenced by predicted climate warming. This may trigger subsequent changes in invertebrate communities, concurrent with those resulting from typical climate change effects, such as increased temperature and reduced moisture availability.

Rob Gau, Government of the Northwest Territories
Suzanne Carriere, Government of the Northwest Territories
Kate Reid, Government of the Northwest Territories
Bonnie Fournier, Government of the Northwest Territories
Cyprian Ngolah, Government of the Northwest Territories

Field work is notoriously expensive in northern regions; so all data collected there are invaluable. Northern capacity to identify species and archive data on biodiversity is also very limited. Canada’s Northwest Territories is experiencing one of the fastest rates of change in climate in the World. Over the past 20 years, Canada’s Northwest Territories has gained experience in adapting monitoring protocols, harnessing all knowledge sources, including Indigenous traditional knowledge, and leveraging national and international systems to better share biodiversity information online with a northern public increasingly savvy with the internet. Results of our efforts will be shared and discussed. Barriers to sharing northern biodiversity data will also be discussed: lack of shared standards on taxonomy and data sensitivity, rapid application turnovers, and jurisdictional silos. In March 2018, the Government of the Northwest Territories has adopted an Open Government Policy. This will provides additional incentives to work through barriers and make more northern biodiversity data from our region accessible to the world.

Nadezhda Poddubnaya
Cherepovets State University
Nikolay P. Kolomiytsev and Nataliya B. Afanasieva Department of Biology, Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, The Russian Federation

At high latitudes various species living there are forced to adapt to a wide range of seasonal variations in one and the same abiotic and associated biotic variables. As a result, they have not only very wide (Dobzhansky, 1950; Klopfer, 1959), but also widely overlapping ecological niches (Letcher and Harvey, 1994). Since in most cases the high latitude species are not able to avoid interspecific competition or weaken it through competitive divergence because their environment lacks the habitats or niches where interspecific competition is weak, and into which competing species could retreat and become established, the competition at high latitudes often results in ‘competitive exclusion’ (Gause, 1934). The high seasonal and inter-annual environmental variability periodically makes interspecific competition especially keen. Therefore, only a very few, the most robust and adapted species have been able to survive in such harsh ecosystems, and the species diversity of this zone has undergone a strong reduction (Huston, 1979; Letcher and Harvey, 1994). The temporal-spatial adaptation theory will allow us to expand our understanding of the main underlying mechanisms responsible for species richness patterns and provide a framework for new approaches to biodiversity conservation.

Helena Tukiainen
Geography Research Unit, Universtiy of Oulu
Maliniemi, Tuija, Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Nissinen, Elina, Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Kapfer, Jutta, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Tromsø, Norway
Hjort, Jan, Geography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

In recent years, geodiversity has been put forward as a novel, potentially useful approach to explore and understand biodiversity patterns. Geodiversity is commonly defined as the variety of earth surface materials, landforms and processes (geological, hydrological and geomorphological), or the abiotic richness of Earth surface. Recent studies have shown that geodiversity is related to landscape-scale species richness in northern environments. However, conserving current biodiversity based only on present communities may not guarantee diversity in the future. Better option might be to conserve the abiotic environment on which the biological diversity is based on. This conservation principle, called Conserving Nature´s Stage, targets on areas with high geodiversity and that are thus capable of supporting high biodiversity under future environmental changes. This would be one possibility when considering Arctic Biodiversity Assessment Policy Recommendation number 7 and implementation action for safeguarding biodiversity under changing environmental conditions. Here we summarize the existing knowledge on the relationship between geo- and biodiversity and study how diverse physical environments are related to temporal changes in plant species richness in subarctic tundra under recent climatic warming.

Elena Kochanova
Elena Fefilova, Natalia Sukhikh, Iliya Velegzhaninov
Institute of Biology Komi SC UB RAS, Zoological Institute of the RAS

The Arctic copepods manifest all signs of biological progress: they show remarkable species richness in comparison with the temperate zone, often dominate on the abundance and biomass in zooplankton and meiobenthos, have wide geographical and ecological distribution, and high differentiation and a variety of adaptive forms. In the geological past the biodiversity of them was formed under the influence of tectonic processes and movements of the glacier. As a result of mt DNA (COI gene) sequencing of harpacticoid copepod populations, several clades with the high level of divergence in each of taxa have been obtained. Copepods generally comprise the most abundant and diverse taxonomic group within ship ballast water, and thus are transported worldwide in extremely large numbers. And Eurytemora species dominant in the ballast water among copepods. Recently, several new for the Arctic regions species have been identified: Eurytemora arctica M. Wilson and Tash, E. gracilicauda Akatova and E. foveola (Johnson M. W.) have been registered in the Lena River Delta since 2000 (Abramova, Zhulay, 2016; Abramova et al., 2017).We have found a Eurytemora species in the Pechora River Delta in 2016 and 2017. It is very close to Eurytemora americana Williams by morphology. However, molecular analysis showed similarity of the species with Eurytemora brodskyi Kos from the Baltic Basin waterbodies and Eurytemora gracilicauda from the Lena River Delta.

Alexandra Bernardova
University of South Bohemia

Sabacka, Marie, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Elster Josef, University of South Bohemia, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Callaghan Terry V., University of Sheffield, United Kingdom and Tomsk State University, Russia

INTERACT - International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic is an infrastructure project funded by the EU. Its main objective is to build capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to diverse environmental changes throughout the wide environmental and land-use envelopes of the Arctic. It encompasses a circum Arctic network of 82 terrestrial field bases (and is growing).
The “Red Phone” is a work package within INTERACT with a main goal to help protect Arctic and global residents from potential environmental emergencies or hazards. The work package is focused on identifying, observing and documenting potential risks and hazards and working with relevant agencies and organisations to help response actions.
The whole project is dependent on efficient networking throughout the Arctic, for which INTERACT provides a great platform with its comprehensive net of research stations where sampling and observations can be carried out simultaneously and in the same way across a wide range of territories and often in remote regions.
The Red Phone’s main output will be the development of protocols for monitoring of potential environmental risks and a subsequent set up of an alert system for Arctic research stations and adjoining territories.

Olga Rumyantseva
Department of Biology, Cherepovets State University, 5 Lunacharsky Ave
Khabarova Liubov, Department of Biology, Cherepovets State University, 5 Lunacharsky Ave, Cherepovets 162600, Vologda region, The Russian Federation
Poddubnaya Nadezhda, Department of Biology, Cherepovets State University, 5 Lunacharsky Ave, Cherepovets 162600, Vologda region, The Russian Federation

Mercury causes concern on a global scale due to its unique physico-chemical properties that result in a higher degree of biomagnification than other heavy metals. Due to atmospheric transport from the southern and middle latitudes, where mercury sources are sufficient, mercury enters the polar regions. As a result, mercury transport in the atmosphere leads to its global spread, including increased levels of mercury concentration observed in the natural environment of the Arctic. Studies of lake deposits, soils and tissues of organisms have shown that the current concentrations of mercury in the Arctic are on average three times higher than in the pre-industrial era. According to existing models of mercury transport, most of it reaches the Arctic by air. However, the greatest influence on the hydrobiota is rendered by mercury, carried by the rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean. In the Arctic, in areas where heavy metals are particularly significant, the effects on ecosystems are very evident. The mercury that has entered the ecosystem undergoes a whole series of biogeochemical transformations and becomes bioavailable and capable of accumulating in the organism of animals and humans. The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 18-34-00569.

Neville Ash
UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre

Danks, Fiona, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s (UNEP-WCMC) responsibilities in terms of global biodiversity and ecosystems data, assessments and analyses, and policy support are all impacted by a relevant and adequate Arctic knowledge base. Opportunities exist for UNEP-WCMC to advance its involvement in Arctic biodiversity science and policy, and its overall contribution to global biodiversity understanding and decision-making.

An overview of engagement possibilities suggests areas of value: knowledge and expertise in ecosystem services, ecosystem modelling and protected areas; a rigorous biodiversity science perspective and complementarity in community engagement and capacity development; a global science, biodiversity and policy perspective that is relevant to the Arctic and its global linkages; a well-developed industry partnership and data sharing mechanism. Resulting contributions would aim to help ensure a sustainable future for the region and its inhabitants.

UNEP-WCMC’s engagement can increase the visibility of Arctic biodiversity and targets in global settings; relate the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council to global processes and raise CAFF’s profile; mainstream biodiversity and ecosystem services; and facilitate inter-disciplinary responses.

Through improved and more diverse knowledge, including traditional ecological knowledge, decision making can be improved, and biodiversity under changing conditions can be safeguarded through protection and stressor and threat reduction.

Julia Kemppinen
University of Helsinki

Niittynen, Pekka, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, FinlandAalto
Juha, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finlandle Roux, Peter C., University of Pretoria
Pretoria, South AfricaLuoto, Miska, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

The Arctic biodiversity is on the verge of a great change. The hydrological cycleof the Arctic has intensified and the impacts are experienced by vegetation.Vegetation is limited by water resources, but water forms also major stress anddisturbance. However, climate change impact studies on fine-scale vegetationpatterns often cover water inadequately in the Arctic, which is considered as anenergy-limited ecosystem. This key gap in knowledge must be addressed forbetter understanding of the impacts of changing hydrology on the Arcticbiodiversity. Thus, we investigated if the inclusion of different water factorsimproved species distribution models of vascular plants, mosses, and lichens –the cornerstone taxa of the Arctic biodiversity.Our results highlight the role of water as a multifaceted driver of fine-scaletundra vegetation patterns. While controlling all other key environmentalgradients (e.g. temperature), the three water aspects proved to be crucial. Eachwater aspect had different impacts on the distribution of individual species.Acknowledging the uncertainties in the anticipated rapid and significant changesin tundra hydrology, there are possibly ecological surprises ahead of us. Thus,we stress the inclusion of ecologically meaningful water aspects for improvingour knowledge on the fine-scale vegetation patterns in the Arctic.

Ines Pyko
GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Munnecke, Axel,GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany; Wisshak, Max, Senckenberg am Meer Abteilung Meeresforschung, Wilhelmshaven, Germany; Teichert, Sebastian, GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

The coralline red algal species Lithothamnion glaciale forms rigid frameworks of magnesium calcite. These so called rhodoliths cover large areas of the Svalbard shelf. Thereby, the calcified structures act as ecosystem engineers, comparable to corals in tropical regions, providing habitat for a large variety of organisms. Drilled by boring mussels, many rhodoliths become hollow ecospheres and their interior is intensely colonized by benthic macro- and megafauna. Based on a non-destructive 3-D visualization analysis via micro-computed tomography (µCT), we investigated whether the calcified skeleton itself provides a habitat for certain microorganisms also. Here, we present a first overview of boring microorganisms in Svalbard’s rhodoliths.
This study is a contribution to enhance our knowledge about the complicated interrelationships in this large-scale ecosystem. Therefore, it is a step forward in order to estimate the impact of the rhodoliths on Svalbard’s shelf biodiversity and provides a background for their inclusion in future policy recommendations and strategic plans for biodiversity.

Maria Korneykova
Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems – Subdivision of the Federal Research Centre “Kola Science Centre of Russian Academy of Science”

In the last decades a lot of saprothrophic microfungal species have been shown to display the capacity of potential pathogens for man. Soil - is the main reservoir of opportunistic fungi of this type. Warming of the climate will inevitably greatly affect the spread of potentially pathogenic fungi because it is precisely these groups of species that attain the optima in their growth at elevated temperatures (above 25 °C). Probably that warming of the climate in the Northern latitudes is expected to enhance the development of soil fungi potentially dangerous for human. Our studies carried out in the Nothern part of Russia (Kola Peninsula) for many years have demonstrated that populations of cultivated opportunistic microfungi become considerably more numerous in soils. Modern biosphere is characterized by appearance of extensive areas of temperature, elevated as compared to that average for the respective zone, i.e., urban ecosystems and near the industrial plants. We have found that in these areas the level of cultivated microfungi typical of more southern soils is higher. The pronounced increase in their occurrence in urban soils as compared to zonal soils of arctic and boreal latitudes is noted regarding Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger, Paecilomyces variotii, Fusarium oxisporum, etc., i.e., species which could be the causative agents of deep human mycoses.
The share of the opportunistic fungi increase up to 15% in the zones of the Aluminum and Copper-Nickel Plants emissions comparable to the background soil has been revealed. The majority of the fungi species belongs to the following genera: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Mucor, Lecanicillium, Phoma and Cladosporium. The structure of the fungal complexes has changed in the polluted soil, that is, the species abundance and the frequency of the opportunistic fungi occurrence have increased. 55% of the investigated fungi strains distinguished from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions had the pathogenicity properties compared to the fungi strains of the same species distinguished from the clean soil. The most dangerous for a human's health were Amorphotheca resinae, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, Paecilomyces variotii, Penicillium commune, P. purpurogenum, Trichoderma viride isolated from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions; and P. aurantiogriseum, P. glabrum, P. janthinellum, P. lanosoviride, Rhizopus nigricans isolated from the soils contaminated by the Copper-Nickel Plant emissions.
This makes it necessary to carry out monitoring of these fungal populations in soils.

Michael Gottfried
Michigan State University
Eberle, Jaelyn, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Eocene-age (ca. 50 million years old) fossils from the Canadian Arctic, including plants, invertebrates, sharks, fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, provide strong evidence for an ice-free Arctic with winters likely remaining above freezing during the Eocene ‘Greenhouse Earth’ interval. Recent expeditions to Banks Island in the western Canadian Arctic have further expanded our knowledge of this critical juncture through recovery of sand-tiger shark, fish, turtle, and crocodilian specimens. The latest additions to the fauna are scales that confirm the presence of the bowfin Amia in the western Arctic; one large lateral line scale corresponds to a fish ca. 1.4 meters in total length, notably larger than the maximum size of extant Amia calva. We also collected ~100 distinctive teeth of the teleost fish Eutrichiurides, otherwise known from lower latitude fossil sites in the USA, India, Africa, and Europe. Eutrichiurides is interpreted as an ambush predator in shallow marine settings, consistent with the inferred Eocene paleoenvironment in the western Arctic. The Canadian Arctic Eocene ‘Greenhouse’ biota as a whole provides an essential historical deep-time perspective that can help us to better understand, and potentially more accurately predict, the future impacts of ongoing climate change on Arctic biodiversity.

Jeffery Saarela
Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada

Natural history museums hold millions of specimens from the Arctic, yet museums have been largely on the periphery of Arctic biodiversity science and Arctic data discussions. The "Arctic Evidence Eight" is an alliance of national Natural History Museums in the eight Arctic Council countries: Canadian Museum of Nature; Finnish Museum of Natural History; Icelandic Institute of Natural History; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Natural History Museum, University of Oslo; Swedish Museum of Natural History; and Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Each institution holds substantive collections of Arctic flora and fauna, cultural artifacts, and genetic resources, which provide a foundation for creating new knowledge. The Arctic Evidence Eight have research expertise in disciplines such as taxonomy and systematics, Arctic ecology, environmental monitoring, climate change monitoring, and Arctic culture, human history and exploration. The Arctic Evidence Eight are engaged in finding ways to better work together and with the broader scientific community to advance Arctic research and collections, and engage, inspire and educate citizens about Arctic biodiversity. This fits into the Congress theme “Education, outreach and engagement” and contributes to the policy recommendation “Improving knowledge and public awareness.”