Polar Research (Apr 2022)
Five decades of terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
- Å.Ø. Pedersen,
- P. Convey,
- K.K. Newsham,
- J.B. Mosbacher,
- E. Fuglei,
- V. Ravolainen,
- B.B. Hansen,
- T.C. Jensen,
- A. Augusti,
- E.M. Biersma,
- E.J. Cooper,
- S.J. Coulson,
- G.W. Gabrielsen,
- J.C. Gallet,
- U. Karsten,
- S.M. Kristiansen,
- M.M. Svenning,
- A.T. Tveit,
- M. Uchida,
- I. Baneschi,
- E. Calizza,
- N. Cannone,
- E.M. de Goede,
- M. Doveri,
- J. Elster,
- M.S. Giamberini,
- K. Hayashi,
- S.I. Lang,
- Y.K. Lee,
- T. Nakatsubo,
- V. Pasquali,
- I.M.G. Paulsen,
- C. Pedersen,
- F. Peng,
- A. Provenzale,
- E. Pushkareva,
- C.A.M. Sandström,
- V. Sklet,
- A. Stach,
- M. Tojo,
- B. Tytgat,
- H. Tømmervik,
- D. Velazquez,
- E. Verleyen,
- J.M. Welker,
- Y.-F. Yao,
- M.J.J.E. Loonen
Affiliations
- Å.Ø. Pedersen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- P. Convey
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK
- K.K. Newsham
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK
- J.B. Mosbacher
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- E. Fuglei
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- V. Ravolainen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- B.B. Hansen
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- T.C. Jensen
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Oslo, Norway
- A. Augusti
- Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Porano, Italy
- E.M. Biersma
- British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK
- E.J. Cooper
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- S.J. Coulson
- SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- G.W. Gabrielsen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- J.C. Gallet
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- U. Karsten
- Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
- S.M. Kristiansen
- Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- M.M. Svenning
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- A.T. Tveit
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
- M. Uchida
- National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan
- I. Baneschi
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
- E. Calizza
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy
- N. Cannone
- Department of Science and Technology, Insubria University, Como, Italy
- E.M. de Goede
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands
- M. Doveri
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
- J. Elster
- Centre for Polar Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Třeboň, Czechia
- M.S. Giamberini
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
- K. Hayashi
- Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan
- S.I. Lang
- Department of Arctic Biology, The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
- Y.K. Lee
- Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Republic of Korea
- T. Nakatsubo
- Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
- V. Pasquali
- Section of Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy
- I.M.G. Paulsen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- C. Pedersen
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- F. Peng
- China Center for Type Culture Collection, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
- A. Provenzale
- Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy
- E. Pushkareva
- Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
- C.A.M. Sandström
- Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- V. Sklet
- Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway
- A. Stach
- Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographic and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
- M. Tojo
- Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan
- B. Tytgat
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- H. Tømmervik
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Tromsø, Norway
- D. Velazquez
- Department of Biology, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- E. Verleyen
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
- J.M. Welker
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA
- Y.-F. Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- M.J.J.E. Loonen
- Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v41.6310
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 41
pp. 1 – 39
Abstract
For more than five decades, research has been conducted at Ny-Ålesund, in Svalbard, Norway, to understand the structure and functioning of High-Arctic ecosystems and the profound impacts on them of environmental change. Terrestrial, freshwater, glacial and marine ecosystems are accessible year-round from Ny-Ålesund, providing unique opportunities for interdisciplinary observational and experimental studies along physical, chemical, hydrological and climatic gradients. Here, we synthesize terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund and review current knowledge of biodiversity patterns, species population dynamics and interactions, ecosystem processes, biogeochemical cycles and anthropogenic impacts. There is now strong evidence of past and ongoing biotic changes caused by climate change, including negative effects on populations of many taxa and impacts of rain-on-snow events across multiple trophic levels. While species-level characteristics and responses are well understood for macro-organisms, major knowledge gaps exist for microbes, invertebrates and ecosystem-level processes. In order to fill current knowledge gaps, we recommend (1) maintaining monitoring efforts, while establishing a long-term ecosystem-based monitoring programme; (2) gaining a mechanistic understanding of environmental change impacts on processes and linkages in food webs; (3) identifying trophic interactions and cascades across ecosystems; and (4) integrating long-term data on microbial, invertebrate and freshwater communities, along with measurements of carbon and nutrient fluxes among soils, atmosphere, freshwaters and the marine environment. The synthesis here shows that the Ny-Ålesund study system has the characteristics needed to fill these gaps in knowledge, thereby enhancing our understanding of High-Arctic ecosystems and their responses to environmental variability and change.
Keywords
- biogeochemical cycles
- climate change
- ecosystem structure and functioning
- environmental change
- high arctic
- human impacts
- soil
