Five decades of terrestrial and freshwater research at Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Polar Research

C.A.M. Sandström¹  M.J.J.E. Loonen¹  K.K. Newsham²  P. Convey²  E.M. Biersma²  B.B. Hansen³  J. Elster⁴  F. Peng⁵  E. Pushkareva⁶  U. Karsten⁶  S.I. Lang⁷  M.M. Svenning⁸  E.J. Cooper⁸  A.T. Tveit⁸  J.M. Welker⁹  D. Velazquez^1,10  S.M. Kristiansen^1,11  E. Calizza^1,12  N. Cannone^1,13  T. Nakatsubo^1,14  M. Tojo^1,15  K. Hayashi^1,16  E.M. de Goede^1,17  A. Stach^1,18  M. Doveri^1,19  A. Provenzale^1,19  M.S. Giamberini^1,19  I. Baneschi^1,19  Y.K. Lee^2,20  B. Tytgat^2,21  E. Verleyen^2,21  M. Uchida^2,22  T.C. Jensen^2,23  H. Tømmervik^2,24  E. Fuglei^2,25  J.B. Mosbacher^2,25  Å.Ø. Pedersen^2,25  V. Sklet^2,25  V. Ravolainen^2,25  C. Pedersen^2,25  G.W. Gabrielsen^2,25  I.M.G. Paulsen^2,25  J.C. Gallet^2,25  A. Augusti^2,26  S.J. Coulson^2,27  V. Pasquali^2,28  Y.-F. Yao^2,29 

[1] Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands;British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK;Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway;Centre for Polar Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Třeboň, Czechia;China Center for Type Culture Collection, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China;Department of Applied Ecology and Phycology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany;Department of Arctic Biology, The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway;Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA;Department of Biology, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain;Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy;Department of Science and Technology, Insubria University, Como, Italy;Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan;Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan;Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan;Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands;Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Faculty of Geographic and Geological Sciences, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland;Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pisa, Italy;Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, Republic of Korea;Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium;National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan;Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Oslo, Norway;Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Tromsø, Norway;Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø, Norway;Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Porano, Italy;SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden;Section of Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy;State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;

关键词: biogeochemical cycles;    climate change;    ecosystem structure and functioning;    environmental change;    high arctic;    human impacts;    soil;   

DOI  :  10.33265/polar.v41.6310

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

Unknown