DNA, like pollen, accumulate in sediments Paleoenvironmental reconstructions have traditionally been based on fossil records and pollen sequences in lake sediments. However, in the last decades, analyses of ancient DNA and sediment DNA (sedaDNA) have become important tools to reconstruct evolutionary histories and past ecosystems. For instance, he Kap København Formation in North Greenland, dated […]
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The biogeography of the invertebrate fauna of the Arctic is poorly known but can be generally described as a Holarctic fauna but with local endemics and also species restricted to Palaearctic or Nearctic (graphic below). This lack of information, especially noticeable when compared to the situation for the flora, is largely due to: • Lack
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Arctic biodiversity is structured by a range of environmental factors. To understand which environmental factors that are decisive to the species composition in an area, you need to combine information that vary at different spatial and temporal scales. Within the arctic tundra biome, for instance, the length of the growing season varies between one and
Climate, topography and spatial heterogeneity Read More »
During the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), biodiversity was significantly reduced throughout the Arctic (Willerslev et al., 2014); however, the extent of this biodiversity loss varied. The timing and extent of the LGM ice sheets varied across regions, influencing the dynamics of extinction/colonization, and ultimately shaping the picture of both species- and genetic diversity we see today
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On an evolutionary time-scale, the arctic flora and fauna have had very short time to develop. This partly explains the low number of truly endemic arctic species compared to lower latitude biomes. The Arctic has even been described as an ”evolutionary freezer”, because besides being a young biome, the low temperatures and the short vegetation
Diversification of Arctic flora and fauna during the Pleistocene Read More »
Ancestors of the Arctic flora The early Pleistocene flora is hypothesised to be derived from a combination of the former Tertiary forest elements and immigrants of ancestral stocks from temperate high mountain ranges in Asia and North America with connection to the Arctic (Hultén, 1937; Hedberg, 1992; Murray, 1995; Ickert-Bond et al. 2009). Fossil evidence
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The Arctic is an integral part of many global systems. Some examples are: Each year several hundred million birds and fish migrate to the Arctic and their success in the Arctic determines their survival and their impacts at lower latitudes. Climate change in the Arctic is connected to changes on a global scale. For example,
Even though this site aims to cover the entire Arctic, the presented material concentrates on the European Arctic. In particular Svalbard which is one of the three archipelagos that delineate the Barents Sea. Svalbard lies between 10° and 35°E and 74° and 81°N and consists of four main islands: Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edgeøya, Barentsøya, and the ‘outlier’
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