The concept that the Arctic ecosystem is ‘simple’ is now understood to an oversimplification.
This partly due to the common assumption that the Arctic, with what we perceive as a ‘harsh’ climate must only be capable of sustaining simple ecosystems with few trophic levels and limited diversity. This opinion may have been reinforced by articles such as Summerhayes and Elton 1923, although this was never their intention.
More recent evaluations, such as Hodkinson and Coulson 2024 have highlighted the complexity that actually is found. The most recent publications, e.g., Zhemchuzhnikov et al 2026, describe a truly wonderfully complex system.
Summerhayes and Elton 1923
