Background: The organotin compound tributyltin (TBT), used as an antifouling agent in ship hull paint, is known to cause imposex in several species of marine gastropods. Imposex is the imposition of male sexual characteristics on females, and can lead to female sterility. The common whelk, Buccinum undatum, is a common species in Norway and has received attention for its export potential. Because ...

Recent evidence shows that temporal changes of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Arctic ecosystems are not only due to emission patterns and regulations; environment-related changes in prey availability and long-range transport may also influence concentrations of these compounds in tissues of Arctic predators. Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) in Svalbard, Norway, scavenge and hunt opportunistically ...

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) reach the Arctic ecosystems from lower latitudes mostly via air and ocean currents. They biomagnify through Arctic food webs and reach considerably high concentrations in top predators such as polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Although many of these compounds have been banned or restricted for decades, concentrations of polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine ...

The Svalbard rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta hyperborea) is a resident bird on the Svalbard achipelago, living in an environment where it experiences extreme climatic and photoperiodic conditions. The bird’s most striking adaption to this environment is, prior to the onset of winter, its deposition of fat, comprising up to 30% of body mass. Moving around with this excess mass may prove difficult as it ...

Aknowledgment The area of Sveagruva have experienced several periods of coal mining. This study aim to evaluating changes in vegetation composition, species distributions and genetic structure using a combination of field and molecular analyses, to identify whether or not coal mining have effected plant life in Svea. Investigations on species and gene level were done on two Luzula species, L. ...

Timing is everything for Arctic flowering plants. Early flowers might be destroyed by frost, while late flowers have less time and resources to mature fruit. With climate change, Arctic flowering phenology is shifting. Yet for many species, phenology studies only encompass the onset of flowering and lack baseline data on within-plant flowering times. I used the gynodioecious cushion plant Silene ...

The Arctic is a sink for pollutants that accumulate there via long-range transport and biomagnification of persistent organic pollutant (POPs). The main objectives of this study were to identify the pollutants in the Svalbard Atlantic puffin and to compare their levels with southern puffin colonies and Svalbard seabird species to assess risk to the puffin. Svalbard Samples were analysed for contaminants ...

The coastal domain of the Arctic is in rapid change with shifts in discharge phenology and catchment characteristics. Riverine discharge shapes hydrography, under water light climate, and nutrient dynamics during the brief melt season. Nutrients transported from catchment to coast can stimulate primary productivity, yet light attenuation caused by high surface turbidity is considered a limiting ...

Interactions involving parasites often account for large proportions of links within aquatic food webs, yet few studies integrate parasites into their food web analyses. This analysis compares three sets of highly resolved food webs that differ in taxa composition, space, and time for a subarctic lake system. Key topological food web metrics, including connectance, linkage density, and mean generality ...

Feeding studies give an indication about the role and position of species within ecosystems and provide crucial knowledge for management. Traditional methods are based on morphological identification of prey. DNA metabarcoding is a promising tool that allow for identification of specific prey items, also when highly digested. A total of 63 stomachs from three skate species caught in the Barents Sea ...