The Barents Sea (BS) is an arcto-boreal sea and one of the most productive areas adjacent to the Arctic, hosting many commercial fish stocks. As a result of climate change, temperature increases and a northward movement of several fish species in the BS have been reported, which will likely change community structures and ecosystem functioning. Hence, more information on ecosystem functioning need ...

Monitoring activities provide a core contribution to wildlife conservation in the Arctic. Effective monitoring which allows changes in population status to be detected early provides opportunities to mitigate pressures driving declines. Monitoring triage involves decisions about how and where to prioritize activities in species and ecosystem based monitoring. In particular, monitoring triage examines ...

Changing climate is expected to alter precipitation patterns in the Arctic, with consequences for subsurface temperature and moisture conditions, community structure, and nutrient mobilization through microbial belowground processes. Here, we address the effect of increased snow depth on the variation in species richness and community structure ...

The anadromous Atlantic salmon utilizes both fresh and salt water (FW and SW) habitats during its life cycle. The parr-smolt transformation (PST) is an important developmental transition from a FW adapted juvenile parr to a SW adapted smolt. Physiological changes in osmoregulatory tissues, particularly the gill, are key in maintaining effective ion regulation during PST. Changes are initiated ...

Bioluminescence commonly influences pelagic trophic interactions at mesopelagic depths. Here we characterize a vertical gradient in structure of a generally low species diversity bioluminescent community at shallower epipelagic depths during the polar night period in a high Arctic fjord with in situ bathyphotometric sampling. Bioluminescence potential of the community increased with depth to a peak ...

Due to severe nutrient and light limitation, the central Arctic Ocean has been characterized as a region of low primary productivity, with high retention of carbon in the surface waters. Using an in-depth analysis of published and new measurements of turbulent microstructure and high-resolution profiles of nitrate concentration, we reassess the vertical supply of nitrate to the Polar Mixed Layer and ...

Why dominant males experiencing intense sperm competition sometimes show low investments in sperm production is not always obvious. One well-documented example is that of the external fertilizing teleost, the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus), where individuals becoming dominant reduce sperm production and sperm swimming speed in water compared to subordinates. Here, we report how ovarian ...

Increasing temperatures, with pronounced effects at high latitudes, have raised questions about potential changes in species composition, as well as possible increased importance of small-celled phytoplankton in marine systems. In this study, we mapped out one of the smallest and globally most widespread primary producers, the picocyanobacterium Synechococcus, within the Atlantic inflow to ...

The arctic Adventfjorden (78°N, 15°E, Svalbard) used to be seasonally ice-covered but has mostly been ice-free since 2007. We used this ice-free arctic fjord as a model area to investigate (1) how the vertical fl ux of biomass (chlorophyll a and particulate organic carbon, POC) follows the seasonality of suspended material, (2) how sink- ing particle characteristics change seasonally and ...