• Is Glacial Meltwater a Secondary Source of Legacy Contaminants to Arctic Coastal Food Webs? 

      Mcgovern, Maeve; Warner, Nicholas Alexander; Borgå, Katrine; Evenset, Anita; Carlsson, Pernilla Marianne; Skogsberg, Stina Linnea Emelie; Søreide, Janne; Ruus, Anders; Christensen, Guttorm; Poste, Amanda (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-04-26)
      Climate change-driven increases in air and sea temperatures are rapidly thawing the Arctic cryosphere with potential for remobilization and accumulation of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in adjacent coastal food webs. Here, we present concentrations of selected POPs in zooplankton (spatially and seasonally), as well as zoobenthos and sculpin (spatially) from Isfjorden, Svalbard. ...
    • Riverine impacts on benthic biodiversity and functional traits: A comparison of two sub-Arctic fjords 

      Mcgovern, Maeve; Poste, Amanda; Oug, Eivind; Renaud, Paul E.; Trannum, Hilde Cecilie (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-04-19)
      Climate change is leading to increases in freshwater discharge to coastal environments with implications for benthic community structure and functioning. Freshwater inputs create strong environmental gradients, which potentially affect the community structure of benthic infauna. In turn, changes in functional trait composition have the potential to affect the processing of terrestrially-derived ...
    • Seasonal pollutant levels in littoral high-Arctic amphipods in relation to food sources and terrestrial run-off 

      Skogsberg, Stina Linnea Emelie; Mcgovern, Maeve; Poste, Amanda; Jonsson, Sofi; Arts, Michael T.; Varpe, Øystein; Borgå, Katrine (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-05-03)
      Increasing terrestrial run-off from melting glaciers and thawing permafrost to Arctic coastal areas is expected to facilitate re-mobilization of stored legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury (Hg), potentially increasing exposure to these contaminants for coastal benthic organisms. We quantified chlorinated POPs and Hg concentrations, lipid content and multiple dietary markers, in a ...
    • Seasonal riverine inputs may affect diet and mercury bioaccumulation in Arctic coastal zooplankton 

      Carrasco, Nathalie; Mcgovern, Maeve; Evenset, Anita; Søreide, Janne E.; Arts, Michael T.; Jonsson, Sofi; Poste, Amanda Elizabeth (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2023-10-06)
      Climate change driven increases in permafrost thaw and terrestrial runoff are expected to facilitate the mobilization and transport of mercury (Hg) from catchment soils to coastal areas in the Arctic, potentially increasing Hg exposure of marine food webs. The main aim of this study was to determine the impacts of seasonal riverine inputs on land-ocean Hg transport, zooplankton diet and Hg bioaccumulation ...
    • Seasonality in land–ocean connectivity and local processes control sediment bacterial community structure and function in a High Arctic tidal flat 

      Handler, Eleanor R.; Andersen, Sebastian; Gradinger, Rolf Rudolf; Mcgovern, Maeve; Vader, Anna; Poste, Amanda Elizabeth (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2023-12-18)
      Climate change is altering patterns of precipitation, cryosphere thaw, and land–ocean influxes, affecting understudied Arctic estuarine tidal flats. These transitional zones between terrestrial and marine systems are hotspots for biogeochemical cycling, often driven by microbial processes. We investigated surface sediment bacterial community composition and function from May to September along a ...
    • Small Arctic rivers transport legacy contaminants from thawing catchments to coastal areas in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard 

      Mcgovern, Maeve; Borgå, Katrine; Heimstad, Eldbjørg Sofie; Ruus, Anders; Christensen, Guttorm; Evenset, Anita (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-03-29)
      Decades of atmospheric and oceanic long-range transport from lower latitudes have resulted in deposition and storage of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Arctic regions. With increased temperatures, melting glaciers and thawing permafrost may serve as a secondary source of these stored POPs to freshwater and marine ecosystems. Here, we present concentrations and composition of legacy POPs in ...
    • Strong macrobenthic community differentiation among sub-Arctic deep fjords on small spatial scales 

      Kokarev, Valentin; Tachon, Mathieu; Austad, Marthe; Mcgovern, Maeve; Reiss, Henning (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021-02-16)
      Fjords play an important role in carbon cycling and sequestration, but the burial of organic matter in sediments strongly depends on the composition of macrobenthic communities. We studied three deep, sub-Arctic fjords located in northern Norway to assess the community differentiation of neighbouring fjords and the underlying environmental drivers. The fjords have relatively deep depositional basins ...
    • Terrestrial Inputs Drive Seasonality in Organic Matter and Nutrient Biogeochemistry in a High Arctic Fjord System (Isfjorden, Svalbard) 

      Mcgovern, Maeve; Pavlov, Alexey K.; Deininger, Anne; Granskog, Mats; Leu, Eva Susanne; Søreide, Janne; Poste, Amanda (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-09-08)
      Climate-change driven increases in temperature and precipitation are leading to increased discharge of freshwater and terrestrial material to Arctic coastal ecosystems. These inputs bring sediments, nutrients and organic matter (OM) across the land-ocean interface with a range of implications for coastal ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling. To investigate responses to terrestrial inputs, physicochemical ...
    • Terrestrial Inputs Shape Coastal Bacterial and Archaeal Communities in a High Arctic Fjord (Isfjorden, Svalbard) 

      Delpech, Lisa-Marie; Vonnahme, Tobias; Mcgovern, Maeve; Gradinger, Rolf; Præbel, Kim; Poste, Amanda (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021-02-26)
      The Arctic is experiencing dramatic changes including increases in precipitation, glacial melt, and permafrost thaw, resulting in increasing freshwater runoff to coastal waters. During the melt season, terrestrial runoff delivers carbon- and nutrient-rich freshwater to Arctic coastal waters, with unknown consequences for the microbial communities that play a key role in determining the cycling and ...