The deep sea is the largest biome on Earth, albeit it is the least studied. Among the complex ecosystems and habitats that form the deep sea, submarine canyons and open slope systems are regarded to be potential hot-spots of biodiversity. The Mediterranean Sea hosts the 8.86% of the inventoried submarine canyons in the global ocean, like the Blanes Canyon, located in its Northwestern section. We ...

Abstract Parasites might be small, but they are very important elements in the ecosystems. Parasites may have a strong negative influence on their host, and some species might even manipulate their hosts. Parasites commonly have complex life cycles and may use multiple different hosts. This study has been conducted in two sub-arctic lakes in Northern Norway with polymorphic whitefish populations. ...

Abstract The Arctic ecosystems and its species are under increased anthropogenic pressure from both climate change and industrial activities. Of special interest is pollution from petrogenic substances, and in particular accidental oil spills, that pose a risk to arctic marine organisms. An oil spill in the Arctic may see crude oil encapsulated into the sea ice and over time leaching to surface ...

Apicomplexa parasites, including Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum, contain a secondary endosymbiosis-derived plastid like organ, called apicoplast, which is an anabolic hub. This apicoplast is fueled by phosphate translocator (APT), which transport phosphorylated sugar molecules in exchange of inorganic phosphate. Disruption of APT in T. gondii was found to be lethal for parasite. Beside ...

The diet of 99 coastal-feeding ringed seals (Pusa hispida), collected in western Spitsbergen, Svalbard (Norway), was analysed via identification of hard-parts in the contents of their gastrointestinal tracts (GITs). The study animals where shot either in spring (n = 30; April-July) or autumn (n = 69; August-October) during four consecutive years (2014-2017). Thirty different prey types were identified ...

Fjords are the interface between land and ocean, and processes happening on land have implication for the coastal areas. In addition, differences in fjord characteristics, such as morphology, sedimentation and water circulation, can drive differences in fjord ecology, including benthic community composition (Syvitsky et al. 1986). Soft-bottom macro-fauna was collected in August 2018 using a Van-Veen ...

Parasitic plants including Cuscuta develop specialized structures called haustoria during infection. These specialized organs give the parasite the capacity of host attachment, invasion, vasculature connection and material transfer between the host and the parasite. Successful invasion allows organic substances, nutrients and water to flow into the parasite through the host phloem and xylem cells. ...

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 importance of landfast ice as a nursery and breeding ground for Arctic marine invertebrates was studied in Van Mijenfjorden (77°N, 15/16°W), southwestern Svalbard from March to May 2017. The collection of first-year ice cores with stations along a depth gradient allowed the investigation of both temporal and spatial differences in sympagic meiofauna community composition and abundance. Furthermore, ...

Anthropogenically caused global biodiversity declines and other human drivers point to the possibility of local plant diversity changes. The well-studied effects of local plant diversity on ecosystem processes implicate consequences to human well-being in the form of altered ecosystem services (including cultural services). Public awareness (knowledge and correct perception) about these changes ...