Rapid changes to the physical environment of Arctic marine systems in recent years impact the structure and function of benthic ecosystems. Exploring the resilience of these systems to perturbations requires a solid understanding of key ecological processes and must be conducted over appropriate time scales due to the slow growth and recruitment of many Arctic benthic organisms. This study addresses ...

Zoonotic infections transmitted from terrestrial and marine mammals to humans in European Arctic are of unknown significance, despite considerable potential for transmission due to local hunt and a rapidly changing environment. As an example, infection with <i>Brucella</i> bacteria may have significant impact on human health due to consumption of raw meat or otherwise contact with tissues and fluids ...

We used inverse modeling to reconstruct major planktonic food web carbon flows in the Atlantic Water inflow, east and north of Svalbard during spring (18–25 May) and summer (9–13 August), 2014. The model was based on three intensively sampled stations during both periods, corresponding to early, peak, and decline phases of a <i>Phaeocystis</i> and diatom dominated bloom (May), and flagellates dominated ...

The snow crab <i>Chionoecetes opilio</i> Fabricius, 1788 is a newly established species in the Barents Sea. Since the first individuals were recorded in 1996, the population has increased and a fishery was initiated in 2012. Mature female snow crab caught in the central Barents Sea were investigated with regards to fecundity. Ovigerous females (<i>N</i> = 185) ranged from 48 to 100 mm carapace width ...

Polar cod (<i>Boreogadus saida</i>) has been used as a model Arctic species for hazard assessment of environmental stressors such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, most of the PAH studies using polar cod rely on targeted biomarker-based analysis thus may not adequately address the complexity of the toxic mechanisms of the stressors. The present study was performed to develop a ...

Habitat discontinuity, anthropogenic disturbance, and overharvesting have led to population fragmentation and decline worldwide. Preservation of remaining natural genetic diversity is crucial to avoid continued genetic erosion. Brown trout (<i>Salmo trutta</i> L.) is an ideal model species for studying anthropogenic influences on genetic integrity, as it has experienced significant genetic alterations ...

Previous studies of Eurasian tundra reindeer (<i>Rangifer tarandus tarandus</i>) in Norway indicate that their rumen microbiota play a key role in degrading lichen secondary metabolites. We investigated the presence of usnic acid and atranorin in faecal samples from Svalbard reindeer (<i>R. tarandus platyrhynchus</i>). Samples were collected in Bolterdalen valley together with vegetation samples ...

Time series of the marine CO₂ system and related parameters at the IsA Station, by Adventfjorden, Svalbard, were investigated between March 2015 and November 2017. The physical and biogeochemical processes that govern changes in total alkalinity (TA), total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and the saturation state of the calcium carbonate mineral aragonite (Ω_Ar) were assessed ...

The impact of Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS, or drones) on marine mammals remains poorly documented despite their increasing use by hobbyists and scientists. In the High-Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard, where marine mammals are facing increasing pressure from the coupled effects of climate modification and an expanding tourism industry, the use of RPAS remains largely unregulated to date. In ...

The northern Svalbard shelf region is part of the Atlantic advective contiguous domain along which nutrients, phyto- and mesozooplankton are advected with Atlantic Water from the Norwegian Sea along the Norwegian shelf break and into the Arctic Ocean. By applying the SINMOD model, we investigated how much mesozooplankton may be advected into the northern Svalbard shelf region. We also compared this ...