Arctic Marine Biology:
The research within this group is on Arctic marine ecology in general. Current projects involve studies of pelagos, benthos and sympagos, and the main focus is on invertebrates at lower trophic levels.

CLEOPATRA: Climate effects on planktonic food quality and trophic transfer in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones

This Norwegian IPY-project, led by UNIS, studies the Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ), which is the key productive area of Arctic shelf seas. The ongoing warming of Arctic regions will lead to a northward retreat of the MIZ, and to an earlier opening of huge areas in spring. This may result in a temporal mismatch between the phytoplankton spring bloom and zooplankton reproduction.

Less ice will also reduce the ice algae production that may be an important food source for spawning zooplankton prior to the phytoplankton spring bloom. Quantity and quality of primary production in seasonally ice-covered seas is primarily regulated by light and nutrients. Excess light, however, is potentially detrimental for algae and can reduce algal food quality. A decrease in the relative amount of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in algae due to excess light may affect the reproductive success and growth of zooplankton, and thereby the transport of energy to higher trophic levels, such as fish, birds, and mammals.

For more information, contact Janne Søreide, Post Doc in Marine Biology
Also see www.iceedge.no/cleopatra

KLEPTO: Stealing bivalves from a diving duck: kleptoparasitism of common eiders by glaucous gulls

This project, mainly financed by Svalbards Miljøvernfond, focuses on the interaction between foraging eiders and the glaucous gull in the waters near Longyearbyen. We study how the kleptoparasitic behaviour of the glaucous gulls, their stealing of food from the common eider, relates to time of the season as well as the flock dynamics and behaviour of the eiders.

For more information, see this field report or contact Øystein Varpe

Arctic Terrestrial Biology:
The terrestrial group works on a variety of zoological, botanical and microbiological projects related to the Arctic. Topics include plant population and community processes, genetic variation in plants, climate impact and plant-animal interactions, as well as general ecology, dispersal and cold tolerance in invertebrates.

The project will involve recreating the conditions (temperature, humidity and pressure) and determine the survival period for a range of suitable invertebrates. 

For more information, contact Steve Coulson, Associate Professor in Terrestrial Biology.  More information about Coulsons current projects can be found here.

Invertebrate biogeography of Svalbard.

SPIDER - Svalbard Photographic Invertebrate Database and Educational Resource. Here you will find an information source concerning the terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate fauna of Svalbard. What is an 'invertebrate'? Invertebrate is a general term for all animals without backbones, for example insects, spiders and worms.

www.svalbardinsects.net

There are some 1,100 species of invertebrate recorded from the archipelago including 230 species of insect and 19 species of spider but they are often hard to observe.  The aim of this webpage is to provide information about this fascinating group of animals, for example, what is here?  How did it get here? How does it survive here?

This is an ongoing project and the site will be continually developed.  It is hoped these pages will be of interest to both locals and visitors to Svalbard.

Acknowledgements:- Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund project number 08/04 and the University Centre on Svalbard (UNIS).

Long distance dispersal of soil invertebrates via bird transport
The role of migrating birds in the transport of soil microarthropds into the Arctic has received new interest following a series of publications detailing the common occurrence of such invertebrates in the plumage of a wide range of birds, including birds from Svalbard.

This project will aim to quantify this dispersal in collaboration with Prof. Lebedeva from the Kola Science Centre, Rostov-on-Don in Russia. 

For more information, contact María Luisa Ávila Jiménez, PhD student, terrestrial biology.

Extended survival of invertebrates on sea water immersion
It is known that invertebrates have a high tolerance to immersion in sea water or freezing in ice. However, the limits of this response and variation between species and individuals are unknown.  This will be characterized using a variety of long term experiments.

For more information, contact Steve Coulson, Associate Professor in Terrestrial Biology. More information about Coulsons current projects can be found here.

Landscape scale dispersal and biogeography
Local biogeography – the invertebrate fauna of east coast of Svalbard incl. Nordaustlandet
It is hypothesized that the invertebrate fauna on the cold east coast of Svalbard will be influenced by immigration pathways from the east and north east with the prevailing winds and ocean currents in contrast to the south and south westerly currents and winds that dominate the mild west coast.  There are extremely few records of the invertebrate fauna from the east coast, almost all coming from the vicinity of Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund and a few from and it is expected that the east coast / Nordaustlandet community will include new species.

This project will aim to detail the invertebrate communities on the east coast, including several localities on Nordaustlandet and Edgeøya.  Data will be used to propose the source populations for the faunas and better improve our knowledge of the invertebrate fauna of Svalbard.  Samples will be preserved for genetic analysis.  Collaboration with the botanists investigating similar problems in plant dispersal (Dr. Inger Alsos/UNIS) will enable the genetic work to proceed. 

For more information, contact María Luisa Ávila Jiménez, PhD student, terrestrial biology.

Short distance dispersal and local population heterogeneity
The genetic profiles of Collembola and mite populations will be determined to establish the population heterogeneity and estimate local migration patterns.  Movement patterns of Collembola, including their responses to temperature and density dependence will be assessed.  Computer models to describe local movement will be developed in collaboration with AYRNA research group, Dep. Informatics and Numerical Analysis, University of Córdoba (Spain).

For more information, contact María Luisa Ávila Jiménez, PhD student, terrestrial biology.

Nunatak fauna of West Spitsbergen
Samples have been taken from the summit of c. 50 nunataks in West Spitsbergen in collaboration with the Norwegian Polar Institute.  These will be analyzed to determine community composition.  Genetic analysis techniques will be employed to determine the degree of isolation of these peaks and the age of the local populations.

For more information, contact María Luisa Ávila Jiménez, PhD student, terrestrial biology.

Aerial dispersal of invertebrates
It is appreciated that in Polar regions the dispersal of flightless invertebrates may be importance. The aerial rain of invertebrates will be determined using a variety of water and sticky traps and will be undertaken in collaboration with the botanists at UNIS studying seed dispersal.  Sites will be located in a variety of locations and close to meteorological stations to enable the effect of wind speed and direction to be determined.

For more information, contact Steve Coulson, Associate Professor in Terrestrial Biology. More information about Coulsons current projects can be found here.

Establishment
The controls of the establishment of invertebrate species on Svalbard
Although many species of invertebrate may be able to successfully disperse to Svalbard, fewer may be able to establish.  Invertebrates and plants must be pre-adapted to the physical environment (extreme variation in day length, short cool summer and long cold winter).  Species must have the ability to tolerate the environment in order to survive and adapt to the conditions.  The ability of a range of mainland Norway plant and invertebrate species to establish on Svalbard will be tested using ventilated greenhouses to enable the effect of the natural environment (e.g. day length and light wavelength) on the flora and fauna to be determined.
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For more information, contact Steve Coulson, Associate Professor in Terrestrial Biology. More information about Coulsons current projects can be found here.

The effect of multiple freeze thaw cycles on the survival of an overwintering freeze tolerance insect
It is often stated that freeze avoiding species dominate in central Europe as these species can survive the multiple freeze thaw events characteristic of such regions better than freeze avoiding species.  Recent evidence for one freeze tolerant species from Svalbard suggests that this species has a very high tolerance of multiple freeze – thaw cycles.  This will be investigated in collaboration with Drs Peter Convey and Roger Worland at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge and other hypotheses for the restricted distribution of freeze tolerance invertebrates explored.

For more information, contact Steve Coulson, Associate Professor in Terrestrial Biology. More information about Coulsons current projects can be found here.