The Arctic biodiversity is on the verge of a great change. The hydrological cycleof the Arctic has intensified and the impacts are experienced by vegetation.Vegetation is limited by water resources, but water forms also major stress anddisturbance. However, climate change impact studies on fine-scale vegetationpatterns often cover water inadequately in the Arctic, which is considered as anenergy-limited ecosystem. This key gap in knowledge must be addressed forbetter understanding of the impacts of changing hydrology on the Arcticbiodiversity. Thus, we investigated if the inclusion of different water factorsimproved species distribution models of vascular plants, mosses, and lichens –the cornerstone taxa of the Arctic biodiversity.Our results highlight the role of water as a multifaceted driver of fine-scaletundra vegetation patterns. While controlling all other key environmentalgradients (e.g. temperature), the three water aspects proved to be crucial. Eachwater aspect had different impacts on the distribution of individual species.Acknowledging the uncertainties in the anticipated rapid and significant changesin tundra hydrology, there are possibly ecological surprises ahead of us. Thus,we stress the inclusion of ecologically meaningful water aspects for improvingour knowledge on the fine-scale vegetation patterns in the Arctic.

The Arctic copepods manifest all signs of biological progress: they show remarkable species richness in comparison with the temperate zone, often dominate on the abundance and biomass in zooplankton and meiobenthos, have wide geographical and ecological distribution, and high differentiation and a variety of adaptive forms. In the geological past the biodiversity of them was formed under the influence of tectonic processes and movements of the glacier. As a result of mt DNA (COI gene) sequencing of harpacticoid copepod populations, several clades with the high level of divergence in each of taxa have been obtained. Copepods generally comprise the most abundant and diverse taxonomic group within ship ballast water, and thus are transported worldwide in extremely large numbers. And Eurytemora species dominant in the ballast water among copepods. Recently, several new for the Arctic regions species have been identified: Eurytemora arctica M. Wilson and Tash, E. gracilicauda Akatova and E. foveola (Johnson M. W.) have been registered in the Lena River Delta since 2000 (Abramova, Zhulay, 2016; Abramova et al., 2017).We have found a Eurytemora species in the Pechora River Delta in 2016 and 2017. It is very close to Eurytemora americana Williams by morphology. However, molecular analysis showed similarity of the species with Eurytemora brodskyi Kos from the Baltic Basin waterbodies and Eurytemora gracilicauda from the Lena River Delta.

This poster presents the results of my thesis work within community based monitoring (CBM) in the Arctic. I have performed fieldwork alongside the first ever Saami led restoration project in Finland, conducted an assessment of the characteristics of Arctic CBM programmes and analyzed CBM data from a “best-example” case study from Greenland, in order to conclude:

1. What are the general characteristics of Arctic CBM programmes?
2. What are the most distinguishing features of CBM compared to scientific monitoring?
3. Is there a difference in the format and the results between CBM data and scientific data?

This study fits into the congress as it aims to promote interdisciplinary discussions to improve Arctic environmental monitoring and advocate for the use of CBM. The poster fits into the theme “Improving knowledge and public awareness”

Besides answering the above, this study concludes that CBM can provide strengthened reliable environmental monitoring, novel discoveries and information that are directly relevant for managers while also making a significant difference in the communities. However, in order to obtain the full potential of CBM it requires researchers to be able to work with various knowledge systems, adapting new interdisciplinary methods and establishing equity and mutual trust.

The Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map (CAVM) is a vector (polygon) map showing the dominant physiognomy of Arctic vegetation. It used a consistent circumpolar legend (15 units), was published in 2003, and has been cited over 700 times. This project created a 1-km resolution raster CAVM, providing greater resolution (1-km pixels vs. the 14-km minimum polygon diameter), while maintaining the same vegetation legend, and matching the format of environmental data from satellite sensors.

The new map is based on unsupervised classifications of seventeen geographic/floristic sub-sections of the Arctic, using AVHRR and MODIS data (band and NDVI) and elevation data. The classification units were modeled to the CAVM types using ancillary data: the original CAVM map, climate data, substrate data, regional vegetation maps and ground studies.

The map was reviewed by experts, including many of the original authors of the CAVM from the U.S., Canada, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, and Russia. The map will be available on the Alaska Arctic GeoEcological Atlas hosted by GINA at the University of Alaska Fairbanks http://arcticatlas.geobotany.org/. The greater spatial resolution of the raster format allowed more detailed mapping of water bodies and mountainous areas, portrays coastal-inland gradients, and better reflects the heterogeneity of vegetation type distribution.

An important problem of modern ecology is the distribution of invasive species. The main attention is focused on the colonization of soil ecosystems by foreign species of earthworms and beetles, at less – collembola. We hypothesize that the establishment of these species near hydrogen sulphid habitats results from increased frequency of introductions and warm, thermal stability in organic riched soils during the nordic winter. The study of terrestrial ecosystems near hydrogen sulfide springs was not carried out, while rare carbonate soils develop in these places (Deneva et al., 2015). Our researches were carried out on the Vodny spring - a tributary of the Vorkuta river (координаты) in the framework of the project № 18-4-4-37 “Biodiversity of invertebrates in extreme climatic conditions of the subarctic regions (Ural and adjacent areas)”. We revealed some species of Collembola, Lumbricidae and Coleoptera, among them three invasive species Folsomia fimetaria, Desoria trispinata, also Eiseniella tetraedra, which are recorded for the first time on the north-east of the european tundra.

Arctic lakes in Fenno-Scandia are experiencing rapid environmental changes resulted from climate change and other human-induced activities. Despite this knowledge of the trends in overall biodiversity and their environmental drivers in Arctic Fenno-Scandian lakes is lacking. In particular, ecosystem-scale (i.e. whole-lake) baselines of biodiversity that integrate habitats (pelagic and benthic) and trophic levels (primary producers to predators) are yet to be established. To address these knowledge gaps, we analyzed data of abiotic variables and biodiversity (i.e. fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, phytoplankton, benthic diatoms and macrophytes) collected from 74Arctic and subarctic lakes in Faroe Islands, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Both univariate and multivariate analyses have been employed for spatiotemporal comparisons and to address the contemporary monitoring status of Arctic Fenno-Scandian lakes. Our findings identify the biotic components that are sensitive to abiotic changes, provide the basis for regional impact assessments of anthropogenic stressors, and contribute to establishing abiotic and biotic baselines for the biodiversity of these lakes.

Canada C3 was a 150 day marine journey from Toronto, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia by way of the Northwest Passage. Based on the icebreaker Polar Prince, this expedition brought together a diverse group of Canadians to explore Canada’s coasts while reflecting on the journey’s core themes of Diversity and Inclusion, Reconciliation, Youth Engagement and the Environment. During the expedition’s scientific program, shipboard researchers collected plants and lichens at stops along the journey to add new knowledge on the floristic diversity of Canada. Specimens will be deposited at the National Herbarium of Canada at the Canadian Museum of Nature. In all 1321 collections were made by 42 collectors. The majority of these (922) were made in the Canadian Arctic, and many were gathered from places where no or few botanical collections have been made previously (e.g., Cape Barrow, Nunavut; Tree River, Nunavut). Notable Arctic collections include the Arctic orangebush lichen (Xanthaptychia aurantiaca), a globally rare (G1) species, and a significant eastward range extension of the spruce muskeg sedge (Carex bigelowii subsp. lugens). All Arctic collections will contribute to the museum’s ongoing Arctic floristic research, and all expedition specimens will serve as a scientific legacy to this epic voyage.

The Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) at Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Nunavut, and its counterpart, the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in southern Utah, are simulated Mars outposts situated at two well-known Martian planetary analogs - environments that are geologically and environmental similar to the solar system’s fourth planet. Owned and operated by the Mars Society, these stations host researchers learning how to live and work on Mars. Crews conduct research programs on everything from testing new rovers to isolating local microbes; these Astrobiology simulations are a particularly important dress-rehearsal in the search for potential life on Mars. These studies rely on comprehensive knowledge of the local biota, therefore traditional natural history surveys are an important component of these mock missions. As a part of the Mars 160 Twin Study program conducted by the Mars Society in 2016-2017 our team conducted a lichen biodiversity survey of these two stations during two simulated Martian missions, resulting in 146 new lichen collections deposited at the National Herbarium of Canada (CANL) at the Canadian Museum of Nature. We will highlight the results of this first taxonomic lichen survey of Haughton Crater, an important field site in the Canadian High Arctic.

Gualtieri, Lisa C.
Robillard, Cassandra M.
Sharp, Lyndsey A.
Sokoloff, Paul C.
Saarela, Jeffery M.*
All authors have the same affiliation: Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada.
*Presenting author

Core to the polar research information spectrum are the millions of biological and geological specimens in natural history collections. These specimens represent biodiversity data documenting the distribution of species in time and space; they serve as vouchers for the datasets that underpin scientific conclusions, allowing future workers to confirm or revise identifications; and they are sources of new data, such as genetic information. Most natural history museums face the massive “big data” challenge of databasing and imaging their collections, allowing them to be widely discovered, shared, used and reused in research and outreach. The Canadian Museum of Nature houses over 300K Arctic specimens – the largest Arctic natural history collection in Canada – but data for only a subset are currently accessible online. To correct this, the National Herbarium of Canada is engaged in a project to digitize, georeference and image its Arctic plant, moss and lichen specimens, according to global standards that facilitate collection data sharing and integration. The work is focused on collections made in the three Canadian territories: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This work fits into the Congress theme "Improving data management, coordination and access".

Natural history museums hold millions of specimens from the Arctic, yet museums have been largely on the periphery of Arctic biodiversity science and Arctic data discussions. The "Arctic Evidence Eight" is an alliance of national Natural History Museums in the eight Arctic Council countries: Canadian Museum of Nature; Finnish Museum of Natural History; Icelandic Institute of Natural History; National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Natural History Museum, University of Oslo; Swedish Museum of Natural History; and Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Each institution holds substantive collections of Arctic flora and fauna, cultural artifacts, and genetic resources, which provide a foundation for creating new knowledge. The Arctic Evidence Eight have research expertise in disciplines such as taxonomy and systematics, Arctic ecology, environmental monitoring, climate change monitoring, and Arctic culture, human history and exploration. The Arctic Evidence Eight are engaged in finding ways to better work together and with the broader scientific community to advance Arctic research and collections, and engage, inspire and educate citizens about Arctic biodiversity. This fits into the Congress theme “Education, outreach and engagement” and contributes to the policy recommendation “Improving knowledge and public awareness.”

Important data is being processed into Arctic Council reports and for other purposes, but afterwards this data is often very difficult and costly to find and access to be reused.

By using same reference data sources and international standards for data, services and distribution Arctic stakeholders can improve sharing and reusing of data significantly.

The poster will present readily available Arctic data, tools and services for data sharing provided by the Arctic SDI in support of the work of the Arctic Council and the Arctic Scientific community (Arctic SDI Basemap, services and tools in the Arctic SDI Geoportal) as part of the development of an Arctic spatial data infrastructure.

The Arctic SDI is the cooperation between the National Mapping Agencies of the 8 Arctic Countries.

The Poster stand will be manned and the tools and services of the Arctic SDI Geoportal be demonstrated.

The Poster shall be seen as a complementary to the proposed session proposed by the Arctic SDI and CAFF under the theme KNO7: Improve data management, coordination and access.

Lecomte, Nicolas, Canada Research Chair in Polar and Boreal Ecology and Centre d’Études Nordiques, Department of Biology, University of Moncton, Moncton, New-Brunswick, E1A 3E9, Canada
Schaefer, James, A., Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, K9L 0G2, Canada
Olsen, Steffen M. Danish Meteorological Institute, Lyngbyvej 100, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Swingedouw, Didier, UMR CNRS 5805 EPOC-OASU-Université de Bordeaux, Allée Georoy St-Hilaire 33615 Pessac, France
Côté, Steeve D., Département de Biologie and Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada
Pellissier, Loïc, Landscape Ecology, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland &
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Yannic, Glenn, LECA - Laboratoire d’Écologie Alpine – UMR CNRS 5553, Université Savoie Mont Blanc –73376 Le Bourget-du-Lac, France

Global warming threatens to reduce connectivity through significant and rapid changes to sea ice. Here we examine how past changes in sea-ice extent modulated population connectivity and forecast the long-term viability of island caribou under accelerated warming scenarios in the most complex archipelago of the Arctic. Using genetic fingerprinting and future sea-ice projections, we contrast genetic mixing in island-dwelling Peary caribou to continental-migratory caribou and explore the impact of spatial and temporal changes in sea ice extent. We found a strong correlation between genetic and geodesic distances for both Peary and continental caribou (Mantel’r=0.61, P

Field work is notoriously expensive in northern regions; so all data collected there are invaluable. Northern capacity to identify species and archive data on biodiversity is also very limited. Canada’s Northwest Territories is experiencing one of the fastest rates of change in climate in the World. Over the past 20 years, Canada’s Northwest Territories has gained experience in adapting monitoring protocols, harnessing all knowledge sources, including Indigenous traditional knowledge, and leveraging national and international systems to better share biodiversity information online with a northern public increasingly savvy with the internet. Results of our efforts will be shared and discussed. Barriers to sharing northern biodiversity data will also be discussed: lack of shared standards on taxonomy and data sensitivity, rapid application turnovers, and jurisdictional silos. In March 2018, the Government of the Northwest Territories has adopted an Open Government Policy. This will provides additional incentives to work through barriers and make more northern biodiversity data from our region accessible to the world.

UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre’s (UNEP-WCMC) responsibilities in terms of global biodiversity and ecosystems data, assessments and analyses, and policy support are all impacted by a relevant and adequate Arctic knowledge base. Opportunities exist for UNEP-WCMC to advance its involvement in Arctic biodiversity science and policy, and its overall contribution to global biodiversity understanding and decision-making.

An overview of engagement possibilities suggests areas of value: knowledge and expertise in ecosystem services, ecosystem modelling and protected areas; a rigorous biodiversity science perspective and complementarity in community engagement and capacity development; a global science, biodiversity and policy perspective that is relevant to the Arctic and its global linkages; a well-developed industry partnership and data sharing mechanism. Resulting contributions would aim to help ensure a sustainable future for the region and its inhabitants.

UNEP-WCMC’s engagement can increase the visibility of Arctic biodiversity and targets in global settings; relate the work of CAFF and the Arctic Council to global processes and raise CAFF’s profile; mainstream biodiversity and ecosystem services; and facilitate inter-disciplinary responses.

Through improved and more diverse knowledge, including traditional ecological knowledge, decision making can be improved, and biodiversity under changing conditions can be safeguarded through protection and stressor and threat reduction.

INTERACT - International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic is an infrastructure project funded by the EU. Its main objective is to build capacity for identifying, understanding, predicting and responding to diverse environmental changes throughout the wide environmental and land-use envelopes of the Arctic. It encompasses a circum Arctic network of 82 terrestrial field bases (and is growing).
The “Red Phone” is a work package within INTERACT with a main goal to help protect Arctic and global residents from potential environmental emergencies or hazards. The work package is focused on identifying, observing and documenting potential risks and hazards and working with relevant agencies and organisations to help response actions.
The whole project is dependent on efficient networking throughout the Arctic, for which INTERACT provides a great platform with its comprehensive net of research stations where sampling and observations can be carried out simultaneously and in the same way across a wide range of territories and often in remote regions.
The Red Phone’s main output will be the development of protocols for monitoring of potential environmental risks and a subsequent set up of an alert system for Arctic research stations and adjoining territories.

Climate change is projected to cause negative impacts on species, ecosystems and the services they provide. Traditional static nature conservation should be complemented with climate-wise conservation planning, so that the dynamic changes in species distributions and assemblages will be properly taken into account. The SUMI project (2017–2019) will provide an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness and adaptive capacity of Finnish protected area (PA) network in protecting biodiversity and supporting key ecosystem services under the growing pressures of climate change and land use. The project addresses several Arctic Biodiversity Assessment recommendations, especially 13 and 16, and focuses on four work packages: the vulnerability of species to climate change (i.e. species exposure, adaptive capacity and sensitivity to climate change, WP1), the effects of climate change on habitat types and ecosystems (especially boreal forests, peatlands and alpine biotopes, WP2), the role of biogeophysical characteristics of PAs in mitigating the impacts of climate change (fine-scale velocity of the climate change, local climatic variability and refugia, WP3) and the role of PAs in carbon sequestration and storage (WP4). This poster presents the scope and aims of the project, and selected key methods employed in assessing the representativeness of Finnish PA network under climate change.

Scandinavian mountains are climate hot spots where both precipitation and temperatures are increasing. They are home to many Arctic species, which are valuable indicators of climate change. Small water bodies are particularly vulnerable to impacts in water quantity and quality due to changes in climate variables. I explored the habitat quality and presence-absence of large cold-adapted and acid sensitive branchiopod in 24 water bodies in Northern Finland. Long time series for precipitation and rainwater pH were used as explanative variables to estimate the potential disappearance risk of Arctic tadpole shrimp (Lepidurus arcticus) in the northern Scandinavian Mountains. Ninety-nine per cent of rain is too acid for the Arctic tadpole shrimp in Northern Finland. Relatively large amounts of acid water rains directly to small ponds in comparison to larger lakes. Climate change together with acid rain will cause a remarkable extinction risk for Arctic tadpole shrimps in the small and shallow ponds.

In the last decades a lot of saprothrophic microfungal species have been shown to display the capacity of potential pathogens for man. Soil - is the main reservoir of opportunistic fungi of this type. Warming of the climate will inevitably greatly affect the spread of potentially pathogenic fungi because it is precisely these groups of species that attain the optima in their growth at elevated temperatures (above 25 °C). Probably that warming of the climate in the Northern latitudes is expected to enhance the development of soil fungi potentially dangerous for human. Our studies carried out in the Nothern part of Russia (Kola Peninsula) for many years have demonstrated that populations of cultivated opportunistic microfungi become considerably more numerous in soils. Modern biosphere is characterized by appearance of extensive areas of temperature, elevated as compared to that average for the respective zone, i.e., urban ecosystems and near the industrial plants. We have found that in these areas the level of cultivated microfungi typical of more southern soils is higher. The pronounced increase in their occurrence in urban soils as compared to zonal soils of arctic and boreal latitudes is noted regarding Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger, Paecilomyces variotii, Fusarium oxisporum, etc., i.e., species which could be the causative agents of deep human mycoses.
The share of the opportunistic fungi increase up to 15% in the zones of the Aluminum and Copper-Nickel Plants emissions comparable to the background soil has been revealed. The majority of the fungi species belongs to the following genera: Penicillium, Aspergillus, Mucor, Lecanicillium, Phoma and Cladosporium. The structure of the fungal complexes has changed in the polluted soil, that is, the species abundance and the frequency of the opportunistic fungi occurrence have increased. 55% of the investigated fungi strains distinguished from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions had the pathogenicity properties compared to the fungi strains of the same species distinguished from the clean soil. The most dangerous for a human's health were Amorphotheca resinae, Aspergillus fumigatus, A. niger, Paecilomyces variotii, Penicillium commune, P. purpurogenum, Trichoderma viride isolated from the soils contaminated by the Aluminum Plant emissions; and P. aurantiogriseum, P. glabrum, P. janthinellum, P. lanosoviride, Rhizopus nigricans isolated from the soils contaminated by the Copper-Nickel Plant emissions.
This makes it necessary to carry out monitoring of these fungal populations in soils.

Vegetation responses to reindeer grazing are variable and largely determined by vegetation type. Major part of research has focused on impacts of reindeer grazing on dry heaths and meadows, while mire habitats are less studied.
This study was carried out in a treeless oroarctic study area across the border of Finland and Norway (68°49', 23° 49'). We studied the effects of 1) a 13-year exclusion of reindeer summer grazing and 2) long-term (c. 55 years) difference in grazing between Finland (summer grazing) and Norway (winter grazing) on fen vegetation. One characteristic feature of the studied fens is abundance of Salix lapponum, a willow species subject to summer grazing by reindeer. We hypothesized that after a 13-year period of reindeer exclusion, plant community structure in fenced plots is similar to winter-grazed fens in Norway. In addition, we expected that willows grow taller and produce more fruits inside the fenced plots.Vegetation patterns and the main directions of anticipated change were analyzed with non-metric multivariate ordination (NMDS) using 2002 and 2015 subplot-level species cover data. We tested the effects of grazing on S. lapponum height and cover with linear mixed effects model using data from 2002, 2006 and 2015. The fruiting of S. lapponum in response to grazing pressure was studied in 2015.
In ordinations, grazing treatments were widely overlapping, and no uniform direction of change in vegetation was found. Fenced and summer grazed subplots together differed from winter grazed and, thus, legacy of summer grazing on mire plant communities was still apparent over a decade after reindeer exclusion. There was some distinction between winter-grazed subplots and all subplots in Finland, as winter-grazed subplots had less variation in NMDS. High abundance of Salix lapponum, Potentilla palustris and hepatics characterized winter-grazed subplots, while dwarf-shrubs were more common in the Finnish side of the border. We found significant differences in height and cover of S. lapponum between grazing treatments and years. Willows in Norway and in fenced plots were significantly more abundant, grew taller, and female plants had heavier and more frequent fruit bodies than in summer-grazed subplots.
In oroarctic mires, reindeer summer grazing affects S. lapponum stands. Northern mires are large carbon storages, and reindeer grazing may alter carbon cycling in mires via affecting on shrub abundance. The longer-term role of mammal herbivory in arctic mires is, however, still uncertain and the issue should be considered in Arctic research.

In the Arctic, areas within and close to seabird colonies are often regarded as biodiversity hotspots, being characterized by exceptionally rich vegetation communities linked with the high nutrient subsidies transported by seabirds from the marine environment to the land. These areas also support atypically high population densities for several invertebrate species, and specific invertebrate assemblages of which springtails, mites, and tardigrades often represent the most abundant and diverse groups. We present data on abundance and species composition of soil and limnoterrestrial invertebrates from the vicinities of different seabird species nesting sites as compared to impoverished areas, collected from different Svalbard locations: north-west, central, and south-west Spitsbergen, and Bjørnøya. With the use of diversity indices as well as multivariate analytical techniques we quantitatively estimated species diversity at the habitat level (α), the differentiation among habitats (β), and the proportion of total variability in the invertebrate communities explained by seabird influence, and compared these parameters between ornithogenically fertilized and non-fertilized areas. Arctic colonial seabirds are expected to be strongly influenced by predicted climate warming. This may trigger subsequent changes in invertebrate communities, concurrent with those resulting from typical climate change effects, such as increased temperature and reduced moisture availability.