Circumpolar patterns of Arctic freshwater fish biodiversity: A baseline for monitoring

Abstract

4 4. In an analysis of five ecoregions around the Arctic, isolation, area, and topography were identified as strong drivers of gamma, alpha, and beta diversity. Physical isolation reduced 61 the gamma and alpha diversity, and changes in beta diversity between adjacent locations were due mainly to losses in species richness, rather than due to differences in species composition. Heterogeneity of habitats, environmental gradients, and geographic distance likely contributed to patterns of fish dissimilarity within and across ecoregions. 5. This study marks the first attempt to document large-scale patterns of freshwater fish biodiversity in the circumpolar Arctic. However, information gaps in space, time, and among taxonomic groups remain. Working towards inclusion of extensive old and new data will allow future studies to test for changes in the observed patterns of biodiversity. This is important given the potential impacts of climate change, land use, and biotic exchange on Arctic fish biodiversity in the future.

Increasing temperature and productivity change biomass, trophic pyramids and community‐level omega‐3 fatty acid content in subarctic lake food webs

“…Expanding transport networks, settlements, oil drilling and mining activities are rapidly changing the hydrology and productivity of freshwaters (Cott et al., 2015; Denisov et al., 2020; Zubova et al., 2020). Joint effects of changes in climate and land‐use in catchment area cause increased leaching of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous, with serious impacts on freshwater species richness, community structure and food web processes (Hayden et al., 2019; Jeppesen et al., 2012; Laske et al., 2019; Nieminen et al., 2015).…”

Multitrophic biodiversity patterns and environmental descriptors of sub‐Arctic lakes in northern Europe

“…We analysed biodiversity patterns among these lakes which are distributed across large environmental and spatial gradients, and investigated whether their spatial biodiversity patterns were correlated with a set of abiotic and geospatial variables. This research differs from previous studies in which diversity patterns of individual FECs were investigated separately from different systems (for most recent evaluation see Kahlert et al, 2022;Laske et al, 2022;Lento et al, 2022;Schartau et al, 2022). We hypothesised that biodiversity of individual FECs among these lakes would be higher in warmer and wetter regions (e.g.…”

Abruptly and irreversibly changing Arctic freshwaters urgently require standardized monitoring

“…An extensive report on Arctic freshwater biodiversity was recently published by the CAFF-CBMP (Lento et al, 2019). However, even for fish, the existing data are inadequate, which is shown in spatial, temporal and taxonomic gaps in our knowledge (Laske et al, 2020). Thus, we propose a three-step approach to better address and facilitate monitoring of ecological change in Arctic freshwater ecosystems.…”