Biodiversity dynamics and processes of planktonic organisms over the annual cycle in the Arctic

Biodiversity dynamics and processes of planktonic organisms over the annual cycle in the Arctic

Plankton forms the basis for marine food webs and is one the most important oxygen producers in the world. Due to climate change and resulting temperature fluctuations, marine plankton is severely affected and invasive species may be able to reach the far north of the oceans, entering arctic regions. Thus, climate change may enable foreign organisms to reach further into the north and therefore threaten the fragile arctic ecosystem.

The aim of this project is to investigate how climate change affects the microbial communities in West Greenland, which are tightly connected to the Greenlandic people via the marine food web. Therefore, the dynamics of marine eukaryotes will be monitored for one continuous year and will be used to compare the data with Nuuk and Zackenberg if sampled in similar time periods with similar methods.

PI: Uwe John, Nina Lundholm

Project lead: Claudia Bruhn

Fieldwork period: April 2017 – April 2018

Fieldwork site: Disko Bay/ Disko Island

Link to Isaaffik website

 
Fieldwork summary/photo blog
Link to project summary report