Gammarus wilkitzkii

Sea-ice Biota Expert Network

The Sea-ice Biota Expert Network of the CBMP-Marine provides information on the status and potential changes in sea ice biota biodiversity and advice for monitoring.

The Sea-ice Biota Expert Network of the CBMP-Marine is tasked with advising on how to implement related components of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan. Sea-ice biota have been identified as a Focal Ecosystem Component (FEC) in the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Plan. FECs are key elements of the Arctic marine ecosystem. Changes in FECs status likely indicate changes in the overall marine environment.

Sea ice biota FECs are:

  • Prokaryotic microbes;
  • Ice algae and other protists;
  • Sea-ice meiofauna; and
  • Under-ice macrofauna.

Given the lack of regular and systematic monitoring of sea ice biota, we rely on data compilations and meta-analysis.

Sea ice biota publication list

  • Ehrlich J, Bluhm BA, Peeken I, Massicotte P, Schafsmaa F, Castellani G, Flores H (2021). Biomass, production and ingestion of sympagic biota in and under Arctic pack ice. Elementa Sci Anth, 9: 1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00169
  • Hop H, Vihtakari M, Bluhm BA, Daase M, Gradinger R (2021). Ice-associated amphipods in a pan-Arctic scenariod of declining sea ice. Frontiers in Marine Science 8:743152. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.743152
  • Ehrlich J, Schaafsma FL, Bluhm BA, Peeken I, Castellani G, Brandt A, Flores H (2020) Sympagic fauna in and under Arctic pack ice in the annual sea ice system of the new Arctic Frontiers in Marine Science 7:452. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00452
  • Gradinger R, Bluhm BA (2020) First Arctic sea ice meiofauna food web analysis based on abundance, biomass and stable isotope ratios of sea ice metazoan fauna from near-shore Arctic fast ice. Marine Ecology Progress Series 634:29-43
  • Castellani G, Schaafsma FL, Arndt S, Lange BA, Peeken I, Ehrlich J, David C, Ricker R, Krumpen T, Hendricks S, Schwegmann S, Massictotte P, Flores H (2020) Large-Scale Variability of Physical and Biological Sea-Ice Properties in Polar Oceans. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, p.536.
  • Hop H, Vihtakari M, Bluhm B, Assmy P, Poulin M, Gradinger R, Peeken I, von Quillfeld C, Mork Olsen L, Zhitina L, Melnikov I (2020) Changes in sea/ice protist diversity with declining sea ice in the Arctic Ocean from the 1980s to 2010s. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:243.doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.00243
  • Kunisch E, Bluhm BA, Daase M, Gradinger R, Hop H, Melnikov IA, Varpe Ø, Berge J (2020) Pelagic occurrences of the ice amphipod Apherusa glacialis throughout the Arctic. Journal of Plankton Research 37, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbz072
  • Limoges A, G Massé, K Weckström, M Poulin, M Ellegaard, M Heikkilä, N-X Geilfus, MK Sejr, S Rysgaard and S Ribeiro (2018) Spring succession and vertical export of diatoms and IP25 in a seasonally ice-covered high Arctic fjord. Frontiers in Earth Science 6:226. doi:10.3389/feart.2018.00226.
  • Tremblay J-É, P Archambault, M Gosselin, S Bélanger, J Cullen, D Dumont, C Lovejoy, C. Nozais, M Poulin and S Rysgaard (2018) Arc3Bio (Marine biodiversity, biological productivity and biogeochemistry in the changing Canadian Arctic). In: Impacts of Environmental Change in the Canadian Coastal Arctic: A Compendium of Research Conducted During ArcticNet Phase IV (2016-17), pp. 279-303 (Edited by ArcticNet, M Lemay, A Gaden, C Barrette). ArcticNet Inc., Quebec City, Canada.
  • Bluhm BA, Hop H, Vihtakari M, Gradinger R, Iken K, Melnikov IA, Søreide J (2018) Sea ice meiofauna: meta-analysis of distribution and abundance documents large variability on local to pan-Arctic scales and across seasons. Ecology and Evolution, DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3797
  • Hop, H, Bluhm BA, Melnikov IA, Poulin M, Vihtakari M, Collins RE, Gradinger R, Juul-Pedersen T and von Quillfeldt C (2018) Sea ice biota: excerpts from the State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report by the sea ice biota expert network/CBMP. Peer J, 6:e26822v1.
  • Bluhm BA, Hop H, Melnikov IA, Poulin M, Vihtakari M, Collins RE, Gradinger R, Juul-Pedersen T, von Quillfeldt C (2017) 3.1 Sea ice biota. In: CAFF. State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland, 978-9935-431-63-9
  • Bluhm BA, Swadling K, Gradinger R (2017) Chapter 16. Sea ice as habitat for macrograzers. In: Sea ice. DN Thomas (editor), 3rd edition
  • Assmy P., J.K. Ehn, M. Fernández-Méndez, H. Hop, C. Katlein, A. Sundfjord, K. Bluhm, M. Daase, A. Engel, A. Fransson, M.A. Granskog, S.R. Hudson, S. Kristiansen, M. Nicolaus, I. Peeken, A.H.H. Renner, G. Spreen, A. Tatarek, J. Wiktor. 2013. Floating ice-algal aggregates below melting Arctic sea ice. PLoS ONE 8(10): e76599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076599. Open access.
  • Collins, R. E., & Deming, J. W. (2013). An inter-order horizontal gene transfer event enables the catabolism of compatible solutes by Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H. Extremophiles, 17(4), 601-610.
  • Comeau, A. M., Philippe, B., Thaler, M., Gosselin, M., Poulin, M., & Lovejoy, C. (2013). Protists in drift and landfast sea ice. Journal of Phycology, 49(2), 229-240.
  • Hop H., and H. Gjøsæter. 2013. Polar cod (Boreogadus saida) and capelin (Mallotus villosus) as key species in marine food webs of the Arctic and the Barents Sea. Marine Biology Research 9: 912-928
  • Melnikov, I.A. and N.V. Chernova. 2013. Characteristics of under-ice swarming of polar cod Boreogadus saida (Gadidae) in the Central Arctic Ocean. Journal of Ichthyology 53 (1) 7-15
  • Meltofte H., T. Barry, D. Berteaux, H. Bültmann, J.S. Christiansen, J.A. Cook, A. Dalhberg, F.J.A. Daniëls, D. Ehrich, J. Fjeldså, F. Friöriksson, B. Ganter, A.J. Gaston, L.J. Gillespie, L. Grenoble, E.P. Hoberg, I.D. Hodkinson, H.P. Huntington, R.A. Ims, A.B. Josefson, S.J. Kutz, S.L. Kuzmin, K.L. Laidre, D.R. Lassuy, P.N. Lewis, C. Lovejoy, C. Michel, V. Mokievsky, T. Mustonen, D.C. Payer, M. Poulin, D.G. Reid, J.R. Reist, D.F. Tessler, F.J. Wrona. 2013. Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. Status and trends in Arctic biodiversity. Synthesis. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Akureyri. 124 p.
  • Nelson, R. J., Ashjian, C. J., Bluhm, B. A., Conlan, K. E., Gradinger, R. R., et al. (2014). Biodiversity and Biogeography of the Lower Trophic Taxa of the Pacific Arctic Region: Sensitivities to Climate Change. In The Pacific Arctic Region (pp. 269-336). Springer Netherlands.
  • Søreide J.E., M.L. Carroll, H. Hop, W.G. Ambrose Jr., E.N. Hegseth, S. Falk-Petersen. 2013. Sympagic-pelagic-benthic coupling in Arctic and Atlantic waters around Svalbard revealed by stable isotopic and fatty acid tracers. Marine Biology Research 9: 892-911
  • Søgaard, D. H., Thomas, D. N., Rysgaard, S., Glud, R. N., Norman, L., Kaartokallio, H., Juul-Pedersen, T. & Geilfus, N. X. (2013). The relative contributions of biological and abiotic processes to carbon dynamics in subarctic sea ice. Polar Biology, 36(12), 1761-1777.
  • Berge J, Ø. Varpe, M.A. Moline, A. Wold, P.E. Renaud, M. Daase, S. Falk-Petersen. 2012. Retention of endemic keystone species in a future ice-free Arctic Ocean. Biology Letters doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0517. (Open access)
  • Poulin M, N. Daugbjerg, R. Gradinger, L. Ilyash, T. Ratkova, C. Quillfeldt. 2011. The pan-Arctic biodiversity of marine pelagic and sea-ice unicellular eukaryotes: a first-attempt assessment. Marine Biodiversity 41: 13-28 doi 10.1007/s12526-010-0058-8.