Polar Research (E-Journal)
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Mammoth ivory hunting in Siberia: economic, environmental and palaeontological considerations
No full textWoolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusks sell for a substantial price that proves to be an economic lifeline for many in the area of the Republic of Sakha, Russia. Ivory is extracted from permafrost through a variety of legal and illegal methods and sold abroad to China, western Europe and North America. The ivory trade revolves around three main dilemmas. The ethical balances the needs of people in Sakha with palaeontological, environmental and cultural preservation. The economic presents a struggling regional economy with an accessible and lucrative opportunity. The environment sees the ivory hunting practices decimate areas of protected tundra. This paper discusses these issues and seeks to look at the future of the mammoth ivory trade
DNA metabarcoding of non-fungal eukaryotic diversity in air and snow of Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica
No full textA major natural route of dispersal to Antarctica is often assumed to be atmospheric transport, although few studies have documented this in detail. Aerial dispersal to Antarctica is very challenging as the continent is geographically remote from other land areas and is isolated by the atmospheric circumpolar vortex. Detailed information about aerial routes by which microorganisms arrive and circulate in Antarctica is generally lacking, as few aerobiological studies have focused on eukaryotes and those that have predominantly relied on traditional morphological identification. Recent advances in molecular biology, such as DNA metabarcoding by high throughput sequencing (HTS), have provided a powerful new tool for the study of atmospheric biological diversity and can retrieve levels of diversity an order of magnitude higher than traditional methods. In this study, we used HTS to investigate the diversity of non-fungal eukaryotes present in the atmosphere and freshly precipitated snow on Livingston Island. In a total of 740 m3 of air and 3.76 L of snow sampled, representatives of four kingdoms (Protozoa, Chromista, Viridiplantae and Animalia) and five phyla (Ciliophora, Ochrophyta, Chlorophyta, Magnoliophyta and Porifera) were found. The most diverse phylum was Chlorophyta, represented in our samples by 10 taxa, with Trebouxia asymmetrica Friedl & Gärtner the most abundant representative
On ice but not broken: Norwegian–Russian relations in polar science since 24 February 2022
No full textWestern countries responded to the full-scale Russian attack on Ukraine on 24 February 2022 by imposing strong sanctions to isolate Russia. Norway has adhered to this policy, with exceptions for cooperation on border control, search and rescue, and fisheries research and management in the Barents Sea. Bilateral cooperation within polar science is on ice but has not broken off completely as some scientist-to-scientist contact has been maintained. This Perspective article outlines how these sanctions have greatly reduced cooperation between Norwegian research entities (especially the Institute of Marine Research and the Norwegian Polar Institute) and Russian institutes and scientists in various fields of marine and polar science. Some scientist-to-scientist contact remains, but the nature of these communications has become scantier during the course of the last three years. Maintaining some form of contact is vital for the sustainable management of the living marine resources that Russia and Norway share
The history of the musk ox farm in Bardu, Arctic Norway
No full textIn 1969, a musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) farm was started in Bardu, northern Norway, with 25 calves captured in Greenland. John J. Teal Jr., a professor at the University of Alaska, was the primus motor of the initiative, which had the aims of domesticating the musk oxen, distributing the domesticated animals to local farms, exhibiting the animals commercially and providing local knitters with the valuable underwool (qiviut) and, thereby, an income-generating activity. Teal withdrew from the project in 1973. The farm operated until 1975, when a bull, one of three escapees, killed a local hunter. Little has been published in English about the Bardu farm, which was one of only six large-scale musk ox farms ever established, and the only one outside North America. This Perspective piece describes the emergence of the idea of domesticating musk oxen in early 20th century North America; capturing the founding stock; constructing and operating the farm; the effort to produce qiviut handknits; and the circumstances leading to the farm’s closure. I conclude that the Bardu farm achieved none of its animal husbandry or socio-economic goals. The farm’s failure can be attributed to a chronic lack of money; the absence of a clear description of its purposes and a plan to achieve them; the failure to tame the musk oxen and to contain the rutting bulls; and other causes. On a positive note, the University of Tromsø’s research on the surviving animals after the farm closed yielded data relevant to free-living and farm-raised musk oxen
The muskox (Ovibos moschatus) in Sweden: update on a small wild population with an uncertain fate
No full textOnce widespread across the Holarctic region, the iconic and pre-historic muskox (Ovibos moschatus) has seen a significant range reduction, with endemic populations now restricted to North America and scattered populations introduced throughout Eurasia. In 1971, five individuals from the introduced Norwegian population migrated across the border into Sweden and re-established a natural Swedish muskox population in Härjedalen. While the size of this population has since fluctuated, up-to-date knowledge on the population size and status has been missing. In the summer of 2024, we therefore conducted a population survey and estimated the current population size to eight individuals. Although the population remains small and despite the absence of a formal wildlife management plan, the presence of a sub-adult and calf still shows an ongoing reproduction and suggests a viability and long-term local continuity of muskoxen in the area. Compared to the well-studied populations in North America and Greenland, little is known about the foraging ecology, habitat selection and ecological role of muskoxen in Scandinavia. Synthesizing published research from other regions, we explore the potential ecological services of the Swedish muskoxen, such as mitigating climate-induced changes like shrubification. We also report the results of our count of the population—eight individuals, including a calf and a sub-adult—and discuss its future prospects in Sweden, arguing that the environmental conditions in Scandinavia are indeed capable of supporting muskox populations
Svalbard rock ptarmigan: a first glimpse into parasite infections
No full textNatural ecosystems are under stress due to climate change and impacts are especially prominent at high latitudes. Manifestations of these changes include northward shifts in the distribution of birds, phenological mismatches, improved survival of parasites in the environment and the arrival of new parasite vectors and intermediate hosts. We collected baseline data on parasite infections in the Svalbard rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta hyperborea), which is endemic to two High Arctic archipelagos, by sampling 10 birds caught in September–October 2015 in Van Mijenfjorden, Spitsbergen. Five species were found, three endo- and two ectoparasites. The endoparasites included a nematode, Heterakis sp. (prevalence 10%), and two species of Eimeria, all with direct life cycles. The Eimeria species are provisionally called Eimeria sp. A and sp. B (prevalence 50% and 20%; mean intensity 1560 and 1850 oocysts per g faeces, respectively). Both show morphological similarities with known rock ptarmigan eimeriids, but further taxonomic research is needed to describe their phylogenetic relationships. The two ectoparasites, the ischnoceran chewing lice Goniodes lagopi and Lagopoecus affinis, both showed 90% prevalence and a mean intensity of 18.3 and 5.6, respectively. The eimeriids are host specific, and the chewing lice are common parasites of closely related grouse species. On the basis of our knowledge of rock ptarmigan parasites, Heterakis sp. is considered a generalist parasite. The parasite fauna of the Svalbard rock ptarmigan is impoverished compared with conspecific populations in other Arctic locations, such as Iceland and Greenland
What does the fox say? Arctic fox vocalization and associated den behaviours
No full textFoxes (Vulpes spp.) are small, solitary canids with relatively low social complexity compared to more gregarious canids, such as wolves and dogs. They are, therefore, expected to have a relatively simple vocal repertoire, with limited low-intensity sounds for close communication and many high-intensity sounds for long-distance communication. Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus), like many other foxes, are largely solitary outside of the breeding season. However, they have the largest litter size in the order Carnivora and may experience enhanced social complexity during the breeding season. In this study, we document the vocal repertoire of the Arctic fox during the breeding season, and how it changes before and after the emergence of pups. We also describe the relationship between vocalizations and other denning behaviours. Camera-traps captured six distinct sounds produced by breeding pairs of Arctic foxes and their young at dens: territorial barks, warning barks, alarm calls, cooing, whines and growling. Our study shows that although high-intensity sounds, such as territorial barks, are an important form of long-distance communication among Arctic foxes, low-intensity sounds and sound mixing are used on their dens following pup emergence. Thus, Arctic fox vocalization may be more complex than previously documented
Evidence of profuse bark shedding in Dicroidium seed ferns (Umkomasiales) from the Triassic of Antarctica
No full textDuring the 11th German Antarctic North Victoria Land Expedition in 2015/16, exceptionally well-preserved permineralized Kykloxylon stems—the wood of the iconic Dicroidium plants of the Gondwanan Triassic—were collected from the Middle to Upper Triassic Helliwell Formation in north Victoria Land, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Some of these logs show large borings and cavities that are partly filled with multi-layered periderm. This periderm is identical in cell shape and dimensions to isolated flakes of tissue that are superabundant in bulk macerations of Dicroidium-bearing rock samples from different coeval locations in the Transantarctic Mountains. These flakes are interpreted as shed bark fragments of Dicroidium-bearing umkomasialean trees. Various hypotheses on the adaptive advantages of bark shedding are discussed, including the reduction of epiphyte load. Palynological data document an abundance of potentially epiphytic cryptogams (spikemosses and bryophytes) in the environments in which the Dicroidium trees grew, and modern ecosystems with a climate comparable to that of the Late Triassic in Antarctica are in many cases also characterized by a lush epiphyte vegetation. Another advantage could lie in the reduction of infections by phytopathogenic microorganisms, as abundant fungal remains in both the wound periderm and the dispersed periderm flakes indicate
A bowhead whale vertebra embedded in marine limit beach sediment on Barentsøya, Svalbard
No full textA cross-valley beach terrace in Iladalen, in the south-east of the island of Barentsøya, Svalbard, is interpreted as having been built by long-shore sediment transport and deposition, with its maximum height at about 88 m a.s.l., marking the marine limit at deglaciation. A whale vertebra—most probably from a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)—was found embedded in the upper part of the littoral sediments at a height of ca. 80 m a.s.l., that is, about 8 m below the marine limit at deglaciation The bone is dated to 10 762 ± 137 cal yr BP, just a few hundred years after the generally accepted deglaciation of the coastal parts of Barentsøya, about 11 000 years ago. The vertebra’s age and altitudinal position fit well with the relative sea-level curve constructed for the north-eastern tip of the island of Edgeøya, some 29 km east–south-east of Iladalen
First recorded ice entrapment of a beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) in east Greenland
No full textBeluga whales are rare along the coast of east Greenland and the closest recognized stock occurs around Svalbard. Here we report on an ice entrapment of an adult beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) in north-east Greenland. The whale was observed entrapped in the fast ice on 21 April 2023 in Loch Fyne (73°54’N, 21°51’W) during a visual aerial survey for polar bears (Ursus maritimus). The whale was located >100 km from open water (i.e., pack ice) and appeared in poor body condition. A literature review back to the early 1900s failed to produce any other records of beluga whale ice entrapments in east Greenland