Polar Research (E-Journal)
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Hop-on, hop-off: the first record of the alien species crescent-marked lily aphid (Neomyzus circumflexus) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae) in Greenland
No full textWe report for the first time the presence of the globally distributed and extremely polyphagous pest species—the crescent-marked lily aphid (or mottled arum aphid) (Neomyzus circumflexus L.) (Insecta, Hemiptera, Aphididae)—in Greenland. This species, of alien origin, was found on the ornamental plant Salix arbuscula L., imported from Denmark and sold in the main supermarket of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. As this species is not the preferred host plant of N. circumflexus, the possibility must be considered that the aphids were not imported along with S. arbuscula from the mainland but were transferred from other imported ornamental plants sold in the store. Supermarkets selling decorative plants may be becoming reservoirs of alien species, facilitating the movement of aphids and other alien species that “hop on, hop off,” to borrow a phrase from the tourism industry. As unintentional introductions present the greatest threats to the Arctic ecosystems, a stricter approach to regional biosecurity needs to be considered and non-native species control and eradication should be implemented
New Antarctic clawed lobster species (Crustacea: Decapoda: Nephropidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of James Ross Island
No full textA new species of nephropid lobster, Hoploparia echinata sp. nov., from the James Ross Island in the Antarctic Peninsula is here described and illustrated. The material was collected in the Santa Marta Formation (Santonian–-Campanian), the basal unit of the Marambio Group, Larsen Basin, located in the western portion of the Antarctic Peninsula. Hoploparia echinata sp. nov. can easily be differentiated from its congeners by the presence of distinct short spines on dorsal and ventral margins on the third maxillipeds, merus of the chelipeds and pereopods; these are the characters not described in other Hoploparia species so far
Eurasian winter temperature change in recent decades and its association with Arctic sea ice loss
No full textThe surface air temperature in the northern mid-latitudes during winter showed a significant cooling trend from the late 1990s to the early 2010s, in spite of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. This unexpected cooling, which was particularly strong across Eurasia, has been partly attributed to Arctic sea-ice loss. Here, the statistical relationship between Arctic sea-ice loss and surface air-temperature change during winter in Eurasia, which is often referred to as the warm Arctic–cold Eurasia pattern, is re-evaluated by using a break-point trend analysis and maximum covariance analysis. A significant time-lagged covariability is observed between the Arctic sea-ice concentration over the Barents–Kara seas and the Eurasian surface air temperature during winter, with the former leading the latter by approximately two months. More importantly, the timing of an abrupt decline in the autumn Arctic sea ice that occurred in the late 1990s is coincident with the beginning of the Eurasian winter cooling. This concurrent trend change is statistically significant and robustly found in both the break-point analysis and maximum covariance analysis. These results suggest that both the interannual variability and decadal trend change seen for the surface air temperature during Eurasian winters are likely influenced by regional sea-ice changes over the Barents–Kara seas
The effect of an experimental decrease in salinity on the viability of the Subarctic planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina incompta
No full textChemical signatures in the calcite of shells of polar and subpolar planktonic foraminifera have been frequently used to trace and quantify past meltwater discharge events. This approach assumes that the foraminifera can tolerate low salinity under extended periods. To obtain a first experimental constraint on salinity tolerance of Subarctic foraminifera, we carried out a culturing experiment with specimens of the subpolar species Neogloboquadrina incompta collected in the northern Norwegian Sea off Tromsø in October 2018. The foraminifera were exposed to a gradient of salinities between 35 and 25 PSU. Survival was monitored over 26 days by measuring the extent of the rhizopodial network. Although chamber growth only occurred in one of the observed specimens, likely due to the largely unknown dietary preference of the species, we observed a strong differential rhizopodial activity pattern along the gradient. The highest rhizopodial activity occurred at salinity between 35 and 31 PSU. The species is clearly able to survive long-term exposure to salinities as low as 28, but no rhizopodial activity and signs of cytoplasm degradation were observed in all specimens exposed to 25 PSU. These preliminary observations provide the first direct evidence for the salinity tolerance of N. incompta, indicating a range of salinity that could be plausibly expected to be recorded in the chemistry of fossil shells of the species
Outline shape analysis of penguin humeri: a robust approach to taxonomic classification
No full textHumeri have been useful bones in taxonomic determinations of extinct penguins. In the context of neontological taxonomic studies, however, their potential remains unsatisfactorily explored. Here, the variation of the overall closed-outline shape of 60 humeri, assignable to five genera of extant penguins, was investigated. A set of normalized outlines was quantified via elliptical Fourier analysis and subjected to linear discriminant analysis on principal component scores extracted from harmonic coefficients. These geometric representations proved to be a source of easily extractable genus-level taxonomic information. The constructed model provided meaningful discrimination between taxa: the first two linear discriminants captured almost 90% of between-group variance. A cross-validation method based on jackknifing yielded 93% correct identifications, and statistically significant differences between group centroids were also detected (multivariate analysis of variance, p < 0.05). Predictions of genus membership for the intentionally noisy test data (20 outlines) were accurate in 80% of cases
Cold-seep fossil macrofaunal assemblages from Vestnesa Ridge, eastern Fram Strait, during the past 45 000 years
No full textFour cores from Vestnesa Ridge on the western Svalbard margin from water depth of 1200 m have been studied. The Vestnesa Ridge is known for the presence of numerous pockmarks and active methane gas seepage is often observed in the form of acoustic gas flares. Three of the cores were collected from a pockmark with active seepage of methane and one core was taken just outside the seepage area for comparison. The cores show a range of influence from methane from no seepage (control core), moderate seepage, strong seepage to very strong seepage. All cores have been analyzed for the distribution of macrofossils, trace fossils, planktic foraminifera, stable isotopes, geochemistry and sedimentology. The main purpose of the study is to improve knowledge about the fossil macrofauna and past methane emissions in the area. The results show a major difference between the fauna recovered from cores taken inside a pockmark with chemosymbiotic bivalves and in some cases with a rich macrofauna and from the core recovered outside the pockmark that contained no macrofauna. The faunal relationships with the sedimentary environments confirm a close connection between the macrofauna and the presence/absence of cold-seepage, particularly seen in the occurrence of chemosymbiotic bivalves Archivesica arctica, Isorropodon nyeggaensis, potentially chemosymbiotic Rhacothyas kolgae and polychaetes. A barren zone in the core that was taken from the deepest part of the pockmark may indicate that a blow-out took place in the late glacial and the deglaciation into the early Holocene at c. 21,000–9000 years
Review of Four Antarctic years in the South Orkney Islands: an annotated translation of Cuatro años en las Orcadas del Sur, by Jose Manuel Moneta (2017). London: Bernard Quaritch. 440 pp. ISBN 978-0-9955192-0-6.
No full textSummer habitat selection by ringed seals (Pusa hispida) in the drifting sea ice of the northern Barents Sea
No full textRinged seals are a central component of the Arctic ecosystem; they have a circumpolar distribution and are both important predators of lower trophic animals (invertebrates and fishes) and prey for polar bears and coastal human populations. They depend on sea ice for reproduction, moulting and resting, and they consume significant amounts of ice-associated prey. The population of ringed seals in Svalbard, Norway, uses both coastal and offshore habitats, the latter being important during seasonal migrations undertaken by some animals, mostly juveniles. This study examined habitat preferences of 18 satellite-tracked ringed seals (mostly young animals, but also a few adults) during late summer/autumn migrations to the drift ice in the northern Barents Sea. Resource selection functions showed that ringed seals preferred being close to the 50% sea-ice concentration threshold; a 120 km increase in the distance to the 50% sea-ice concentration threshold halved the probability of selection of a given area. In addition, higher sea-ice concentrations (80–100%) were between 1.4 and 2.2 times as likely to be selected as lower sea-ice concentrations or open water. Ringed seals use the marginal ice zone of the Barents Sea during summer/autumn. This offshore habitat has shifted northward during recent decades, which is likely causing negative effects on ringed seals by increasing the energetic cost of offshore migrations
A gloomy future for light-bellied brent geese in Tusenøyane, Svalbard, under a changing predator regime
No full textThe endangered population of light-bellied brent geese (Branta bernicla hrota) breeding in Svalbard and north-east Greenland used to have its core breeding area in the archipelago of Tusenøyane in south-east Svalbard. Studies carried out during 1987–1991 showed that the Tusenøyane population was subject to heavy egg predation by polar bears and, in one year, Arctic foxes. Revisiting some key nesting islands in August 2018, we found few nests used by brent geese and no families. The high density of common scurvygrass (Cochlearia officinalis), a food favoured by brent geese and therefore formerly depleted by them, indicates that the geese have been absent for some time. Among other bird species, such as barnacle goose and common eider, very few young were observed as well. As potential predators, polar bears, or signs of their recent presence, were observed on most islands, and great skuas occurred on almost all islands, with 60 individuals on Lurøya, formerly an important island for geese. In contrast, only a single pair of great skuas was observed 30 years ago. The observations suggest that recent expansion of great skuas in the North Atlantic, including Svalbard, has led to a novel extreme predation pressure, additional to that caused by mammalian predators. Despite the loss of Tusenøyane as a breeding ground, the population of brent geese has increased in recent decades; so we can infer that the population now recruits from remote but mainly unknown breeding grounds
First evidence of a tetrapod footprint from the Triassic of northern Victoria Land, Antarctica
No full textHere, we report on a tetrapod footprint from the Transantarctic Basin in the far north of Victoria Land, which marks the first record of terrestrial vertebrates for this region. The single specimen derives from a previously unknown lithological unit of Middle or Late Triassic age of the Beacon Supergroup in the Helliwell Hills in the central Rennick Glacier area. It differs in both size and morphology clearly from Middle Triassic trackway types from the upper Fremouw Formation of the Queen Alexandra Range in southern Victoria Land, and likely represents a primitive amniote, procolophonid or therapsid. The footprint is the third evidence of fossil vertebrate trackways in Antarctica