Proceedings of the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop New Census of Marine Life Initiative April 11-14, 2003 Fairbanks, Alaska, USA Katrin Iken and Brenda Konar, Editors Alaska Sea Grant College Program M-26 Price: $7.00 Note: In order to provide important information in a timely fashion, Sea Grant has made this publication available in a non-edited format. Please contact the authors for more information on the topics. Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data Proceedings of the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop : new census of marine life initiative / Katrin Iken and Brenda Konar, editors. - Fairbanks, Alaska : Alaska Sea Grant College Program, 2003. 162 p. ; cm. Notes: “April 11-14, 2003, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.” “NOAA National Sea Grant—NA16RG2321, A/161-01.” Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Marine animals—Arctic regions—Congresses. 2. Marine organisms—Arc- tic regions—Congresses. 3. Marine ecology—Arctic regions—Congresses. I. Title. II. Iken, Katrin. III. Konar, Brenda. QL126.P76 2003 ISBN 1-56612-083-7 Citation for this volume is: 2003. K. Iken and B. Konar (eds.), Proceedings of the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop: New Census of Marine Life Initiative. Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks, M-26, Fairbanks. 162 pp. Credits This book is published by the Alaska Sea Grant College Program, supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA National Sea Grant Office, grant NA16RG2321, A/161-01; and by the University of Alaska Fairbanks with state funds. The University of Alaska is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. Funds are also provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Cover design by Tatiana Piatanova. Cover photo by Ian MacDonald. Book formatting by Kathy Kurtenbach. Sea Grant is a unique partnership with public and private sectors com- bining research, education, and technology transfer for public service. This national network of universities meets changing environmental and economic needs of people in our coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes regions. Alaska Sea Grant College Program University of Alaska Fairbanks ATMOSPH ND ER A IC IC A N D A M P.O. Box 755040 • 203 O’Neill Bldg. E I C N I O S L T A R Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-5040 N A T O I I O T N A N Toll free (888) 789-0090 U E S C (907) 474-6707 • Fax (907) 474-6285 D R E E P M A M RT O MENT OF C Alaska http://www.uaf.alaska.edu/seagrant/ Contents Recommendations from the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop ............................................................................ 1 Introduction: Arctic Biodiversity Transect Katrin Iken and Brenda Konar .............................................................. 5 The Census of Marine Life: Advancing Our Understanding of Marine Biodiversity R.K. O’Dor and K. Yarincik .................................................................. 15 ChEss: Biogeography of Deep-Water Chemosynthetic Ecosystems, Census of Marine Life Eva Ramirez Llodra, Paul A. Tyler, and Chris R. German ................... 25 Natural Geography in Nearshore Areas (NaGISA): The Nearshore Component of the Census of Marine Life Brenda Konar and Katrin Iken ............................................................ 35 Biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean B.I. Sirenko .......................................................................................... 49 Biodiversity of Free-Living Invertebrates in the Far Eastern Seas and the Proposition of NaGISA Transects around the Bering Sea B.I. Sirenko .......................................................................................... 55 Biodiversity of the Commander Islands and Bering Sea Coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula by Russian Scientists Y.Y. Latypov and V.L. Kasyanov ........................................................... 59 Arctic Benthic Diversity: Deep-Sea Meiofauna and Shelf Macrofauna William G. Ambrose Jr. ........................................................................ 67 iii Contents Biodiversity in the American Arctic Ken Dunton and Susan Schonberg ...................................................... 75 The Hidden Ocean: Explorations under the Ice of the Western Arctic. A Multidisciplinary Project Funded by the NOAA Ocean Exploration Program Rolf Gradinger, Russ Hopcroft, Bodil Bluhm, and Katrin Iken ............. 85 Canada and Arctic Marine Biodiversity Research Kathleen Conlan ................................................................................. 91 Arctic Deep-Sea Biodiversity Research: The U.K. Perspective Tammy Horton .................................................................................. 103 Arctic Nearshore Biodiversity Research: The U.K. and Scottish View Michael T. Burrows ........................................................................... 113 Aspects of Biological Diversity in Benthic Communities: German Research Activities in Arctic Deep-Sea Regions Karen v. Juterzenka, Michael Klages, and Thomas Soltwedel ........... 121 Remarks to Macrobenthic Investigation of the Siberian Shelf Seas and Deep Arctic Basins with Special Reference to the Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and Lomonosov Ridge Areas Hendrik Deubel and Michael Klages ................................................. 127 Microalgae and Biodiversity in Polar Regions Cecilie H. von Quillfeldt .................................................................... 131 Implementing the Microbial Food Web in the Arctic Pelagic Ecosystem: A Case Study from Disko Bay, Western Greenland Torkel Gissel Nielsen ......................................................................... 151 Participants ........................................................................................... 153 Index ...................................................................................................... 155 iv Proceedings of the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop 1 Alaska Sea Grant College Program • M-26, 2003 Recommendations from the Arctic Biodiversity Workshop The Arctic Biodiversity Workshop had two distinct programs. The first was to determine interest and need for a biodiversity study in the Arctic, while the second discussed the joining of the longitudinal and latitudinal NaGISA transects with a transect that would cross the North Pacific/Bering Sea at the Aleutian Islands. Discussions during the Arctic biodiversity portion of the work- shop identified what is known and what is unknown but knowable about diversity in the Arctic Ocean. An Arctic Biodiversity Transect was identified as being urgent since changes in environmental con- ditions have already happened, and Arctic biological communities are expected to have disproportionate responses to global climate change. The dependency of Native peoples on the Arctic ecosystem for subsistence lifestyle adds social and cultural urgency. How will the changes in the Arctic impact the biodiversity of sea ice communities on regional and temporal scales? For the sea ice system it was identified that delicate groups such as protozoan and metazoan meiofauna inhabiting the sea ice are among the least known groups. Little to no information is available on their species richness, distribution, and abundance. The sea ice community is also subject to dramatic seasonal changes, and information on these com- munity structures in the winter compared to spring and fall is sorely needed. Also, most studies so far have focused on annual ice or fast ice while the significance of biological communities in multiyear ice—the majority of the sea ice present in the Arctic—is unknown. One way of combining multiyear ice studies with seasonal investi- gations is the establishment of permanent ice floe stations that can be revisited at intervals until 2010. It was proposed to establish ice stations in the Transpolar Drift and in the Beaufort Gyre. Within the plankton, the major gaps in knowledge are delicate groups such as the gelatinous plankton, and nektonic groups such as cephalopods that are either destroyed or escape the traditional net sampling. Although copepods are reasonably well studied, knowl- edge on several small species is lacking for a comprehensive bio- diversity understanding. Among the phytoplankton, morphological and physiological characteristics may vary within a species. A 2 Recommendations better understanding of species composition will improve our understanding of their ecology and physiology as well as interactions and processes in the ecosystem. A combination of microscope and molecular techniques were suggested to help eliminate ambiguities. For benthic communities, patterns of floral and faunal biodiver- sity in the Arctic Ocean need to be related to hydrological processes and primary production to predict effects of climate change. Most efforts have traditionally been invested in shallow water benthic sys- tems on the continental shelves. The Chukchi, Bering, Laptev, and Kara shelves have been most studied, while the Eastern Siberian Shelf is still comparatively under-explored. The extent to which infauna and epibenthic megafauna have been studied so far varies among the different shelf regions, but common to all areas, meiofaunal com- munities including Foraminifera are the most unknown. Also, among the coastal regions, the fjord systems of the Canadian Archipelago and of Greenland are among the least well known. The shelf breaks and the deep-sea basins of the Arctic Ocean are not well studied, with the deep Canada Basin being the least known of all. Since the Canada Basin is a long-time separated system with little exchange to other deep-sea basins, this will be a particularly interesting area to