Diversity of shell-bearing gastropods along the western coast of the Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya: an evaluation of modern and historical data Ivan O. Nekhaev & Ekaterina N. Krol Polar Biology ISSN 0722-4060 Polar Biol DOI 10.1007/s00300-017-2140-1 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer- Verlag GmbH Germany. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self- archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Polar Biol DOI 10.1007/s00300-017-2140-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Diversity of shell-bearing gastropods along the western coast of the Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya: an evaluation of modern and historical data 1 2 Ivan O. Nekhaev • Ekaterina N. Krol Received: 27 June 2016 / Revised: 15 May 2017 / Accepted: 6 June 2017 Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract Accurate estimation of biodiversity is necessary between local coastal gastropod faunas from various parts to provide a baseline for further ecosystem investigations of the Barents Sea (including Novaya Zemlya). and protection of High Arctic regions. Novaya Zemlya is a large Arctic archipelago located on the border between the Keywords Arctic Á Barents Sea Á Gastropoda Á Species Barents and Kara Seas. Despite a long history of investi- diversity Á Novaya Zemlya Á Historical data gation, data on species composition along the coast of Novaya Zemlya are presented only in sources from the initial period of investigation in the late 19th to early 20th Introduction century. We estimate herein the diversity of shell-bearing Gastropoda found along the western coast of Novaya Arctic marine ecosystems are believed to have been Zemlya, based on both published sources and our original transformed recently due to the influence of multiple fac- identification of material collected between 1985 and 2008. tors, including climatic changes, pollution, effects of fish- The total species list contains 86 species, 24 of which were eries, and invasive species (Britaev et al. 2010; Jørgensen identified only from the recent material, while 28 were only et al. 2015). One of the most important metrics of these reported in literature. Our results demonstrate that modern changes is alteration in taxonomical diversity over time, as and historical data are significantly different. However, revealed by comparing modern and earlier investigations. these differences do not indicate any changes in species Such differences are often interpreted as substantial chan- composition in the region during the last century, but rather ges of the ecosystem structure influenced by local and/or arise for methodological reasons. Even combined, the two global factors (Britaev et al. 2010; Lyubina et al. 2014). types of data do not provide complete coverage of the However, this approach has a significant drawback: Real fauna. We also carried out a preliminary comparison changes may be overestimated if the results of either of the studies are incomplete (Nekhaev 2016). Given the limited baseline knowledge regarding the Arctic fauna and Electronic supplementary material The online version of this ecosystems in many regions, such incompleteness of bio- article (doi:10.1007/s00300-017-2140-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. diversity studies may be even harder to identify, and the practical limitations of poor accessibility of many Arctic & Ivan O. Nekhaev regions make frequent and regular monitoring studies [email protected] difficult. Ekaterina N. Krol Only some large High Arctic marine shallow-water [email protected] ecosystems, especially coasts of Svalbard and Western Greenland, undergo more or less regular hydrobiological 1 Laboratory of Macroecology and Biogeography of Invertebrates, Saint Petersburg State University, examination (Hop et al. 2002; Palerud et al. 2004; Beuchel Universitetskaya emb. 7-9, Saint Petersburg, Russia 199034 and Gulliksen 2008; Yesson et al. 2015). Both sites are 2 Department of Biology, Murmansk State Technical located in the Atlantic Ocean and are influenced by the tails University, Sportivnaya str. 13, Murmansk, Russia 183010 of the warm North Atlantic Current. By contrast, 123 Author's personal copy Polar Biol knowledge about bottom fauna of other Eurasian Arctic summaries (e.g., Golikov and Averintcev 1977; Denisenko archipelagos, such as Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian et al. 1995; Pogrebov et al. 1997). Material collected dur- Islands, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya, is con- ing this period for the most part was not properly preserved siderably poorer and limited to only occasionally collected and is now not available for reexamination. However, some data (Gorbunov 1949; Golikov and Scarlato 1977; Deni- portions of it are dispersed between taxonomic museum senko et al. 1995). More detailed and accurate estimation collections or remain unidentified. Careful examination of of biodiversity in these regions is necessary to provide a these samples may complement older data obtained during baseline for further ecological research. the initial phase of investigation, although the latter still Gastropoda is one of the key groups of marine benthic remain the most useful source of faunistic information on invertebrates. Aside from great taxonomical diversity and the Novaya Zemlya region. abundance, gastropods demonstrate a wide spectrum of life The main objective of this study is to estimate the strategies and ecological preferences: from short-lived species diversity of shell-bearing gastropod mollusks along algae eaters to long-lived predators or even parasites. Also, the western coast of Novaya Zemlya based on available some gastropod species are relatively easy to recognize original material, taken during the cruises of past decades, using simple shell characteristics. This makes gastropods and published sources. We also compared the two datasets, suitable as indicators of environmental conditions and i.e., modern and historical, to determine whether either popular objects for monitoring studies in various environ- dataset separately or both of them together can provide ments (Golikov 1968; Zvonareva et al. 2015). Novaya reliable information regarding the fauna of the archipelago. Zemlya is one of the largest but most poorly studied Arctic archipelagos of Eurasia, located on the border between the Barents and Kara Seas. Investigations of its environment Materials and methods and fauna started in the early 18th century. The first report on mollusks inhabiting the waters around the archipelago Study area was presented by Middendorff (1849) based on samples collected during Baer’s expedition in 1837. Later, species The Arctic archipelago Novaya Zemlya (HodazPevkz, lists of mollusks from various parts of Novaya Zemlya Novaja Semlja) is located between the Barents and Kara were published after the 1875–1876 and 1878–1879 cruises Seas and consists of two major islands—Southern and by N.A.E. Nordenskio¨ld (Leche 1878; Aurivillius 1885). Northern—and several hundred smaller islands around Another survey of the archipelago was carried out in them. The Southern and Northern islands are divided by a 1908; based on the material collected by this expedition, a very narrow (1–2 km) strait called Matochkin Shar. The new species, Natica tenuistriata Dautzenberg et Fischer, shoreline of the archipelago is indented by numerous fjords 1911 (now Euspira tenuistriata), was described and an and inlets. Some of them, especially in the north, are influ- annotated list of molluskan taxa published (Dautzenberg enced by tidewater glaciers. The typical depth along the and Fischer 1911). Dautzenberg also identified a small coast of Novaya Zemlya does not exceed 250 m. The collection of mollusks taken in a Russian survey in 1910 western coast in particular is influenced predominantly by (Ivanov 1910). Substantial zoological material, including Arctic waters, although Atlantic ones also have some effect marine invertebrates, was collected during the Norwegian in the extreme north of the region (Ozhigin et al. 2011). expedition to Novaya Zemlya in 1921, and a report on Average water temperature at sea bottom, measured in mollusks was published by Grieg (1924). September, the warmest month, is about 0–1 °C (Loeng The next stage of studies of Novaya Zemlya started in 1991; Ozhigin et al. 2011). The temperature range observed the 1920s as part of investigations of the environment during our recent investigation was from -1.83° to along the Northeastern Passage, a shipping route between ?2.25 °C (Online Resource 1). The salinity of the coastal the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Detailed species lists of waters was remarkably stable at about 34.8–34.9 psu with benthic animals and descriptions of the environmental nonsignificant variation (Ozhigin et al. 2011). At least two conditions were published for three studied areas: Moller regions of Novaya Zemlya (Matochkin Shar and Chernaya Bay, Chernaya Inlet, and Matochkin Shar Strait (Ushakov Inlet) were used as nuclear weapon