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ARCTIC-BIODIVER
Scenarios of freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services in a changing Arctic
ARCTIC-BIODIVER is an interdisciplinary, international research program focused on filling gaps in Arctic freshwater biodiversity knowledge, and developing biodiversity scenarios at national and circumpolar scales. The project considers both structural and functional biodiversity. Field testing of the projected climate change impacts on Arctic freshwater food web dynamics will allow estimating uncertainty in biodiversity scenarios. Moreover, the use of space-for-time analyses of shifts in biodiversity and basal resources will help propose indicators for early warning of the ecological impacts of climate change. ARCTIC-BIODIVER is further focused on the development of bio-economic models to integrate scenarios of biodiversity across trophic levels considering the socio-economics of ecosystem services provided by fish in the Arctic.
ARCTIC-BIODIVER will:
1. Evaluate biodiversity and functional trait patterns in relation to environmental drivers, including climate, nutrient enrichment, and terrestrial land use change;
2. Identify biodiversity hotspots and food web changes in lakes and rivers across latitudinal gradients in the Arctic;
3. Provide insight into how direct and indirect drivers related to climate change impact the biodiversity and trait composition of aquatic food webs, and ultimately fish production;
4. Use bio-economic models to evaluate socio-economic trade-offs and potential shifts in ecosystem services in Arctic lakes and rivers associated with climate change, nutrient enrichment, and resource exploitation;
5. Develop assessment criteria that better quantify the ecological change in Arctic freshwaters and provide strategies for the early detection of new and/or invasive species;
6. Inform policy makers, NGO’s, people who live in the Arctic, and the global community about the ongoing change in Arctic freshwater ecosystems.