Arctic ecology

[8] During the Cold War, the Arctic became a place where the United States, Canada, and the Soviet Union performed significant research that has been essential to the study of climate change in recent years.

[19] Genetic evidence has given rise to the theory that the Paleo-Eskimos were a singular people which resided in Alaska, Canada, and Greenland and subsisted by hunting large terrestrial mammals and seals.

[21][20] Dating back to a similar time period as the Paleo-Eskimos, evidence has been found of the Arctic Small Tool tradition (ASTt) culture.

Increasing numbers of European goods, including kettles, iron tools, tobacco, alcohol, and guns, were bought and traded by the indigenous peoples within their communities.

[29] In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, English scientist William Scoresby explored the Arctic and wrote reports on its meteorology, zoology and geophysics.

Though permanent observatories were not yet established, traveling scientists began to gather magnetic data in the Arctic in the early nineteenth century.

In June 1831, Sir James Ross and a group of Arctic indigenous people explored the Booth Peninsula in order to determine the exact location of the Magnetic North Pole.

In the European Arctic, however, Scandinavian powers collected most of the scientific data as a result of early colonies established by Norsemen in Iceland and Greenland.

During this time, the United States, Russia, Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and Germany also started to become more active in Spitsbergen.

The ability to photograph and observe the Arctic from an aircraft provided researchers with a perspective that allowed them to see a massive amount of space at one time while also asserting objectivity.

[32] During the Cold War, the Canadian government began taking initiatives to secure the continent, and to assert territorial authority over northern Canada, including the Arctic, which at the time had a dominant American presence.

[33] Furthermore, both the United States and the Soviet Union sought to gain control over portions of the Arctic as part of their conflict during this time, a process which included the construction of research stations.

The two predecessor organizations that made up the CRREL were the Arctic Construction and Frost Effects Laboratory (ACFEL) and the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE).

[36] Recently, the indigenous communities of the North American Arctic have played a direct role in setting ethical standards for research in the region.

In 1977, the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) was founded at Churchill, Manitoba to improve scientific activity in the region.

[38] Multiple researchers emphasize the value of collaborating with and respecting indigenous populations in order to promote constructive as opposed to destructive interactions.

Species diversity, nutrient availability, precipitation, and average temperatures increase as the landscape progresses from the tundra to boreal forests and then to deciduous temperate ecosystems, which are found south of the Arctic biomes.

[42] Plant species supported by tundra are generally short, lacking stems due to threats posed to vascular structure by frozen temperatures, and much of their growing matter is found below the soil.

[42][45] Compared to the tundra, boreal forest has a longer and warmer growing season and supports increased species diversity, canopy height, vegetation density, and biomass.

The short (3–4 month) growing season in boreal forests is sustained by greater levels of rainfall than the tundra receives (between 30 and 85 cm or 12 and 33 in per year).

[48] Recent research demonstrates that alterations in the frequency of fires and droughts in this region due to climate change may be potentially damaging to biodiversity.

al has also suggested a link between adaptations to cold climates and mitochondrial responses to thyroid hormones which "enhance" "metabolic heat production".

Many of the animals in the Arctic are larger than their temperate counterparts (Bergmann’s rule), taking advantage of the smaller ratio of surface area to volume that comes with increasing size.

Layers of fat, plumage, and fur also act as insulators to help retain warmth and are common in Arctic animals including polar bears and marine mammals.

[56] There has been additional evidence found which further demonstrates that Arctic climate change directly impacts terrestrial ecosystems by melting permafrost,[61] which contributes to carbon emissions.

[64] Melting ice sheets could introduce vast amounts of fresh water into the North Atlantic, causing a change in density which could disrupt these currents,[57] though differing projections have suggested that the melting of sea ice and warming of ocean waters could also have the opposite result and lead to stronger thermohaline currents,[65] or maintain them.

[73] A condition known as drunken tree syndrome is being caused by this melting,[74] along with more widespread impacts on soil characteristics and plant community composition that threaten to alter current ecological relationships.

[79] Human activity has led to the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) into Arctic ecosystems, while changing climate conditions have allowed their survival.

[83] The climate change-induced habitat and condition alterations in the Arctic[84] have also threatened many different species, including birds that utilize the East Asian flyway, a common migratory route.

[90] This process indirectly lowers the amount of NIS transferred to the Arctic by humans, but antifouling does introduce potentially harmful chemicals into the marine environment, which is why the use, quantity, and location of the biocides must be thoroughly considered and mitigated.