Effects of multiple environmental drivers on Arctic benthic organisms and communities

The present project aims to complement the activities carried out in 2021-2022. It arises from the fact that climate change will have sweeping impacts on the cryosphere and marine biodiversity in the Arctic. We have collaborated with German colleagues from the AWI and the University of Bremen to run large-scale perturbation mesocosm experiments on kelp communities (brown macro-algae), assess the benthic biodiversity in Kongsfjorden, and assess the local environmental conditions in the fjord. In 2022, we did the first ever in situ community metabolism measurements of kelp communities in Konsfjorden. These preliminary measurements were a great success, but they now need to be repeated in different sites along the gradient of environmental conditions found in the fjord. This will be critical to link our acquired data on local biodiversity with community metabolism. This is an important step to understand the role of Arctic kelp communities in the cycles of carbon and carbonate.