Ice algae and meiofauna abundance and biomass in coastal sea ice of Spitsbergen, Svalbard.

Sea ice algae and meiofauna are two key components in Svalbard's ecosystem. Both play a significant role in the short food webs of the cryosphere and are highly sensible to climate warming. Various environmental parameters, including light, water temperature and salinity limit and influence their growth and development. On these grounds it is crucial to assess and evaluate the ongoing environmental changes in the Arctic and how these will impact the algal community composition. Since they form the base of the foodweb cascading effects higher up the trophic level can be expected due to alterations on both physical and biological scale. Assessing sea ice biotas abundance and distribution will generate important knowledge on how these tiny organisms are likely to respond to warmer climate and loss of their sea ice habitat. By studying local consequences on sea ice biota important knowledge on a larger scale, i.e. Svalbard in general and elsewhere in the Arctic, can be better predicted. This project will build new novel knowledge on the overall sea ice biota biodiversity in Svalbard. So far only a few studies on sea ice alga have been published, with even fewer on sea ice meiofauna. Eastern Svalbard has largely been ignored until now.