| Summary: | In 2001, the Arctic Council ́s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group published the report Arctic Flora and Fauna: Status and Conservation [7], the first truly circumpolar overview of Arctic biodiversity. The report provided, “a clear understanding of the importance of the Earth ́s largest ecoregion and its status in the face of rapidly changing world”. The report observed that while much of the Arctic was in its natural state and that the impacts of human activity were relatively minor, individuals, species, and ecosystems throughout the Arctic faced threats from many causes, and that the long-term consequences of human impacts were unknown. It particularly noted that the information necessary to determine status and trends of Arctic fauna was fragmentary, and almost entirely non-existent for flora. Since the publication of Arctic Flora and Fauna, the Arctic has entered into a cycle of intensive pressure and change involving a new set of challenges and stressors, with climate change at the forefront (Figure II). In the past 100 years, average Arctic temperatures have increased at almost twice the average global rate [8]. Over the past thirty years, seasonal minimal sea ice extent in the Arctic has decreased by 45,000 km2/year [9]. Along with earlier break-up and freeze-up, the extent of terrestrial snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased and is expected to continue to do so [9]. The magnitude of these changes will exert major influences on biological dynamics in the Arctic. Some of the most rapid ecological changes associated with warming have occurred in marine and freshwater environments. Species most affected are those with limited distributions or with specialized feeding habits that depend on ice foraging. Other predicted effects of climate change, and other stressors, such as industrial development and resource exploitation, on Arctic biodiversity include: • changes in the distribution, geographical ranges, and abundances of species (including invasive alien species) and ...
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