ARCTIC Winter in a Svalbard Fiord Ecosystem

• Main Authors: J. M. Weslawski, S. Kwasniewski, J. Wiktor
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1989
• Subjects: Arctic; Hornsund; Svalbard; Calanus finmarchicus; Phytoplankton; polar night; Zooplankton
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.536.8731; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/arctic44-2-115.pdf

ABSTRACT. Data pertaining to the characteristics of an arctic fiord in winter were collected at the Polish Arctic Station situated in Hornsund at 77ON, 15OE on Svalbard. Winter in the fiord was defined in terms of climate (November-May), hydrology (January-March) and biology (November-March). The characteristic phenomena of winter in the fiord include a winter drop in the yearly biomass maximum to 0.1 % for phytoplankton and 10 % for zooplankton; a slowing of the growth rate among pelagic dominants such as Pseudocalanus elongatus and Calanus finmarchicus, as well as among the hyperbenthic dominants Onisimus littomlis and Mysis d a t a; and heterotrophy or maintenance of metabolism among living phytoplankton cells found in the middle of the polar night in densities of 10-50 cells/L. Since the life cycles of invertebrates are highly seasonal, no winter breeders were observed and 90 % of the examined species were breeding according to a K strategy. Migration takes place among all seabirds in the area, but about 1 % of the eiders, fulmars and kittiwakes overwinter, feeding in the open water of polynyas and crevices in the fast ice. Key words: Arctic, winter ecology, fiord ecosystem, Svalbard, Hornsund fiord &SUM & Des donnkes concernant les caractkristiques hivernales d’un fjord ont kté recueillies B la station polonaise de l’Arctique situke A Hornsund dans le Svalbard, B77O de latit. N. et 15O de longit. E. L’hiver dans le fjord a Ctt dkfini en termes de climat (de novembre B