The globally widespread adoption of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) began in the mid-20th century. Yet, it is only in the last decade that a renewed research focus has emerged into its impacts on ecological and biological processes in the marine environment that are guided by natural intensities, moon phase, natural light and dark cycles and daily light spectra alterations. The field has diversified ...

Although the prevailing paradigm has held that the polar night is a period of biological quiescence, recent studies have detected noticeable activity levels in marine organisms. In this study, we investigated the circadian rhythm of the scallop Chlamys islandica by continuously recording the animal’s behaviour over 3 years in the Arctic (Svalbard). Our results showed that a circadian rhythm persists ...

<p>The demersal fish species <i>Leptagonus decagonus</i> (Atlantic poacher) is a commonly encountered species on the continental shelf in the Barents Sea and around Svalbard, but little is known about the life-history and population traits of the species in Svalbard waters. It is therefore important to investigate this species to understand its importance in the ecosystem. <p>A total of 80 specimens ...

We present an accurate, fast, simple and non-destructive photographic method to estimate wax ester and lipid content in single individuals of the calanoid copepod genus Calanus and test this method against gas-chromatographic lipid measurements.

Tight coupling between pelagic and benthic communities is accepted as a general principle on Arctic shelves. Whereas this paradigm has been useful for guiding ecological research, it has perhaps led to a disproportionate focus on POM and ice algae as the most likely sources of carbon for the benthic food web. Arctic shelves are complex systems, including banks, fjords, and trough systems up to 350 ...

The predation risk of many aquatic taxa is dominated by visually searching predators, commonly a function of ambient light. Several studies propose that changes in visual predation will become a major climate-change impact on polar marine ecosystems. The High Arctic experiences extreme seasonality in the light environment, from 24 h light to 24 h darkness, and therefore provides a natural laboratory ...

Arctic marine ecosystems are strongly influenced by the extreme seasonality of light in the region. Accurate determination of light is essential for building a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of animal and aquatic algae populations. Current approaches to underwater light field parameterisations rely upon shortwave radiation (300–3000 nm) estimates from satellites or surface radiometry ...

The night has historically been neglected in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. To some extent, this is not surprising, given the diurnal bias of human researchers and the difficulty of performing work at night. The night is, however, a critical element of biological, chemical, physical, and social systems on Earth. Moreover, research into social issues such as inequality, demographic ...

Copepods of the genera Calanus and Pseudocalanus are important components of Arctic marine ecosystems. Despite the key roles of these zooplankters, little is known about the organisms they interact with most intimately, their parasites and symbionts. We applied metabarcode sequencing to uncover eukaryotic parasites present within these two copepod genera from three areas around the high Arctic ...