Bryology in arctic and boreal North America and Greenland

1972 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1111-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. B. Schofield

Bryological research in boreal and arctic North America is in very preliminary stages. Although the flora is moderately well documented, details are lacking in much of the region. Greenland, Alaska, and Ellesmere Island are better understood than the rest of the area. Much of the information has been accumulated as casual collections and observations and incidental to other research. Bryophyte cover in arctic regions is less than that of vascular plants; in boreal regions wetlands are often dominated by bryophytes and open forests have extensive moss carpets. Turfs dominate the growth forms in the arctic while in boreal regions whorled-branched turfs, wefts, and compact mats become the predominant growth forms. Bryophytes are important in plant community structure and dynamics of both boreal and arctic regions, but detailed studies are few. Cytology of arctic and boreal bryophytes in North America rests on a single paper, thus any generalizations are hazardous. Physiology of bryophytes in northern North America has been inadequately documented. The sexuality, reproductive cycles, growth rates, and metabolic activities of bryophytes are areas that could yield intriguing results. Reproduction in bryophytes in northern regions appears not to be greatly different from that of more southern regions. In spite of the shorter growing season and the terrain and climate favoring wind dispersal, this had not led to an increase in the incidence of asexual reproduction in spite of the fact that more than 60% of the bryophytes are dioicous. Bryogeographic patterns are similar to those of the vascular flora but the presence of western North American taxa in the easternmost arctic and their absence in intervening areas is highly suggestive of eastern refugia. Glacial refugia are supported by the bryophyte distributions; their presence in unglaciated Alaska–Yukon, Ellesmere Island, and parts of Greenland seems best documented. Thirty-six maps are given showing bryophyte distribution patterns in the region under discussion.

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 1740-1754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Cumbaa ◽  
Don E. McAllister ◽  
Richard E. Morlan

Fossils of the broad whitefish, Coregonus nasus; the inconnu, Stenodus leucichthys; the longnose sucker, Catostomus catostomus; and the burbot, Lota lota, are reported for the first time from North America and a freshwater sculpin, Cottus, for the first time from Yukon Territory. The known fossil occurrence of the Arctic grayling, Thymallus arcticus, in North America is extended from 32 000 to about 60 000 years BP. These six fossils represent about one sixth of the present-day Yukon freshwater ichthyofauna of 35 species.These fossils provide a major test for the method of determining glacial refugia based on geographic variation of morphological or protein characters. They confirm that these taxa were present prior to and presumably survived the Wisconsinan glaciation in a Beringian refugium.The occurrence of these fossils, all subarctic or subarctic–boreal species known at present in the same area, does not suggest a paleoenvironment greatly different from the present one.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-128
Author(s):  
Vladislav Igorevich FEDOROV ◽  

Relevance. The interest of science and practice in the large-scale development of subarctic and arctic territories, in particular the Russian Far East and Siberia, has sharply increased in the world. Coal enterprises in remote and inaccessible areas of the region in the face of intense inter-fuel competition are faced with the need to comprehensively increase production efficiency. The successful solution of these problems is counteracted by a complex of unfavorable factors, which, compared with the regions of traditional subsoil use, significantly increase the cost of any activity and predetermine high specific energy consumption in conditions of increased risks of various nature. They are most pronounced in the northern regions of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) with their extreme natural and climatic conditions, where due to the simultaneous effect of the low level of infrastructure development; very complex logistics; seasonality and discrepancies in the delivery of goods by water and road; scattered across a huge area of a small number of settlements, etc. there is a sharp complication of the conditions for the normal provision of all types of resources used. The priorities here are normal functioning of the local population, improving energy and environmental safety with acceptable economic and social efficiency. Purpose of the work: to substantiate the need and the possibility of adjusting geotechnological solutions when mining coal deposits with open pits of small and ultra-low thickness when they operate as part of local fuel and energy complexes to increase the efficiency and safety of deliveries to remote areas and improve the quality of coal shipped. Method of research. Generalization and analysis of scientific and technical literature. Using the method of analogy the selection of criteria for creation of micro-sections for coal mining in the Arctic regions of Yakutia and the effectiveness of their implementation in the system of providing solid fuel to consumers in hard-to-reach areas were made. Research results. A solid fuel supply scheme is proposed that meets the coal needs of remote areas of Yakutia, which is based on the concept of creating new local small coal mines near consumers to replace the existing expensive, complex and unreliable scheme. A complex of geotechnical criteria and boundary conditions oriented to small coal openings is presented, on the basis of which it is possible to reveal resource-saving, technical and technological capabilities of the chain, economically acceptable and environmentally efficient development of coal deposits. Link optimization can result from the immediate horizontal and vertical integration of small open cuts in the coal supply chain to consumers. Conclusions. The development of local deposits is one of the ways to increase the stability of the solid fuel supply chain to consumers, as well as the energy security of the inaccessible northern regions of Yakutia and support their economic and social development.


Author(s):  
V. S. Gusev ◽  
◽  
Yu. V. Pukharenko ◽  

Northern regions of the country are of great economic, geopolitical, defense and strategic importance. The article considers the problems of construction in the Arctic regions highlighting the importance of using construction technologies and materials that meet the conditions of the Extreme North, as well as integrating the latest scientific achievements into the field of architecture and construction with the need to implement the experience of foreign and Russian developers and facilitating the development of Arctic tourism.


Polar Record ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 245-254
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Wamsley

AbstractDr William Gordon Stables (1837–1910) was perhaps the most prolific author of juvenile works during the second half of the 19th century, publishing more than 130 full-length novels, in addition to offering regular contributions to juvenile magazines. His writings covered a diverse range of subject areas, spanning all regions of the globe, and offered lively tales of adventure often coupled with moral guidance and imperialistic overtones. However, it was juvenile tales of adventure set in the far north that were his favourites and among his most frequent selections. Drawing upon his own first-hand Arctic experiences, Stables provided a knowledgeable view of the northern regions, offering vivid and realistic depictions of life and work in the Arctic, as well as its peoples, natural history and natural wonders. The challenges of survival in the harsh environment of the Arctic fostered a physical approach to manliness and maturity in Stables’ young heroes, who served as powerful role models for his youthful audience. Stables’ works enjoyed widespread popularity among impressionable juvenile readers and helped to shape their perceptions of the Arctic regions and impart character values on their path to adulthood. This article examines Stables’ contribution to Arctic storytelling in the late Victorian era.


1958 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudolf M. Schuster

Only four species of Tritomaria Schiffn. have been described, all found in cold to boreal regions of the northern hemisphere. Of these, only T. quinquedentata (Huds.) Buch has been known from the arctic portions of eastern Canada. The range of this species in Canada east of the 100 meridian is tabulated, and two varieties, var. turgida (Lindb.) Weim. and var. grandiretis Buch and Arnell, are described from the same area. The latter variant is here first recorded from North America: it is presumably a polyploid, possessing larger cells and more numerous oil-bodies. T. heterophylla Schuster is described from materials from northernmost Ellesmere Island. It is allied to T. scitula, from which it differs in purplish pigmentation, broader than long leaves, and spinose-dentate perichaetial bracts. The last peculiarity serves to differentiate it from all other species of the genus. A key to all of the species and varieties, all known from eastern Canada, is given.


1927 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Hearle

One of the more interesting details of a recent investigation of the mosquitoes of the Rocky Mountains Park, Alberta, was the finding of Aedes nearcticus Dyar—a mosquito hitherto considered to be restricted to the Arctic regions of Europe and North America. A few specimens were first taken at Lake Louise in 1921, when Mr. Arthur Gibson, the Dominion Entomologist, and the writer made a brief survey of mosquito conditions. In 1922 further specimens came to hand through the kindness of Mr. N. B. Sanson who sent the writer living larvae collected at Simpson's Summit at about 7000 feet. Adults were successfully reared from these. During 1924 and 1925 a number of trips were made by the writer and his assistant, Mr. A. G. Mail, to secure data on this interesting species, and several hundred specimens of larvae, and both sexes of adults were taken.


1930 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Lakhtine

The transarctic flights of 1926 and 1928 demonstrate the possibility of establishing communication by air across the Arctic regions between Europe, on the one side, and North America and the Far East on the other. Quite aside from the saving of time owing to shorter distance, the establishment of such communication presents considerably less diiSculty than air communication over the Atlantic: a conclusion derived from the transatlantic flights of the last three years. The experience of the airship Italia in May, 1928, does not at all nullify this conclusion. It serves merely to show that the organization of transarctic communication requires special prearrangements, such aa wireless stations, meteorological stations, landing-places, air-bases, the construction of which on the shores, islands, and even on the ice of the Arctic Ocean, appears to be quite feasible. The necessity for such stations has aroused in the governments of the North countries an increased interest in the Arctic regions which heretofore has been restricted to scientific circles.


1966 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
pp. 1135-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Downes

AbstractFrom the revised list of the Lepidoptera of Greenland and from recent work in Ellesmere Island it is shown that almost all the species found in high arctic Canada occur also in Greenland, predominantly in the north, and that this high arctic element constitutes a large fraction of the fauna of Greenland as a whole. It is suggested that this part of the fauna originated entirely from the nearctic by the little-interrupted land route across the arctic islands. The poverty of southerly Lepidoptera in Greenland stands in sharp contrast. It is illustrated by a comparison with the vascular plants and by other comparisons with the Lepidoptera found in the corresponding life zones in North America, and this section of the paper includes the first published list of the Lepidoptera of Baffin Island. It is suggested that this southerly fauna is of adventitious origin, by casual dispersal from overseas (Labrador, Iceland) or perhaps in a few cases by introduction by man. Thus Greenland, in respect of its fauna of southerly type, is an oceanic island of post-glacial age. Similar evidence suggests that Iceland also has been populated mainly in the same way. The conclusions derived from the Lepidoptera apply to several other groups of insects and also to the mammals, including man.


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