Long-distance dispersal of migrant butterflies to the Arctic Ocean islands, with a record of Nymphalis xanthomelas at the northern edge of Novaya Zemlya (76.95°N)

Although migrant butterflies are rare (or sporadically seen) guests on the Arctic Ocean islands, there is a slowly growing dataset on repeated occurrences of these insects in insular tundra and polar deserts. Altogether six long-distance migrant butterfly species were found to cross wide marine barriers north of the Arctic Circle (66.56°N), i.e. Vanessa atalanta, V. cardui, Nymphalis antiopa, N. xanthomelas, Aporia crataegi, and Pieris napi. Migrant individuals of V. cardui discovered on Svalbard (up to 78.27°N in 1978) reflect the farthest dispersal event of butterflies to the Arctic ever reported. Our record of N. xanthomelas at the northern margin of Novaya Zemlya (76.95°N) represents the northernmost finding of this species globally, reflecting the world’s second farthest record of northern poleward immigration of butterflies. This occurrence coincides with an exceptionally warm summer season, when the third highest July and second highest August air temperature occurred (since global records began in 1880). Furthermore, the immigration into Novaya Zemlya coincides with a population explosion and massive expansion of N. xanthomelas in Siberia in 2019–2020. Our air current reconstructions indicate that this species most likely immigrated into Novaya Zemlya from mainland regions situated south-southeast (Polar Urals, Yugorsky Peninsula, and western Yamal) and east (Taymyr) of the archipelago. Overall, our findings reveal that long-distance dispersal events of butterflies to the Arctic islands are always linked to massive expansions of the corresponding species in mainland areas.

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transport into the Arctic Ocean from underwater nuclear tests in Chernaya Bay, Novaya Zemlya

Continental Shelf Research ◽

10.1016/s0278-4343(99)00066-7 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 255-279 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

J.N. Smith ◽

K.M. Ellis ◽

L. Polyak ◽

G. Ivanov ◽

S.L. Forman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arctic Ocean ◽

The Arctic ◽

Novaya Zemlya ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Nuclear Tests

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Distribution of PAHs and the PAH-degrading bacteria in the deep-sea sediments of the high-latitude Arctic Ocean

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-11-13985-2014 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 13985-14021 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

C. Dong ◽

X. Bai ◽

H. Sheng ◽

L. Jiao ◽

H. Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Arctic Ocean ◽

Deep Sea ◽

High Throughput Sequencing ◽

The Arctic ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Long Distance ◽

Degrading Bacteria ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Deep Sea Sediments

Abstract. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent organic pollutants, which can be transferred to a long distance and tend to accumulation in marine sediment. However, PAHs distribution and natural bioattenuation is less known in open sea, especially in the Arctic Ocean. In this report, sediment samples were collected at four sites from the Chukchi Plateau to Makarov Basin in the summer of 2010. PAH composition and total concentrations were examined with GC-MS, we found that the concentrations of 16 EPA-priority PAHs varied from 2.0 to 41.6 ng g−1 dry weight in total and decreased with sediment depths and as well as from the southern to northern sites. Among the targeted PAHs, phenanthrene was relatively abundant in all sediments. To learn the diversity of bacteria involved in PAHs degradation in situ, the 16S rRNA gene of the total environmental DNA was analyzed with Illumina high throughput sequencing (IHTS). In all the sediments, occurred the potential degraders including Cycloclasticus, Pseudomonas, Halomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Marinomonas, Bacillus, Dietzia, Colwellia, Acinetobacter, Alcanivorax, Salinisphaera and Shewanella, with Dietzia as the most abundant. Meanwhile on board, enrichment with PAHs was initiated and repeated transfer in laboratory to obtain the degrading consortia. Most above mentioned bacteria in addition to Hahella, Oleispira, Oceanobacter and Hyphomonas, occurred alternately as a predominant member in enrichment cultures from different sediments, as revealed with IHTS and PCR-DGGE. To reconfirm their role in PAH degradation, 40 different bacteria were isolated and characterized, among which Cycloclasticus and Pseudomonas showed the best degradation capability under low temperature. Taken together, PAHs and PAH-degrading bacteria were widespread in the deep-sea sediments of the Arctic Ocean. We propose that bacteria of Cycloclasticus, Pseudomonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Halomonas, Marinomonas and Dietzia may play the most important role in PAHs mineralization in situ.

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Pollinators on the polar edge of the Ecumene: taxonomy, phylogeography, and ecology of bumble bees from Novaya Zemlya

ZooKeys ◽

10.3897/zookeys.866.35084 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 866 ◽

pp. 85-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Grigory S. Potapov ◽

Alexander V. Kondakov ◽

Boris Yu. Filippov ◽

Mikhail Yu. Gofarov ◽

Yulia S. Kolosova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Arctic Ocean ◽

Life Cycles ◽

Bumble Bees ◽

The Arctic ◽

Bumble Bee ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Local Fauna ◽

Novaya Zemlya ◽

The Arctic Ocean

The High Arctic bumble bee fauna is rather poorly known, while a growing body of recent molecular research indicates that several Arctic species may represent endemic lineages with restricted ranges. Such local endemics are in need of special conservation efforts because of the increasing anthropogenic pressure and climate changes. Here, we re-examine the taxonomic and biogeographic affinities of bumble bees from Novaya Zemlya using historical samples and recently collected materials (1895–1925vs.2015–2017). Three bumble bee species inhabit the Yuzhny (Southern) Island and the southern edge of Severny (Northern) Island of this archipelago:BombusglacialisFriese, 1902,B.hyperboreusSchönherr, 1809, andB.pyrrhopygusFriese, 1902.Bombusglacialisshares three unique COI haplotypes that may indicate its long-term (pre-glacial) persistence on Novaya Zemlya. In contrast,BombushyperboreusandB.pyrrhopygusshare a rather low molecular divergence from mainland populations, with the same or closely related haplotypes as those from Arctic Siberia and Norway. A brief re-description ofBombuspyrrhopygusbased on the newly collected topotypes is presented. Habitats, foraging plants and life cycles of bumble bees on Novaya Zemlya are characterized, and possible causes of extremely low bumble bee abundance on the archipelago are discussed. The species-poor bumble bee fauna of Novaya Zemlya is compared with those in other areas throughout the Arctic. The mean bumble bee species richness on the Arctic Ocean islands is three times lower than that in the mainland Arctic areas (3.1vs.8.6 species per local fauna, respectively). General linear models (GLMs) indicate that this difference can be explained by specific environmental conditions of insular areas. Our findings highlight that the insularity is a significant factor sharply decreasing species richness in bumble bee assemblages on the Arctic Ocean archipelagoes through colder climate (lower summer temperatures), prevalence of harsh Arctic tundra landscapes with poor foraging resources, and in isolation from the mainland.

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A Russian discovery in the Arctic ocean at the time of Columbus

Nordlit ◽

10.7557/13.4203 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Leonid S. Chekin

Keyword(s):

Arctic Ocean ◽

Fifteenth Century ◽

The Arctic ◽

Late Medieval ◽

Novaya Zemlya ◽

German Scholar ◽

Theoretical Assumptions ◽

The Arctic Ocean ◽

Fourth Book ◽

Modern Russian

In the last decades of the fifteenth century, at least three texts by Italian and German humanists included reports on an Arctic island newly discovered by the Russians. Modern Russian scholarship variously identifies this island as Spitsbergen (meaning a part or even the whole archipelago presently named Svalbard) or Novaya Zemlya. This article suggests that the still enigmatic Arctic discovery was largely shaped by theoretical assumptions of late medieval geographers. The rumors about the island closely followed the route through Europe of the famous German scholar and poet Conrad Celtis, and they may go back to one and the same source. A search for this Arctic island in Celtis’s own body of work reveals its description in his poem, Germania generalis, and in one of his erotic geographic elegies, the Amores. It is further argued that Celtis may have left the only cartographic depiction of the island on his Barbara Codonea map, printed as an illustration to the fourth book of the Amores.

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