Abstract
Sea ice continues to decline across many regions of the Arctic, with remaining ice becoming increasingly younger and more dynamic. These changes alter the habitats of microbial life that live within the sea ice, which support healthy functioning of the marine ecosystem and provision of resources for human-consumption, in addition to influencing biogeochemical cycles (e.g. air–sea CO2 exchange). With the susceptibility of sea ice ecosystems to climate change, there is a pressing need to fill knowledge gaps surrounding sea ice habitats and their microbial communities. Of fundamental importance to this goal is the development of new methodologies that permit effective study of them. Based on outcomes from the DiatomARCTIC project, this paper integrates existing knowledge with case studies to provide insight on how to best document sea ice microbial communities, which contributes to the sustainable use and protection of Arctic marine and coastal ecosystems in a time of environmental change.
Highlights
The Arctic marine system represents a diverse collection of water bodies that cover the continental shelves and deepwater basins of the northernmost latitudes on our planet (Fig. 1)
To best inform on the management of the Arctic marine ecosystem it is critically important that this work includes the unique environment of sea ice, which hosts an active and microbially diverse community that provides a number of services for northern latitudes and the global community
Our ability to prepare for change and manage resources is hindered by the sparse coverage of sea ice biogeochemical studies across the vast Arctic, and to some extent, the caveats of traditional methodologies that may be inaccurate, time consuming, or limited by gaps in our knowledge of such complex systems
Summary
The Arctic marine system represents a diverse collection of water bodies that cover the continental shelves and deepwater basins of the northernmost latitudes on our planet (Fig. 1). The ability of models to determine ice algal bloom timing and magnitude requires accurate representation of complex growth conditions, such as nutrient supply as a function of both sub-ice water movement and diffusive processes (Duarte et al 2021 and references therein) and light availability (Tedesco et al 2019).
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