145
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_10
Arctic Ocean Biodiversity and DNA
Barcoding – A Climate Change
Perspective
Katarzyna S. Walczyńska, Maciej K. Mańko,
and Agata Weydmann
Abstract
Global changes are initiating a cascade of complex processes, which result, among other things, in global climate warming. Effects of global climate change are most
pronounced in the Arctic, where the associate processes
are progressing at a more rapid pace than in the rest of the
world. Intensified transport of warmer water masses into
the Arctic is causing shifts in species distributions and
efforts to understand and track these change are currently
intensified. However, Arctic marine fauna is the result of
different recurring colonization events by Atlantic and
Pacific Ocean populations, producing a very confounding
evolutionary signal and making species identification by
traditional morphological taxonomic analysis extremely
challenging. In addition, many marine species are too
small or too similar to identify reliably, even with profound taxonomic expertise. Nevertheless, the majority of
current research focusing on artic marine communities
still relies on the analysis of samples with traditional taxonomic methods, which tends to lack the necessary taxonomic, spatial and temporal resolution needed to
understand the drastic ecosystem shifts underway.
However, molecular methods are providing new opportunities to the field and their continuous development can
accelerate and facilitate ecological research in the Arctic.
Here, we discuss molecular methods currently available
to study marine Arctic biodiversity, encouraging the DNA
barcoding for improved descriptions, inventory and providing examples of DNA barcoding utilization in Arctic
diversity research and investigations into ecosystem
drivers.
Biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean
Today’s Artic marine biodiversity is highly impacted by
newly formed current systems that bring warmer waters and
their boreal inhabitants from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
through the Fram and Bering Straits, respectively (Piepenburg
et al. 2011). In the past, the resident diversity was primarily
shaped by recurrent invasions, habitat fragmentation, and
processes associated with glacial and interglacial periods,
like bathymetric changes (e.g., Hewitt 2000, 2004; Ronowicz
et al. 2015; Weydmann et al. 2017).
The Quaternary glaciation and deglaciation events were
associated with global sea level fluctuations often exceeding
100 m, which lead to recurrent eradication of shelf biota and
favored the survival of bathyal species and those thriving in
isolated refugia, with subsequent recolonizations from the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Golikov and Scarlato 1989). In
addition, the presence of ice sheets covering the open ocean
further limited the dispersal of planktonic organisms (including larval stages of the benthic fauna) in the transarctic perspective (Hardy et al. 2011). The relatively recent, dynamic
glacial history of the area have created complex evolutionary
patterns, often blurring species delineations and hampering
traditional morphological taxonomic methods, whereby,
e.g., cryptic taxa can be easily overlooked (Hardy et al.
2011). Evidence for the underlying processes can also be
gleaned from paleoceanographic data (Gladenkov and
Gladenkov 2004). The geology of the Bering Strait, for
example, revealed that, since its first opening at the MiocenePliocene boundary, this gateway between the Pacific and
Arctic Oceans has been opened and closed repeatedly, providing opportunities for multiple invasions (Gladenkov and
Gladenkov 2004; Hardy et al. 2011) from both sides (during
the first 0.9–1.0 Ma after opening the prevailing currents
flowed southward; Haug and Tiedemann 1998).
The five oceanic basins of the Arctic Ocean (Canada,
Makarov, Amundsen, Nansen and Eurasian Basin) are separated by mid-oceanic ridges that limit dispersal of the
K. S. Walczyńska (*) · M. K. Mańko · A. Weydmann
Department of Marine Plankton Research, Institute of
Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Poland
e-mail: katarzyna.walczynska@phdstud.ug.edu.pl;
mmanko@ug.edu.pl; agataw@ug.edu.pl
© The Author(s) 2018
S. Jungblut et al. (eds.), YOUMARES 8 – Oceans Across Boundaries: Learning from each other,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93284-2_10
Arctic Ocean Biodiversity and DNA
Barcoding – A Climate Change
Perspective
Katarzyna S. Walczyńska, Maciej K. Mańko,
and Agata Weydmann
Abstract
Global changes are initiating a cascade of complex processes, which result, among other things, in global climate warming. Effects of global climate change are most
pronounced in the Arctic, where the associate processes
are progressing at a more rapid pace than in the rest of the
world. Intensified transport of warmer water masses into
the Arctic is causing shifts in species distributions and
efforts to understand and track these change are currently
intensified. However, Arctic marine fauna is the result of
different recurring colonization events by Atlantic and
Pacific Ocean populations, producing a very confounding
evolutionary signal and making species identification by
traditional morphological taxonomic analysis extremely
challenging. In addition, many marine species are too
small or too similar to identify reliably, even with profound taxonomic expertise. Nevertheless, the majority of
current research focusing on artic marine communities
still relies on the analysis of samples with traditional taxonomic methods, which tends to lack the necessary taxonomic, spatial and temporal resolution needed to
understand the drastic ecosystem shifts underway.
However, molecular methods are providing new opportunities to the field and their continuous development can
accelerate and facilitate ecological research in the Arctic.
Here, we discuss molecular methods currently available
to study marine Arctic biodiversity, encouraging the DNA
barcoding for improved descriptions, inventory and providing examples of DNA barcoding utilization in Arctic
diversity research and investigations into ecosystem
drivers.
Biodiversity of the Arctic Ocean
Today’s Artic marine biodiversity is highly impacted by
newly formed current systems that bring warmer waters and
their boreal inhabitants from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
through the Fram and Bering Straits, respectively (Piepenburg
et al. 2011). In the past, the resident diversity was primarily
shaped by recurrent invasions, habitat fragmentation, and
processes associated with glacial and interglacial periods,
like bathymetric changes (e.g., Hewitt 2000, 2004; Ronowicz
et al. 2015; Weydmann et al. 2017).
The Quaternary glaciation and deglaciation events were
associated with global sea level fluctuations often exceeding
100 m, which lead to recurrent eradication of shelf biota and
favored the survival of bathyal species and those thriving in
isolated refugia, with subsequent recolonizations from the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Golikov and Scarlato 1989). In
addition, the presence of ice sheets covering the open ocean
further limited the dispersal of planktonic organisms (including larval stages of the benthic fauna) in the transarctic perspective (Hardy et al. 2011). The relatively recent, dynamic
glacial history of the area have created complex evolutionary
patterns, often blurring species delineations and hampering
traditional morphological taxonomic methods, whereby,
e.g., cryptic taxa can be easily overlooked (Hardy et al.
2011). Evidence for the underlying processes can also be
gleaned from paleoceanographic data (Gladenkov and
Gladenkov 2004). The geology of the Bering Strait, for
example, revealed that, since its first opening at the MiocenePliocene boundary, this gateway between the Pacific and
Arctic Oceans has been opened and closed repeatedly, providing opportunities for multiple invasions (Gladenkov and
Gladenkov 2004; Hardy et al. 2011) from both sides (during
the first 0.9–1.0 Ma after opening the prevailing currents
flowed southward; Haug and Tiedemann 1998).
The five oceanic basins of the Arctic Ocean (Canada,
Makarov, Amundsen, Nansen and Eurasian Basin) are separated by mid-oceanic ridges that limit dispersal of the
K. S. Walczyńska (*) · M. K. Mańko · A. Weydmann
Department of Marine Plankton Research, Institute of
Oceanography, University of Gdańsk, Gdynia, Poland
e-mail: katarzyna.walczynska@phdstud.ug.edu.pl;
mmanko@ug.edu.pl; agataw@ug.edu.pl