New research suggests animals are active even during the frigid and dark Arctic winters.
In the past, scientists have assumed brutal Polar winters are essentially devoid of biological activity, but this new research proves that assumption was incorrect, Cell Press reported. A team of researchers were inspired to look more closely at the real story of Polar winters during an accidental encounter they had on a boat trip on the Svalbard fjord.
"Above us was a starry, winter night and below us were countless blue-green 'stars' in the deep" produced by bioluminescent organisms," said Jørgen Berge of UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the University Centre in Svalbard. "The beauty of it was stunning, and the fact that so many organisms were producing light was a strong indication that the system was not in a resting mode."
The inspirational moment led the researchers to conduct a large-scale survey and ecosystem study of the polar night in one of the Svalbard fjords that lasted for three consecutive winter seasons. The team observed that instead of the ecosystem entering a resting state as was previously believed, the system remained "buzzing" with biological activity. The scientists were surprised to find that in some ecosystems, the biodiversity was actually greater during the winter than it was during other seasons
Time-lapse cameras revealed an extremely active community of "whelks, amphipods, and crabs." The observations also showed copepods and other zooplankton were actively reproducing during the winter months. The researchers were excited to see such a thriving community in the freezing waters, but were most surprised by the activity they observed among seabirds.
"Not only are they there, but they are able to find their preferred food in the total darkness," Berge said. "We do not know how they are able to do this, and we do not know how common it is for seabirds to overwinter at these latitudes. But we [now] know that they do."
The findings could have important implications for protecting the fragile Polar environment. The warming climate is causing ice to melt more rapidly in the region, and human activity such as the petroleum industry, fisheries, and tourism are posing additional threats.
"We can't simply assume that the dark polar night is a 'safe' period when things are not turned on. Rather, it turns out that the dark polar night is an important period for reproduction in a number of organisms, and, as such, it is probably more sensitive than other parts of the year," Berge concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Current Biology.
