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ort 2000 6th Annual Report 2000

Danish Polar CenterMinistry of Research & Information Technology

2001

Zackenbergdalen was scanned by a hyperspectral scanner on 7 August 2000.Each strip shows three spectral bands from the nearinfrared, red and greenspectra in red, green, blue, respectively. Vegetation is therefore shown in redcolours, barrens in grey and snow in white. The Zackenberg station is located inthe mid-lower part of the image.

Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations

6th Annual Report, 2000

Danish Polar Center 2001Ministry of Research and Information Technology

Caning, K. and M. Rasch (eds.) 2001. Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations, 6th Annual Report, 2000.Copenhagen, Danish Polar Center, Ministry of Research and Information Technology, 2001.

© 2001 Danish Polar CenterISBN 87-90369-50-5

Editors Kirsten Caning and Morten RaschLayout Special-Trykkeriet Viborg a-s

Impression 800Paper 80 g recycledPrinted by Special-Trykkeriet Viborg a-s

This book is free of charge and may be ordered from Danish Polar CenterStrandgade 100 HDK-1401 Copenhagen KTel. (+45) 32 88 01 00Fax (+45) 32 88 01 01Email: [email protected]

Front cover: Watercolour painting by the artist Jens Gregersen who visited Zackenberg in 2000.

The editors regret …… that this issue of the ZERO Annual Report is published without the usual contribution from the ClimateBasis programme.

We hope to be able to present the data together with the 2001 data in the next annual report and regret the delay in printing of this annual report.

Contents

Executive summary by Hans Meltofte and Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

01 Introduction by Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

02 Logistics by Aka Lynge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

03 Zackenberg Basic: The GeoBasis and ClimateBasis programmes . . . . . . . . . 103.1 The meteorological station by Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.2 TinyTalk/TinyTag dataloggers by Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.3 The hydrometric station by Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.4 Landscape monitoring by Morten Rasch, Charlotte Sigsgaard,

Jørgen Hinkler and Steen B. Pedersen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.5 General observations on ice conditions by Hans Meltofte . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

04 Zackenberg Basic: The BioBasis programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.1 Vegetation by Hans Meltofte, Mikkel Tamstorf, Henrik Søgaard,

Claus Nordstrøm, Morten Rasch, Charlotte Sigsgaard, Christian Bay and Eric Steen Hansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.2 Arthropods by Dorthe Prip Lahrmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264.3 Birds by Hans Meltofte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304.4 Mammals by Thomas B.G. Berg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394.5 Lake monitoring by Kirsten Christoffersen and Erik Jeppesen . . . . . . . . . . . 45

05 Research projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475.1 Methane emission in relation to vascular plant production: summary

of results from three years of field manipulations in the fen areaby Anna Joabsson, Torben Røjle Christensen and Lena Ström . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

5.2 CO2 concentrations in arctic soil gas by Charlotte Sigsgaard . . . . . . . . . . . 485.3 Hydrology, solute fluxes and Sr isotope compostion of stream water

by Birgit Hagedorn, Ron Sletten, Bent Hasholt and Morten Rasch . . . . . . . . 495.4 Global change effects on unicellulars and plants by Louis Beyens,

Ivan Nijs, Koen Trappeniers, Andy Van Kerckvoorde, Fred Kockelbergh, Sofie Mertens and Ivan Impens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.5 Observations on waders breeding in Zackenbergdalen by Dorthe P. Lahrmann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.6 Diversity and composition of the spider fauna in different vegetation types at Zackenberg by Sidsel Larsen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.7 Collared Lemming Project � Zackenberg by Thomas B. Berg . . . . . . . . . . 555.8 Hyperspectral campaign at Zackenberg by Mikkel P. Tamstorf and

Birger Ulf Hansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565.9 Changes in Arctic marine production (CAMP) by Søren Rysgaard,

Ronnie Nøhr Glud, Frank Wenzhöfer, Michael Kühl, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Peter Bondo Christensen, Jens Borum, Morten Foldager Pedersen, Jens Würgler Hansen, Mikael K. Sejr, Jens Kjerulf Petersen, Mikkel Sand, Ole Fristed Kunnerup, Mario Acquarone, Erik W. Born,David Griffiths, Göran Ehlmé and Allan Falk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

4 6th Annual Report for ZERO 2000

06 Disturbances in the study area by Hans Meltofte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

07 Publications from Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations 1993-2000 . . . 70

08 Personnel and visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

09 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

10 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

11 Erratum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

6th Annual Report for ZERO 2000 5

The 2000 field season at Zackenberg/Da-neborg was not as busy as previous yearsin terms of bednights spent at the station.60 persons visited the facilities and the to-tal number of bednights was 1221.

In 2000, Zackenberg Station establishedcooperation with facilities both in Green-land and in the remaining part of the Arc-tic and in the Alpine area. The cooperationwith facilities outside Greenland takesplace under the context of two EU-fundednetworks ENVINET and SCANNET.

Unfortunately, it was not possible tohave the climate data, normally reportedin the ZERO annual reports, ready for thisreport. The most important climatic eventin 2000 was the very limited snow thick-ness experienced. This resulted in large ar-eas being snow free much earlier than inprevious years, very early biological pro-cesses in the ecosystem, and an early de-velopment of an active layer.

Also the data on river water dischargeare delayed this year. However, it can bestated that the total amount of water run-ning through Zackenbergelven during thesummer of 2000 was limited compared toprevious years, probably due to very limit-ed precipitation during the winter. Thisstatement is based on the manual mea-surements of water level in Zackenbergel-ven carried out every morning.

The ice melt and the start of runningwater in rivers and rivulets in the studyarea were among the earliest recorded.The break up of the fjord ice in YoungSund was not particularly early. In fact,the fast ice off Northeast Greenland ex-tended much further out at sea early in theseason, than normally.

In accordance with the generally modestsnow-cover, several vegetation plots werefree from snow already at our arrival, andmost others cleared earlier than recordedbefore. Flowering was early, but not par-ticularly early as compared with the earlyseasons of 1996 and 1997. In most plots,numbers of flowers were within the rangerecorded in the others years, except for anumber of plots that became snow-freevery late in 1999, i.e. the previous seasonwhen flower buds are established. Green-

ing indexes both in plots and in the wholestudy area reached higher values than theyear before, and maximum was reached 1-4 weeks earlier than during the very lateseason of 1999.

Carbon dioxide uptake from the Cas-siope tetragona heath north of the climatestation was almost double as high in 2000as in 1997, which may be related to theearly snow melt and consequently earlystart of the growing season in 2000.

This year saw the highest number of ter-restrial arthropods caught so far. Threegroups of midges and flies, Chironomidae,Cecidomyiidae and Muscidae, all werecaught in unprecedented high numbers inthe window traps while three groups offlies, Phoridae, Calliphoridae and Musci-dae, were all found in surprisingly highnumbers in the pitfall traps. Again, thiswas presumably the result of the earlysnow melt and the fine weather duringmost of the summer.

Bird populations were largely withinthe range estimated for previous years.Red knots seem to have decreased anddunlins to have increased, while the rockptarmigans reached an unprecedentedlow. In accordance with the limited snow-cover early in the season, first egg dates inwaders were among the earliest recorded.Wader clutch sizes were normal andhatching success similarly within therange from previous years. However, afierce snowstorm in mid July apparentlykilled substantial numbers of waderchicks. Still, ‘normal’ numbers of juvenilesappeared at the coast in August, so breed-ing must have been more successful inother parts of the region.

The lemming population reached an ab-solute low, and only few long-tailed skuasbred. No young fledged. The averagebrood size for barnacle geese was the high-est recorded so far, but fewer familiesbrought their goslings to Zackenbergdalen,than during the last few years. More imma-ture barnacle geese moulted in the studyarea than recorded before, which may berelated to reduced competition frommoulting pink-footed geese which our dis-turbance have expelled from the area.

Executive summaryHans Meltofte and Morten Rasch

In spite of the lemming winter nest low,the number of winter nests predated bystoats increased as compared to 1999, butstill fell considerably below the peak in1998, when the lemming population alsopeaked. Musk ox usage of Zackenbergda-len increased almost by 50% as comparedto 1999, which may be related to the snowconditions in the two years, with 1999 asthe most snow rich year recorded so far.Calfs made up about 10%, which is thehighest proportion since the very goodbreeding year of 1995. The ratio of cowshaving a calf still alive in August in rela-tion to cows without calves in 1999 was0.70, which is the highest ratio recordedduring 1996-2000. Three out of eight muskox carcasses encountered in 2000 had eat-ing marks from wolves. Three fox dens inZackenbergdalen held a total of eightwhite phase pups, and relatively manyfoxes were seen in the valley. Seal num-bers were back to ‘normal’ after the verylarge figures recorded in 1999.

Conditions in the two monitored lakesin Morænebakkerne were more favourablethan in previous years due to an early icemelt and consequently earlier devel-opment and warmer water. In both lakes,total nitrogen was substantially higherthan in 1999. Similarly, chlorophyll a con-centrations were twofold higher than in1999. The number of cyclopoid copepodsin Langemandssø was high in 2000, andthe number of advanced stages much

higher than in previous years. Likewise,the number of Daphnia was high in Som-merfuglesø in 2000 compared to 1997 and1999, but not as high as in 1998, whenmany small individuals occurred.

Ten individual research projects are de-scribed in this report. The largest researchproject is the Changes in Arctic Marine Pro-duction project in Daneborg with eighteenscientists involved, all working on thecommon goal to model the function of ahigh arctic marine ecosystem. At Zacken-berg, a Swedish research group carried outstudies of methane emission in relation tovascular plant production and a Belgianresearch group worked on global changeeffects on unicellulars and plants. An air-borne hyperspectral scanning of the Zack-enberg area was carried out from an aero-plane equipped with an HyMap scanner.In relation to the scanning, field investiga-tions of spectral signatures of differenthabitats were carried out by the Instituteof Geography at University of Copen-hagen and the National EnvironmentalResearch Institute, Denmark. Other re-search projects comprised investigationson CO2 concentrations in arctic soils, onthe time budgets of waders, on the dy-namics of the lemming population, on thehydrology of the Zackenbergelvendrainage basin and a collection of theGreenlandic heteropteran, Nysius groen-landicus.


In the 2000 field season 60 persons visitedthe Zackenberg/Daneborg facilities and thesum of bednights was 1221. Several largeprojects have expressed their interest in us-ing Zackenberg in 2001 and/or 2002. One ofthem is a biodiversity project with partici-pation from Danish and Swedish researchinstitutions and c. 20 scientists involved.Furthermore, we hope that a reduced priceon air tickets to Zackenberg/Daneborgwhich is planned for the coming years willencourage scientists to use the facilities. Weare working on finding financial support tocomplete the original plans for the stationwhich include a house accommodating 18scientists and a combined power station,workshop and garage. With these twobuildings it will be possible to remove theshelters, and it will be possible for scientiststo stay at Zackenberg during winter.

Evaluation of the Danish Polar Center

Danish Polar Center was evaluated by anexternal evaluation panel in 2000, basedon an investigation among the users ofDanish Polar Center. The evaluation turnedout positive, both for Danish Polar Centeras a whole and for Zackenberg Station. Es-pecially the foreign users of ZackenbergStation were positive about the station andthe concept of ZERO (Zackenberg Ecologi-cal Research Operations).

The evaluation panel referred to the lim-ited financial support for the Danish PolarCenter Logistical Platform and the Zack-enberg Station as a problem, and they rec-ommended an increase of the governmen-tal support with 2 million DKK per year.This recommendation was followed by theDanish Ministry of Information Technolo-gy and Research.

The increased support enables us to re-duce the price on tickets (including start-ing fee at the station) from 26,000 DKK to15,000 DKK, to increase the staff at the sta-tion during field season, to start mainte-nance work at Zackenberg, and to employstaff for the Daneborg facility. The cost ofdoing research in Northeast Greenlandwill now equal the expenses of working inWest Greenland.

Cooperation with other sites

In year 2000, Zackenberg Station has es-tablished cooperation with a large numberof research facilities in the Arctic, includ-ing Arctic Station (central West Green-land), Greenland Institute of Natural Re-sources (southern West Greenland),Kangerlussuaq International Science Sup-port (southern West Greenland) and NyÅlesund Large Scale Facility (Svalbard).The cooperation between the Greenlandicsites will include coordinated monitoringat the facilities and common marketing.The cooperation with Ny Ålesund in-cludes common marketing as well as ex-change of ideas and experiences relatingto operating an arctic field facility.

Networks

Zackenberg Station is involved in two in-ternational networks, ENVINET andSCANNET. The ENVINET network con-sists of seventeen arctic and alpine re-search facilities and is funded by EU from2000. The SCANNET network connectsnine research facilities around the NorthAtlantic and received funding from EU inearly 2001. Further details about the net-works are found in the annual report for1999 (Caning and Rasch 2000).

Plans for the year 2001 field season

We will start maintenance works at thestation and improve the water supply sys-tem. If economically feasible we will alsoestablish a VHF repeater on a mountaintop close to the station in order to improveradio communication with scientistsworking in the field and with the Siriusmilitary sledge patrol.

The Zackenberg Station and the study area

Details about the Zackenberg Station, thestudy area at Zackenberg and the adminis-trative structure for Zackenberg have beengiven in previous annual reports (Meltofteand Thing 1996 and 1997; Meltofte andRasch 1998; Rasch 1999; Caning and Rasch


1 IntroductionMorten Rasch

2000), and information is also available onthe website (www.zackenberg.dk).

The Zero Site Manual has all informa-tion about travelling to the ZackenbergStation. The site manual can be obtainedtogether with the Zackenberg ApplicationForm from the Zackenberg homepage

(www.zackenberg.dk) or by writing,phoning or e-mailing to the ZackenbergSecretariat, Danish Polar Center,Strandgade 100H, DK-1401 CopenhagenK, Denmark, phone: +45 32880100, fax:+4532880101, e-mail: [email protected].


In 2000, Zackenberg Station was open in94 days, from 30 May to 1 September. Inthis period, 21 scientists and 3 logisticiansworked at the station, and 8 guests paid avisit. The affiliation at Daneborg was usedin the period 26 July-16 August by 13 sci-entists and 6 visitors. In connection withthe 50th anniversary of the Sirius SledgePatrol many people visited both Zacken-berg and Daneborg.

The final number of overnights at Zack-enberg and Daneborg counted 1221 in2000. In previous years the numbers were:105 (1991), 250 (1992), 0 (1993), 210 (1994),321 (1995), 1422 (1996), 1462 (1997), 1474(1998), 2077 (1999).

Transportation

As we had problems with snow on theairstrip in 1999 we took no chances thisyear and decided to use a Twin Otter withskis for the first flight to the station. Un-fortunately, there was no snow on theairstrip this year, and as the pilots did notwant to spoil the skis, the pioneers wereput down at Daneborg where they had towait for a plane with wheels.

Because of the lack of snow we werealso unable to drive to Store Sødal withequipment for water level observation asplanned by Asiaq. Later on we carried theequipment in rucksacks.

The transport of heavy equipment tookplace with our All Terrain Vehicle and atrailer for restricted use in a traffic corri-dor.

The number of landings/take offs byplane counted 52 in 2000, 44 in connectionwith arrivals and departures of scientistsand freight, and 8 in connection withtransport of ship freight from Daneborg.

No helicopters visited Zackenberg in2000.

Accomodation

In 2000 the accomodation of scientists tookplace in shelters. We hope to be able tobuild new accomodation soon so that bothemployees, scientists and visitors can beaccomodated in proper houses.

Electrical power production

A new generator was put into operationlast year. It has been working satisfactorilythroughout the 2000 season and has deliv-ered suffficient electrical power for all pur-poses. We are currently hoping to be ableto make a new building for the generator,big enough for one more generator as wellas a small workshop.

Water supply

As the soft water tanks have started toleak because of age, we have bought newtanks of stainless steel with plastic lininginside.These tanks should be easier toclean and should live longer than the blad-ders.

Waste

We have bought three new waste contain-ers for overwintering waste waiting to beflown out. The containers are made ofmetal and they are so strong that bearscannot open or destroy them.

Tele communication

As in previous years, tele communicationbetween Zackenberg and the world out-side NE Greenland took place through asatellite phone, fax and e-mail. Tele com-munication is still expensive but reliable.Using the e-mail server at Institute of Geo-graphy, University of Copenhagen, for e-mail transmission has worked satisfactorily.

A foundation for a new HF-mast wasprepared in 2000. The mast will be estab-lished in 2001.


2 LogisticsAka Lynge

The GeoBasis and ClimateBasis pro-grammes collect data describing the dy-namics of the physical and geomorpholo-gical environment at Zackenberg.

GeoBasis is operated by the Institute ofGeography, University of Copenhagen, incooperation with the Danish Polar Centerand takes care of geomorphological moni-toring, monitoring of water quality in riversand soils, and active layer monitoring.

ClimateBasis is operated by ASIAQ,Greenland Field Investigations, who runsthe climate station and the hydrometric sta-tion. Unfortunately, the climate data andwater discharge data which should havebeen processed by ASIAQ were not readyfor publication before the deadline of this 6th

annual report (although it was postponedfor 7 months). We hope to publish the miss-ing data from 2000 in the 7th annual reporttogether with the climate data for 2001.

Locations and specifications of GeoBasisand ClimateBasis installations are de-scribed in previous annual reports (Mel-tofte and Thing 1996; Meltofte and Rasch1998; Rasch 1999; Caning and Rasch 2000).Data collected by the two programmesmay be ordered from Institute of Geogra-phy, University of Copenhagen (e-mail:[email protected]).

3.1 The meteorological station

Morten Rasch

For the reasons given above there will beno reporting of climate data from 1999 and2000 in this annual report. Hopefully, theclimate data will be published in the 7th

annual report in 2002.

3.2 TinyTalk/TinyTagdataloggers

Morten Rasch

In 2000, GeoBasis operated 30 TinyTag/-TinyTalk temperature dataloggers formeasurements of air temperature at three

sites, soil temperature profiles incl. airtemperature at six sites, water temperatureat two sites and snow and air temperatureinside and outside a snow patch at foursites. Position, purpose of measurements,interval between measurements and peri-od of operation are given in Table 3.2.1 inMeltofte and Rasch (1998). Statistics ontime series from the period 1996-98 aregiven in Table 3.1.

In 1999 important failures were identi-fied in time series from 13 out of 27 data-loggers due to fall out of the dataloggers(Caning and Rasch 2000). The technicalproblem was solved partly in the field sea-son 1999 by changing defect loggers andpartly in 2000 by reinserting of new tem-perature sensors at location where the sen-sor cables were leaky. However, the fallout influences the time series from 1999.Therefore, it has not been possible to cal-culate the annual statistics for 1999 for tenout of thirty loggers.


3 Zackenberg Basic: The GeoBasis and ClimateBasisprogrammes

Type of measurements Datalogger Ty

Active layer temperature profile P1, 0 cm Tiny

P1, 10 cm Tiny

P1, 50 cm Tiny

P1, 118 cm Tiny


P2, 10 cm Tiny

P2, 70 cm Tiny

P2, 155 cm Tiny


P3, 10 cm Tiny

P3, 66 cm Tiny


P4, 10 cm Tiny

P4, 85 cm Tiny


P5, 75 cm Tiny

P5, 135 cm Tiny


P6, 10 cm Tiny

P6, 30 cm Tiny

P6, 60 cm Tiny

Air temperature in Morænebakkerne T1 Tiny

Air temperature in Store Sødal T2 Tiny

Air temperature on Aucellabjerg T3 Tiny

Water temperature in Zackenbergelven V1 Tiny

Water temperature in Gadekæret V2 Tiny

Air/snow temperature in snow patch S1, Plateau Tiny

S1, Slope Tiny

S1, Snow Tiny

S1, Below Tiny

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In 1999, the hydrometric station wasequipped with a water temperature andconductivity sensor logging directly on thedatalogger connected to the hydrometricstation. For this reason, the measurementof water temperature in Zackenbergelvenwith a TinyTag datalogger (V1, Table 3.1)was suspended. Unfortunately, the newmeasurements of water temperature inZackenbergelven are not reported in thisreport for the reasons given above.

3.3 The hydrometric station

Morten Rasch

Due to the lack of input of data relating toriver water discharge it has not been possi-ble to calculate the water discharge and thefluxes of suspended sediment, organic mat-ter and solutes (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Mn,Cl, NO3, SO4, HCO3) in the river. During theyear 2000 field season, samples were col-lected every day at 8:00 for determinationof suspended sediment, organic matter andsolute concentrations. These samples haveall been processed at Institute of Geogra-phy, University of Copenhagen. At thesame time pH, conductivity and tempera-ture were measured in the river. It is how-

ever meaningless to report the time serieson river water chemistry and sediment con-centrations without a river water dischargecurve. The data will hopefully be reportedin the annual report for 2001.

In 2000 Zackenbergelven started to runat the hydrometric station on 8 June. Lar-ger floods occurred in the periods 22-28June, 2-12 July and 31 July-5 August. Dueto the limited amount of snow in the Zack-enberg area this year, the river water dis-charge was generally at a much lower lev-el than in previous years.

3.4 Landscape monitoring

Morten Rasch, Charlotte Sigsgaard, JørgenHinkler, Steen B. Pedersen

The following landscape monitoring iscarried out at Zackenberg:1. photos of different dynamic landforms

at 24 sites,2. photomonitoring of snow cover in

Zackenbergdalen in cooperation withBioBasis,

3. active layer depth measurements at twosites,

4. soil water chemistry measurements attwo sites,


Type Position 1996 1997 1998 1999

Easting Northing Elevation Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max.

(m) (m) (m) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC)

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -7.7 -37.6 29.9 -9.8 -40.7 30.7 -9.1 -40.7 28.1 -9.3 -40.7 30.3

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -10.5 -32.6 15.0 -9.6 -39.1 19.1 -8.8 -37.6 17.0 -8.7 -36.3 19.5

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -6.7 -25.2 7.3 -9.0 -29.4 8.8 -8.3 -28.4 7.3 -8.3 -27.5 8.8

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -5.9 -15.6 -0.1 -8.1 -18.3 -0.1 -7.8 -17.6 0.6 -8.0 -17.0 0.4

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -5.6 -30.5 34.1 -7.8 -29.4 25.9 -7.5 -24.1 22.0 -7.1 -22.6 22.7

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.1 -24.6 12.4 -8.4 -25.7 12.8 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.0 -19.1 2.3 -8.1 -19.6 2.3 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.5 -14.6 -1.4 -8.6 -16.4 -1.8 X X X X X X

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -6.2 -31.5 25.2 -9.6 -36.3 23.4 -7.8 -34.8 -23.4 -10.5 -36.8 19.8

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -5.9 -27.5 18.1 X X X X X X -9.0 -26.5 15.6

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -5.5 -20.3 6.9 -8.7 -23.3 6.5 X X X X X X

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -8.5 -33.7 27.0 -10.6 -39.1 27.4 -8.2 -27.5 30.7 -10.9 -32.0 26.3

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -8.0 -28.4 16.3 -10.5 -33.7 14.9 -8.0 -24.9 19.1 -10.4 -28.8 14.2

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -7.6 -18.9 1.9 -10.4 -22.5 1.1 -8.6 -20.3 2.7 -9.7 -19.7 1.0

TinyTag 509,964 8,267,457 ca. 260 X X X -9.2 -36.0 20.4 X X X -9.9 -33.7 19.1



TinyTag 513,068 8,263,921 11 X X X -10.1 -37.6 19.1 -9.5 -32.6 18.4 -8.2 -32.6 24.1

TinyTag 513,068 8,263,921 11 X X X -9.9 -25.7 10.6 X X X X X X


TinyTag 513,068 8,263,921 11 X X X X X X X X X X X X

TinyTag 511,090 8,268,397 85 -7.3 -33.6 21.6 -9.8 -37.2 23.6 -9.2 -39.1 19.1 -9.8 -37.6 18.4

TinyTag 509,105 8,269,215 129 -7.8 -35.0 20.6 -10.3 -39.1 21.6 -9.8 -40.7 24.5 -11.1 -40.7 18.8

TinyTag 518,023 8,269,902 965 -8.9 -36.0 19.8 -10.4 -37.6 17.7 -10.2 -40.7 20.2 X X X

TinyTag 512,654 8,264,548 14 -2.5 -11.9 8.4 -5.1 -11.8 20.2 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,978 8,264,538 35 -10.8 -23.8 15.9 -8.0 -27.4 19.4 -7.1 -27.5 18.1 -7.4 -28.4 37.7

TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 29 X X X -12.0 -37.3 26.5 -12.5 -39.1 18.1 -10.0 -39.1 33.3

TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 25 X X X -5.2 -11.5 20.5 -5.9 -21.7 22.3 -6.5 -17.6 24.1


TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 16 X X X -5.2 -9.5 26.6 -8.0 -32.6 22.3 -13.0 -35.0 14.5

��

Type Position 1996 1997 1998 1999

Easting Northing Elevation Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max. Mean Min. Max.

(m) (m) (m) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC) (oC)

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -7.7 -37.6 29.9 -9.8 -40.7 30.7 -9.1 -40.7 28.1 -9.3 -40.7 30.3

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -10.5 -32.6 15.0 -9.6 -39.1 19.1 -8.8 -37.6 17.0 -8.7 -36.3 19.5

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -6.7 -25.2 7.3 -9.0 -29.4 8.8 -8.3 -28.4 7.3 -8.3 -27.5 8.8

TinyTag 512,388 8,263,490 20 -5.9 -15.6 -0.1 -8.1 -18.3 -0.1 -7.8 -17.6 0.6 -8.0 -17.0 0.4

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -5.6 -30.5 34.1 -7.8 -29.4 25.9 -7.5 -24.1 22.0 -7.1 -22.6 22.7

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.1 -24.6 12.4 -8.4 -25.7 12.8 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.0 -19.1 2.3 -8.1 -19.6 2.3 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,713 8,264,257 23 -6.5 -14.6 -1.4 -8.6 -16.4 -1.8 X X X X X X

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -6.2 -31.5 25.2 -9.6 -36.3 23.4 -7.8 -34.8 -23.4 -10.5 -36.8 19.8

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -5.9 -27.5 18.1 X X X X X X -9.0 -26.5 15.6

TinyTag 515,917 8,268,224 ca. 420 -5.5 -20.3 6.9 -8.7 -23.3 6.5 X X X X X X

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -8.5 -33.7 27.0 -10.6 -39.1 27.4 -8.2 -27.5 30.7 -10.9 -32.0 26.3

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -8.0 -28.4 16.3 -10.5 -33.7 14.9 -8.0 -24.9 19.1 -10.4 -28.8 14.2

TinyTag 516,936 8,269,597 ca. 820 -7.6 -18.9 1.9 -10.4 -22.5 1.1 -8.6 -20.3 2.7 -9.7 -19.7 1.0




TinyTag 513,068 8,263,921 11 X X X -10.1 -37.6 19.1 -9.5 -32.6 18.4 -8.2 -32.6 24.1




TinyTag 511,090 8,268,397 85 -7.3 -33.6 21.6 -9.8 -37.2 23.6 -9.2 -39.1 19.1 -9.8 -37.6 18.4

TinyTag 509,105 8,269,215 129 -7.8 -35.0 20.6 -10.3 -39.1 21.6 -9.8 -40.7 24.5 -11.1 -40.7 18.8

TinyTag 518,023 8,269,902 965 -8.9 -36.0 19.8 -10.4 -37.6 17.7 -10.2 -40.7 20.2 X X X

TinyTag 512,654 8,264,548 14 -2.5 -11.9 8.4 -5.1 -11.8 20.2 X X X X X X

TinyTag 512,978 8,264,538 35 -10.8 -23.8 15.9 -8.0 -27.4 19.4 -7.1 -27.5 18.1 -7.4 -28.4 37.7

TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 29 X X X -12.0 -37.3 26.5 -12.5 -39.1 18.1 -10.0 -39.1 33.3

TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 25 X X X -5.2 -11.5 20.5 -5.9 -21.7 22.3 -6.5 -17.6 24.1


TinyTag 512,209 8,264,467 16 X X X -5.2 -9.5 26.6 -8.0 -32.6 22.3 -13.0 -35.0 14.5

��

Table 3.1: Statistics ontime series from theTinyTag/TinyTalk data-loggers operated byGeoBasis.

5. measurements of ice wedge growth rateat two sites,

6. measurements of cross shore landscapechanges at six sites, and

7. measurements of salt marsh accretion attwo sites.

The measurements of cross shore land-scape changes consist of measurements ofcoastal cliff recession at four sites andmeasurements of cross shore profiles attwo sites. Due to very limited cross shoreprofile changes in the period 1991-1999 thetwo cross shore profiles were not surveyedin 2000, and will only be surveyed everysecond year in the future.

Monitoring photos

Morten Rasch, Jørgen Hinkler, Steen B.Pedersen

The 24 monitoring photos of different dy-namic landforms that are included inGeoBasis programme (see section 3.4.1 inMeltofte and Rasch 1998) were not takenin 2000. Due to very limited changes of thelandforms from year to year, it has beendecided to take these photos every secondyear.

The automatic photomonitoring of thesnow cover in Zackenbergdalen (carriedout with two cameras placed at c. 450 ma.s.l. on the eastern slope of the mountainZackenberg) were continued in 2000. Thetechnique of the cameras, the transforma-tion of the oblique photos into orthopho-tos, the identification of snow in the pic-tures and the calculation of snow cover aredescribed in details in Sections 3.4 and5.12 in Caning and Rasch (2000). Therehave been no significant problems withthe camera. Once in a while during thewinter, the camera lenses were coveredwith snow, but during the very importantperiod of snow melt, the cameras weregenerally working properly. Fig. 3.1 showsthe snow melt in Zackenbergdalen be-tween 3 and 20 June. At 3 June the snowcover was calculated to 88%. At 20 Junethe snow cover was reduced to 20%. Fig.3.2 gives the snow depletion curves for thesouthern part of Zackenbergdalen in theperiod 1998-2000. You may notice that thedisappearance of snow cover occurredmuch faster in 2000 than in the two previ-ous years. This is probably due to lesssnow thickness in 2000.


Fig. 3.1: Pictures fromthe digital cameras cov-ering the central part ofZackenbergdalen. Thepictures illustrate themelt of snow from 83%snow-cover at 3 June to20% snow-cover at 20June.

Fig. 3.2: Snow depletion curves for the southernpart of Zackenbergdalen, 1998-2000.

Active layer depthMorten Rasch

Active layer development is being moni-tored in two plots. One plot (ZEROCALM-1) consists of a 100 m x 100 m grid with atotal of 121 measuring points on a hori-zontal and well-drained Cassiope heathnear the climate station. The other plot issituated on a southerly exposed Eriopho-rum fen with a snow patch c. 500 m southof the runway. This plot consists of a 120m x 150 m grid with 208 measuring points.More details about the plots are given insection 5.1.12 in Meltofte and Thing (1997).

Time series of active layer developmentfor 1997–2000 are given in Figs. 3.3(ZEROCALM-1) and 3.4 (ZEROCALM-2).You may notice, that the active layer inboth plots developed earlier in 2000 than

in the previous three years. This was prob-ably due to the faster melt of snow in 2000.

Figs. 3.5 and 3.6 show the year 2000maximum depth of the active layer in re-spectively ZEROCALM-1 and ZERO-CALM-2. The measurements at the twoZackenberg sites are reported to the Inter-national Permafrost Association, and areincorporated in the database CircumpolarActive Layer Monitoring.

Soil water chemistryMorten Rasch

Samples for determination of pH, conduc-tivity, and content of water solutes (Na, K,Ca, Mg, Fe, Al, Mn, Cl, NO3, SO4, HCO3) atdifferent depths in the active layer werecollected at the two soil water chemistry


Fig. 3.3: Active layer development in ZEROCALM-1,1997-2000.

Fig. 3.4: Active layer development in ZEROCALM-2,1997-2000.

Fig. 3.5: Maximum active layer thickness in ZERO-CALM-1, 28 August 2000.

Fig. 3.6: Maximum active layer thickness in ZERO-CALM-2, 28 August 2000.

sites (Meltofte and Thing 1997). Due torestoration of the laboratory at Institute ofGeography, University of Copenhagen, inlate 2000 and early 2001 it has not been

possible to finish the laboratory analysesof the soil water samples yet. A thoroughevaluation of the seasonal changes in soilwater chemistry at the two sites was givenin the annual report for 1999 (Caning andRasch 2000).

Coastal geomorphologyMorten Rasch

A map indicating the GeoBasis coastalmonitoring sites are given in Fig. 3.4.4.1 inMeltofte and Rasch (1998). Coastal cliff re-cession is measured at four sites along acliff coast and changes of cross shore pro-files on an accretionary part of the coast (aspit) are measured in two profiles. In year2000, coastal cliff recession was measuredat the four cliff recession sites. The resultsof the cliff recession measurements since1996 are given in Table 3.2. Due to the verylimited change of coastal geomorphologyin the two cross-shore profiles in the peri-od 1991-1999 these profiles were not sur-veyed in 2000. The profiles will be sur-veyed in year 2001.

Salt marsh accretion (established in1996) will be measured every ten years.

Block slumping in the river deltaCharlotte Sigsgaard

During the summer 2000 erosion by blockslumping was observed along the Zacken-bergelven river bank at the tip of the deltaon the western side of the river (Fig. 3.7).Combined effects of river water erodingthe bank and melting of the permafrost re-sulted in the development of a thermo-erosional niche in the bank. At several oc-casions (26 June, 2 July, 10 July) the under-cut frozen sediment collapsed along linesof weakness and big blocks of frozen sedi-ment was detached. When exposed to theatmosphere the blocks were covered by athin rime layer leaving them white untilthawing began (Fig. 3.7).

The fresh exposures along the bankshowed a profile of alternating horizontallayers of fine and coarse sediment. Erosioncontinued as long as water from Zacken-bergelven cut into the cliff but after a fewweeks the sediment/material at the foot ofthe cliff seemed to protect it from furtherdirect erosion. As part of the monitoringprogramme, photographs were taken frommarked positions and for measurementsof further cliff recession four profile lineshave been established.


Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4

1996-1997 0 0 0.3 1.0

1996-1998 0 0 0.3 1.3

1996-1999 0 0 0.5 1.3

1999-2000 0 0 0.7 1.4

Recession (m)��

Table 3.2: Total coastalcliff recession at thesouth coast of Zacken-bergdalen in the period1996-2000.

Fig. 3.7: Block slumpingof old (Holocene) marinedeposits in the delta ofZackenbergelven. A: Ear-ly July (Photo: CharlotteSigsgaard). B: Late Au-gust (Photo: MortenRasch).

3.5 General observations on iceconditions

Hans Meltofte

In accordance with the limited and thinsnow layer this year (see e.g. section 3.4)the ponds north and south of the researchstation thawed earlier than recorded inprevious years. Also the streams andrivers in the study area started to flowvery early.

Lakes and streams

Already when the pioneer team arrived on30 May, the ponds in Gadekæret and Syd-kærene were partly ice free. When we ar-rived on 3 June, the western pond inGadekæret was 95% ice free, but it wasvery shallow with exposed mud flatsalong the shores. On the same day, theeastern pond in Gadekæret was 75% icefree, and so was 80% of the large pond inSydkærene, while the small pond west ofit was totally ice free.

Although new ice formed on the pondsduring night, the eastern pond inGadekæret and the large pond in Syd-kærene were already ice-free on 6 June. On10 June practically all ice had disappearedfrom Gadekæret and the upper section ofSydkærene. This is as early as in 1996, butnot fully as early as in 1997 (Meltofte andThing 1997 and 1998).

Between 100 and 200 m2 of open waterhad formed in the eastern end of Lomsø on14 June, and on 21 June 20% of the lake wasice-free. On 1 July it was still half coveredwith ice, but on 7 July all ice had disap-peared. This is the earliest recorded so far.

The ice on Store Sø had broken up by 8July, and on 17 July only 5% ice remained.

After an initial low water level in sever-al ponds, they filled up with melt-waterduring the first half of June, but severalponds dried up during late June and earlyJuly. Precipitation added a little duringmid July, but in late July and early August,these ponds dried up again.

Already by 4 June, or earlier than previ-ously recorded, Kærelv began to run, anda large area in Rylekærene appeared withwater soaked snow. Zackenbergelvenstarted to run on 8 June, while the remain-ing small streams on the slopes of Au-cellabjerg did not begin to run until 9 June.

The fjord

The fast ice edge off the fjords in southernNortheast Greenland was considerablyfurther out at sea than recorded for manyyears. Hence, off Young Sund the ice edgewas many kilometres to the east, and notuntil 5 July, the ice broke around Sandøen.

As usual, large areas of open waterformed outside Zackenbergelven duringearly July, and already on 8 July the fjordice broke up from Zackenberg toBasaltøen, and Tyrolerfjord appearedlargely ice free. However, the ice in theouter part of the fjord did not break up un-til 17 July, or within the range recorded inprevious years (12-24 July).

In mid July, large amounts of drift iceentered Young Sund, but most of it disap-peared soon after.


The BioBasis programme at Zackenberg iscarried out by the National EnvironmentalResearch Institute (NERI), Department ofArctic Environment, Ministry of Environ-ment and Energy, Denmark. It is financedby Dancea, the Environmental ProtectionAgency, Ministry of Environment and En-ergy, Denmark. This does not include thatevaluations presented in this report mirrorthe opinions of the Environmental Protec-tion Agency.

The programme was continued with theextensions initiated in 1999 (Caning andRasch 2000). Furthermore, the botanicalZERO-line, marking plant communityzones from sea level to the top of Au-cellabjerg, was reanalysed and further de-veloped (see section 4.1). The same applies

to the cryptogam monitoring plots. Vascu-lar plant species with a northern distribu-tion limit in the region were marked andtheir reproductive status was assessed. Inearly August, the distribution of plantcommunities in the entire study area wasmapped by multi-spectral photos takenfrom a height of 6600 feet (see section 5.8).

In 2000, BioBasis personnel collecteddown and feathers from young waders forchemical ‘fingerprints’ of the origin of nu-trients used to produce eggs (see section5.8 in Caning and Rasch 2000), 200 liveGreenlandic seed bugs Nysius groenlandi-cus for physiological studies (section 5.10)and three individuals of collared lemmingDicrostonyx groenlandicus for exhibition atthe Natural History Museum of Aarhus.


4 Zackenberg Basic: The BioBasis programme

Plot no.

50%

snow

50%

flowers

50%

snow

50%

flowers

50%

snow

50%

flowers

50%

snow

50%

flowers

50%

snow

50%

flowers

Cassiope 1 14.6 2.7 9.6 6.7 13.6 6.7 27.6 13.7 2.6 (28.6)

Cassiope 2 19.6 6.7 21.6 20.7 27.6 (21.7) 4.7 (26.7) <4.6 -

Cassiope 3 15.6 9.7 21.6 18.7 20.6 (19.7) 3.7 (26.7) 13.6 -

Cassiope 4 20.6 15.7 15.6 15.7 20.6 (21.7) 4.7 (26.7) 13.6 -

Dryas 1 <3.6 19.6 <27.5 22.6 23.5 26.6 6.6 3.7 <4.6 26.6

Dryas 2 26.6 13.7 27.6 4.8 4.7 8.8 12.7 - 21.6 24.7

Dryas 3 6.6 2.7 <27.5 26.6 7.6 6.7 19.6 13.7 <4.6 27.6

Dryas 4 1.6 27.6 3.6 6.7 13.6 (9.7) 21.6 14.7 <4.6 26.6

Dryas 5 6.6 30.6 31.5 5.7 4.6 1.7 14.6 7.7 <4.6 22.6

Dryas 6 21.6 19.7 4.7 9.8 5.7 (7.8) 11.7 19.8 20.6 21.7

Papaver 1 20.6 14.7 18.6 20.7 21.6 24.7 3.7 2.8 1.6 4.7

Papaver 2 20.6 14.7 20.6 23.7 21.6 26.7 4.7 30.7 14.6 15.7

Papaver 3 21.6 14.7 15.6 19.7 20.6 26.7 3.7 1.8 13.6 10.7

Papaver 4 21.6 15.7 4.7 7.8 5.7 11.8 11.7 15.8 20.6 (20.7)

Salix 1 <3.6 6.6 <27.5 6.6 <27.5 12.6 <1.6 14.6 <3.6 11.6

Salix 2 14.6 21.6 20.6 29.6 23.6 10.7 1.7 17.7 13.6 28.6

Salix 3 7.6 20.6 8.6 25.6 12.6 (28.6) 24.6 5.7 <3.6 11.6

Salix 4 20.6 29.6 5.6 23.6 21.6 2.7 22.6 3.7 7.6 17.6

Saxifraga 1 <27.5 31.5 <27.5 5.6 <1.6 7.6 <3.6 6.6

Saxifraga 2 <27.5 2.6 <27.5 7.6 27.5 14.6 <3.6 9.6

Saxifraga 3 ? 5.6 <27.5 1.6 27.5 9.6 6.6 16.6 <3.6 7.6

Silene 1 <3.6 20.6 <27.5 24.6 <27.5 21.6 <1.6 28.6 <3.6 26.6

Silene 2 <3.6 23.6 <27.5 29.6 <27.5 1.7 27.5 30.6 <3.6 2.7

Silene 3 ? 30.6 <27.5 26.6 27.5 23.6 6.6 6.7 <3.6 28.6

Silene 4 24.6 26.7 28.6 10.8 20.6 20.8 6.7 - 21.6 28.7

199919991996 1997 1998

��

Table 4.1. Inter- and ex-trapolated dates of 50%snow cover and 50%flowers (50/50 ratio ofbuds/open flowers) forwhite arctic bell-heatherCassiope tetragona,mountain avens Dryasintegrifolia/octopetala,arctic poppy Papaverradicatum, arctic willowSalix arctica, purple sax-ifrage Saxifraga oppositi-folia and moss campionSilene acaulis for flowerplots 1996-2000. Inter-polations based on sam-ples of less than 50buds/flowers are givenin brackets.

Furthermore, BioBasis assistant DorthePrip Lahrmann made observations ontime budgets of waders and took samplesof their potential prey (see section 5.5).

Details on BioBasis methods and sam-pling procedures are presented in a manu-al (Meltofte and Berg 2000), which is avail-able from the home page of NERI(http://biobasis.dmu.dk). A map with lo-cality names used in this chapter is foundat the same place. On the home page, evena synopsis of the entire BioBasis program-me and all primary data are presented.

Unfortunately, a number of misprintsappeared especially in the mammal sec-tion of the 1999 annual report. Correctionsare given in the Erratum section of the pre-sent report (p. 80).

4.1 Vegetation

Hans Meltofte, Mikkel Tamstorf, HenrikSøgaard, Claus Nordstrøm, Morten Rasch,Charlotte Sigsgaard, Christian Bay and EricSteen Hansen

The weekly records on amounts and phenol-ogy of flowering etc. were made by DorthePrip Lahrmann during the entire season.

Reproductive phenologyHans Meltofte

Due to the limited amounts and extent ofsnow-cover and the consequently earlysnow melt, flowering was generally with-in +/-11 days of recorded values for theearliest of the previous four years.

Several plots that used to be snow-cov-ered at the start of the season were alreadyfree from snow when we arrived in earlyJune, and most of the remaining plotscleared 1-7 days earlier than during theearly seasons of 1996 and 1997 (Table 4.1).In spite of this, flowering was earlier thanpreviously recorded only in six plots, while15 plots actually had later flowering thanin the hitherto earliest seasons (Table 4.1).

Quantitative floweringHans Meltofte

Flower buds are established already theyear before, so conditions in 1999 deter-mined the numbers of flowers this year. Inaccordance with the unprecedented latesnow melt in 1999, numbers of Cassiopetetragona flowers were extremely low for

the third year in succession (Table 4.2).The same applies to a few other plots thatwere late snow free in 1999, but otherwise


Plot no. Area (m2) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Cassiope 1 2 1321 1386 1855 322 312 28

Cassiope 2 3 1759 550 19 16 8

Cassiope 3 2 256 844 789 35 18 0

Cassiope 4 3 456 1789 391 24 6 3

Cassiope 5 2.5 1224 455 474 50

Cassiope 6 2 3 1

Dryas 1 4 -936 -797 138 223 852 607

Dryas 2 60 534 1073 230 42 49 46

Dryas 3 2 603 522 123 255 437 266

Dryas 4 6 -325 -164 155 69 356 55

Dryas 5 6 -654 -504 123 191 655 312

Dryas 6 91 809 1406 691 10 25 140

Dryas 7 12 787 581 1355 574

Dryas 8 12 391 240 798 170

Papaver 1 105 302 337 265 190 220 197

Papaver 2 150 814 545 848 316 315 236

Papaver 3 90 334 238 289 266 183 240

Papaver 4 91 196 169 192 80 30 35

Salix 1 mm. 60 807 959 63 954 681

Salix 1 ff. 520 1096 1349 149 1207 900

Salix 2 mm. 300 790 1082 132 416 55

Salix 2 ff. 617 1376 1909 455 418 95

Salix 3 mm. 36 239 479 412 32 52 330

Salix 3 ff. 253 268 237 38 68 137

Salix 4 mm. 150 1314 831 509 718 965

Salix 4 ff. 1073 1145 642 709 880 796

Saxifraga 1 7 -1010 141 163 584 1552

Saxifraga 2 6 513 387 432 158 387

Saxifraga 3 10 529 322 288 707 403

Silene 1 7 -251 403 437 993 1327

Silene 2 6 493 524 440 400 692

Silene 3 10 348 211 127 313 274

Silene 4 1 466 270 493 312 275 358

E. scheuz. 1 10 395 423 257 309 229

E. scheuz. 2 6 537 344 172 184 201

E. scheuz. 3 10 392 545 482 587 38

E. scheuz. 4 8 260 755 179 515 117

E. triste 1 10 0 3 1 1 1

E. triste 2 6 98 59 21 16 43

E. triste 3 10 0 0 0 0 0

E. triste 4 8 0 0 0 0 0

��

Table 4.2. Area size (m2) and pooled numbers of flower buds, flowers and senes-cent flowers of white arctic bell-heather Cassiope tetragona, mountain avensDryas integrifolia/octopetala, arctic poppy Papaver radicatum, arctic willow Salixarctica, purple saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia, moss campion Silene acaulis, arc-tic cotton-grass Eriophorum scheuzerii (corrected data for 1996) and ‘dark cot-ton-grass’ Eriophorum triste in flower plots in 1995-2000. Numbers in bracketshave been extrapolated from 1995 and 1996 data to make up for enlarged plots(see Meltofte and Rasch 1998).

most plots produced amounts of flowersthat were within the range from previousyears. This may be related to the likewise�normal� microclimate temperatures inJuly and August 1999 (Table 3.4 in Caningand Rasch 2000).

This year, only a few female Salix arcticapods were infested with fungi (Table 4.3).

Snow melt in 400 m2 plant community study plots andEriophorum plotsHans Meltofte

Snow melt in the three plant communitystudy plots and in the four Eriophorumplots followed the general trend of veryearly snow melt in 2000 (Table 4.4).

Berry productionHans Meltofte

The study plots for alpine bearberry andArctic blueberry production showed high-ly reduced numbers after the very late sea-son of 1999, when the buds for theseberries were initiated (Table 4.5). On thecontrary, more crowberries were producedthan in the year before.

NDVI in flower plotsHans Meltofte

It appears from Table 4.6 that the �green-ing� of the vegetation in 26 vegetationplots as expressed by Normalised Differ-ence Vegetation Indexes (NDVI) reachedhigher values in most plots than the yearbefore. Even more pronounced was thepeak of greening that occurred 1-5 weeksearlier in almost all plots than in the un-precedented late season of 1999. This is inaccordance with the measurements onplant respiration, where the growing sea-son was found both to begin and endabout 10 days earlier in 2000 than in 1997(see Table 4.10), a year apparently withclose to average phenology.


Area 1998 1999 2000

Arctostaphylos alpina 6 365 455 36

Vaccinium uliginosum 4 240 532 9

Empetrum nigrum 4 27 1 17

��

Table 4.5. Area size (m2) and numbers of berriesrecorded in three plots of alpine bearberry Arc-tostaphylos alpina, Arctic blueberry Vaccinium uligi-nosum and crowberry Empetrum nigrum in 1998-2000.

Plot no. 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Salix 1 5 4 0 22 4

Salix 2 0 1 2 2 0

Salix 3 0 0 0 6 0

Salix 4 16 3 0 6 0

��Table 4.3. Peak ratio (percent) of female Salixpods infested by fungi inSalix plots in 1996-2000.

Plot no. 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Vegetation 1 13.6 30.5 6.6 13.6 <4.6

Vegetation 2 <3.6 22.6 24.6 20.7 4.6

Vegetation 3 20.6 20.6 20.6 28.6 13.6

Eriophorum 1 14.6 19.6 4.7 <4.6

Eriophorum 2 14.6 20.6 2.7 10.6

Eriophorum 3 27.6 21.6 7.7 14.6

Eriophorum 4 25.6 22.6 28.6 15.6

��

Table 4.4. Date of 50% snow cover in the three plant community study plots andin the four Eriophorum plots.

Plot no. NDVI Date NDVI Date

Cassiope 1 0.40 29.7 0.41 29.7

Cassiope 2 0.41 29.7 0.46 22.7

Cassiope 3 0.41 19.8 0.37 12.8

Cassiope 4 0.38 26.8 0.41 22.7

Dryas 1 0.43 22.7 0.41 22.7

Dryas 2 0.39 19.8 0.42 22.7

Dryas 3 0.45 29.7 0.45 22.7

Dryas 4 0.34 19.8 0.32 22.7

Dryas 5 0.34 29.7 0.33 22.7

Dryas 6 0.35 26.8 0.41 22.7

Papaver 1 0.41 19.8 0.41 22.7

Papaver 2 0.44 19.8 0.45 22.7

Papaver 3 0.37 26.8 0.41 22.7

Papaver 4 0.35 26.8 0.41 22.7

Salix 1 0.57 29.7 0.59 22.7

Salix 2 0.52 29.7 0.52 22.7

Salix 3 0.41 29.7 0.44 22.7

Salix 4 0.46 29.7 0.47 22.7

Saxifraga/Silene 1 0.28 29.7 0.34 7.8



Silene 4 0.32 26.8 0.36 22.7

Eriophorum 1 0.57 5.8 0.60 14.7

Eriophorum 2 0.58 29.7 0.58 22.7

Eriophorum 3 0.54 19.8 0.56 22.7

Eriophorum 4 0.73 5.8 0.72 22.7

1999 2000��

Table 4.6. Peak Normalised Difference Vegetation Indexes (NDVI) recorded in theflower plots in 1999 and 2000 together with date of maximum record. NDVI valuespresented are transformed averages of eight (four in very small plots) RVI measure-ments in each plot. Note that the greening measured accounts for the entire plantcommunity, in which the taxon denoted may only make up a minor part.

NDVI in bird and mammal study plotsHans Meltofte and Mikkel Tamstorf

Satellite images from late July 1999 and2000 have now been analysed for Nor-malised Difference Vegetation Indexes(NDVI) by the National Environmental Re-search Institute, Department of Arctic En-vironment, after an agreement with Green-land Field Investigations (Asiaq). The ana-lyses are funded by Dancea, the Environ-mental Protection Agency, Ministry of En-vironment and Energy, Denmark.

Our study area in Zackenbergdalen hasbeen divided into 12 sections covering thebird and musk ox monitoring areas. Num-bers 1-5 cover the bird monitoring areafrom south-west to north-east, while theremaining numbers cover the musk oxmonitoring areas west (nos 6-8) and east(nos 9-12) of the bird monitoring area, re-spectively. Sections 1, 2 and 9 are below 50m a.s.l. Sections 3, 6 and 10 are between 50and 150 m a.s.l., sections 4, 7 and 11 are be-tween 150 and 300 m a.s.l., and sections 5,8 and 12 are between 300 and 600 m a.s.l.Besides these sections, the lemming moni-

toring area, situated within section 2, hasbeen analysed separately.

In accordance with the plot measure-ments (see section above), the ‘greening’ ofthe vegetation in the 13 sections of themonitoring area was significantly more in-tense in the favourable season of 2000 thanin the very late season of 1999 (Tables 4.7,4.8 and 4.9). The difference holds good forall sections of the study area. Compared to1998, the values for 2000 are somewhatlower, but this may at least partly be at-tributed to the earlier date of the satelliteimage from 2000. At a later stage, all val-ues will be extrapolated to a fixed date.

Summertime carbon budget for theZackenberg heathHenrik Søgaard, Claus Nordstrøm, MortenRasch and Charlotte Sigsgaard

In 1996, continuous measurements of car-bon dioxide exchange were initiated atZackenberg as part of a European researchproject run by the Institute of Geography,University of Copenhagen (see Meltofte


Section Min. Max. Mean S.D.

1 0.00 0.89 0.29 0.20

2 0.00 0.78 0.40 0.18

3 0.00 0.96 0.40 0.19

4 0.00 0.88 0.30 0.18

5 0.00 0.66 0.21 0.16

6 0.00 0.74 0.32 0.18

7 0.00 0.84 0.31 0.19

8 0.00 0.82 0.24 0.20

9 0.00 0.75 0.38 0.19

10 0.00 0.84 0.39 0.17

11 0.00 0.94 0.25 0.22

12 0.00 0.83 0.27 0.24

Lemming 0.00 0.78 0.39 0.16

Total area 0.00 0.82 0.32 0.19

�� Section Min. Max. Mean S.D.

1 0.00 0.78 0.39 0.17

2 0.00 0.86 0.46 0.15

3 0.00 0.79 0.49 0.13

4 0.00 0.78 0.41 0.13

5 0.00 0.97 0.35 0.18

6 0.00 0.77 0.42 0.15

7 0.00 0.73 0.41 0.14

8 0.00 0.96 0.33 0.20

9 0.00 0.78 0.48 0.14

10 0.00 0.82 0.50 0.11

11 0.00 0.84 0.39 0.18

12 0.00 0.98 0.30 0.24

Lemming 0.00 0.79 0.45 0.13

Total area 0.00 0.83 0.41 0.16

��

Table 4.7. NDVI values for 12 sections of the birdand musk ox monitoring areas in Zackenbergdalentogether with the lemming monitoring area (part ofsection 2) based on a Landsat TM satellite imagefrom 29 July 1999. The image has been georectifiedand corrected for atmospheric humidity, aerosols,solar angle and terrain effects. All negative NDVI-values have been changed to 0, so that water andsnow covered areas are given similar values fromyear to year.

Table 4.8. NDVI values for 12 sections of the birdand musk ox monitoring areas in Zackenbergdalentogether with the lemming monitoring area (part ofsection 2) based on a Landsat TM satellite imagefrom 23 July 2000. The image has been georectifiedand corrected for atmospheric humidity, solar angleand terrain effects. All negative NDVI-values havebeen changed to 0, so that water and snow coveredareas are given similar values from year to year.

and Thing 1997). Since then, measure-ments have been conducted each year aspart of this research project. From year2000, the measurements were integratedinto the biological monitoring program,BioBasis, by installing and operating aneddy correlation systems at a heath site lo-cated about 100 m north of the climate sta-tion. This monitoring was established as acooperation between the National Envi-ronmental Research Institute and the Insti-tute of Geography. During the field sea-son, the equipment is serviced by GeoBa-sis personnel.

The eddy correlation system wasmounted in the beginning of June. Thedata collection started by 6 June, and itcontinued until 25 August with only fewinterruptions.

Methodology

At the heath site, the vertical fluxes of wa-ter vapour and carbon dioxide are mea-sured by use of the eddy correlation tech-nique. The instrumentation consisted of athree-dimensional (3-D) sonic anemometer(Solent 1012R2, Gill Instruments, Lyming-ton, UK) for measuring wind speed andan Infrared Gas Analyzer (IRGA) (Li-6262,LI-COR, Nebraska, USA) for measuringwater vapour and carbon dioxide concen-trations.

The sonic anemometer and the sam-pling tube inlet of the IRGA are situated 3m above ground level. Most of the flux(90%) originates from an area approxi-mately 200 m by 40 m (8000 m2) on thewindward side of the mast, which duringdaytime is mostly SE-S. Data collectingand processing is based on the EdiSol soft-ware package (Moncrieff et al. 1997). As asupplement to the atmospheric fluxes, anumber of micro-meteorological parame-ters are measured simultaneously. Thesedata include air temperature and air hu-midity (MP100A, Rotronic, Campbell sci-entific, LTD, UK), soil temperature (ther-mocouple), IR surface/canopy tempera-ture (KT-17, Heimann, Germany) and soilmoisture (Delta-T Cambridge, UK).

Results

Fig. 4.1 shows the temporal variation inthe daily net exchange of carbon dioxidealso called the Net Ecosystem Exchange(NEE). Here, the daily values are ex-pressed as g C per square meter per day.Basically, the net carbon budget consists oftwo main components, i.e. the CO2 uptakecaused by photosynthesis and the CO2

emission from the soil mostly due to mi-crobial activity in the upper 5 cm. The lastterm is also denoted the soil respiration.Besides weather conditions, the carbon as-similation depends on the amount andtype of vegetation. Around the mast, thedominant species are Cassiope tetragona,Dryas sp. and Vaccinium uliginosum. Theleaf area index is relatively low (0.2-0.3).Soil respiration is controlled by theamount of organic matter in the topsoiland increases exponentially with the soiltemperature.

Examining the graph makes it possibleto identify three different periods:

1. The end of the winter with tempera-tures below the freezing point and dailybudgets mostly above zero, i.e. the heathfunctioned as CO2 source, where the pho-tosynthesis was small compared to thesoil respiration. Large fractions of the areaprogressively became snow-free, and thesnow cover had disappeared by 20 June.By comparison with the temperature plotit is found that there is a strong correla-tion between air temperature and CO2

emission rates. This period lasted until 24June.


1998 1999 2000

Section 30.7 29.7 23.7

1 0.43 0.29 0.39

2 0.50 0.40 0.46

3 0.52 0.40 0.49

4 0.43 0.30 0.41

5 0.37 0.21 0.35

6 0.45 0.32 0.42

7 0.44 0.31 0.41

8 0.41 0.24 0.33

9 0.51 0.38 0.48

10 0.52 0.39 0.50

11 0.42 0.25 0.39

12 0.44 0.27 0.30

Lemming 0.49 0.39 0.45

Total area 0.46 0.32 0.41

��

Table 4.9. Mean NDVIvalues for 12 sections ofthe bird and musk oxmonitoring areas inZackenbergdalen to-gether with the lemmingmonitoring area (part ofsection 2) based onLandsat TM satelliteimages 1998-2000.Values from 1998 havebeen reanalysed usingthe same procedure asfor 1999 and 2000 (seeTables 4.7 and 4.8).When comparing values,it should be noted thatthe data have not beencorrected for differencesin growth phenology be-tween years.

2. The summertime period was charac-terised by a net C accumulation. The peri-od lasted until 11 August. During the peakgrowing season, daily accumulation rateswere around 0.9 g C/m2, only interruptedby a couple of occasions with bad weather,where the net exchange could even reverseand the ecosystem function as a C source.For dwarf shrub vegetation it has previ-ously been reported that there is a veryrapid transition from winter to summerconditions. Comparing the course of theair temperature and the course of the CO2

exchange, it seems that the onset of the CO2

accumulation was triggered by a warm pe-riod during 30 June-4 July having air tem-peratures above 5°C for several days.

3. The third and last period was charac-terised by C loss. The transition from sum-mer to autumn in terms of C sink/sourcetook place around 11 August. Even thoughphotosynthesis continued until September,the magnitude of the carbon accumulationwas clearly below the carbon loss due tosoil and leaf respiration.

The general trends in the seasonal varia-tion are summarised in Table 4.10. Thecorresponding figures for 1997 (Soegaardet al. 2000) are also given. When comparedto 1997 values it is seen that the growingseason of 2000 started earlier and reacheda higher peak level resulting in a double ashigh C accumulation during the growingseason.

From a technical viewpoint, this firstyear of flux measurements within theBioBasis programme has been a success.More than 1900 hours of consistent fluxmeasurements were collected and lessthan 4% were lost due to malfunction,maintenance and calibration procedures.To get the full benefit of these data, a moreintensive analysis should be done includ-ing comparisons with previous years andCO2 exchange modelling.

The ZERO-lineChristian Bay

The ZERO-line, marking 128 vegetationzones from the shore of Young Sund to thepeak of Aucellabjerg, was established in1992 and 1994 (Fredskild and Mogensen


Fig. 4.1. Temporal varia-tion in daily carbon diox-ide exchange and meanair temperature on theCassiope heath north ofthe climate station in2000.

Year 1997 2000

Beginning of growing season 7 July 25 June

End of growing season 21 August 11 August

Length of growing season 46 days 47 days

Beginning of measuring season 7 June 6 June

End of measuring season 25 August 25 August

Length of measuring season 80 days 81 days

NEE for growing season (g C/m2) (-) 12.5 (-) 22.7

NEE for whole mesuring season (g C/m2) (-) 3.1 (-) 19.1

Avg peak daily accumulation (g C/m2/d) (-) 0.65 (-) 0.92

��

Table 4.10. Generalcharacteristics of theCO2 exchange on theCassiope heath north ofthe climate station in1997 and 2000, respec-tively.

1997). At the same time, all vascular plantspecies were recorded in the differentplant communities, and their frequencieswere given according to the Böcher-modi-fied Raunkiær method (Böcher 1935).However, the exact position of each ofthese Raunkiær-circles was not establishedduring this initial analysis. The border be-tween each zone was marked with a num-bered plate on a peg.

This year, 1280 Raunkiær circle centreswere established with aluminium tubes,and vegetation analyses were carried outat each of them by Christian Bay assistedby Henrik Gammelager during 27 July-14August. The width of the zones variesfrom a few meters to several hundred me-ters and the permanent plots in each zonewere established as follows: Five plotswere established on the line at the begin-ning of each zone and another five plots atthe end of each zone, with intervals of twometers between them. In case the zonewas only few meters wide, as many aspossible of the plots were established onthe line with a distance of two meter andthe rest were placed in the plant commu-nities on a line perpendicular to theZERO-line starting on the western sideclosest to the line.

Species and their frequencies wererecorded, and it was also recorded if thespecies were reproductive (presence ofbuds, flowers or fruits) within the 1/10 m2

circle. Photos were taken of all the perma-nent pegs (viz. vegetation borders) fromthe eastern side of the line. Reanalysing ofthe plots is planned to take place everyfive years in order to identify major vege-tational changes.

Of the 152 species of vascular plantsfound in Zackenbergdalen, 96 specieswere recorded within the 1280 plots alongthe ZERO-line. The species diversity var-ied from a total of four species in the 10plots in a salt marsh closest to the shoreand up to 30 species in 10 plots (1 m2) in

the most diverse plant community, i.e. wetgrassland. As a significant response to anincreased summer temperature will be re-flected in the altitudinal distribution ofplants, Table 4.11 gives the maximum alti-tude (m a.s.l.) for the dwarf shrub species.

Since the previous records from 1992and 1994 were not made on the samespots, no attempt to compare the resultshas been made at this stage.

Northernmost range species

The Zackenberg area is on the northerndistribution limit of several low arctic vas-cular plant species (Bay 1992). Speciesgrowing close to their known northerndistribution are vulnerable to environmen-tal changes, primarily summer tempera-ture, water availability and snow cover.

Five species, two dicots and threemonocots, at their northern distributionlimit or close to it were found and perma-nent plots were established by ChristianBay. The number of buds, flowers andfruits were assessed. Focus was on Cam-panula gieseckiana, Salix herbacea, Carexlachenalii, C. glareosa and C. norvegica. A to-tal of 24 plots were established.

LichensEric Steen Hansen

The fourteen plots established in 1994 byMichael Andersen and Eric Steen Hansen(Hansen 1995a) were inspected by EricSteen Hansen from 28 July to 2 August.Two new rock-plots measuring 0.20 x 0.20m were established in the area west ofZackenbergelven; one of them (P16) re-places P9 on a S-facing scree on Zacken-berg, the other (P15) is located on a gneis-sic boulder just north of the old trappingstation. In addition, three new plots (P17,P18 and P19) were established in epigaeiclichen vegetation in the lowland south-east of the research station. They weremarked with aluminium pegs and mea-sure 1 m2 like the other permanent plotsmade in epigaeic vegetation. Three plotswere made with the particular purpose ofmonitoring damages on Cladonia mitis andC. amaurocraea caused by increased UV-Bradiation.

Twenty-five permanent stations were es-tablished along the ZERO-line from YoungSund to the top of Aucellabjerg, 1040 ma.s.l. during 3-8 August. Each station con-sists of ten Raunkjær-plots marked by alu-


Species Max. altitude

Betula nana 47

Rhododendron lapponicum 74

Cassiope tetragona 267

Vaccinium uliginosum 278

Dryas sp. 580

Salix arctica 600

��Table 4.11. Maximumgrowing altitude (ma.s.l.) recorded for dwarfshrub species along theZERO-line.


Plot 1 1994 2000

D D

Xanthoria elegans * *

Xanthoria sorediata * *

Umbilicaria virginis * *

Umbilicaria lyngei * *

Neuropogon sphacelata * *

Physconia muscigena * *

Pseudephebe minuscula * *

Sporastatia testudinea * *

Rhizocarpon geographicum * *

Lecanora polytropa * *

Lecidea atrobrunnea * *

Rhizoplaca melanophthalma * *

Aspicilia * *

Rock * *

* means that the lichen is present in the plot. The degree of covering and the number of thalli

was not measured here. However, Xanthoria is the dominant lichen in P1.

Plot 2 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Umbilicaria lyngei 2 100 2 2 100 2

Pseudephebe minuscula + 1 1 2

Sporastatia testudinea 1

+ 1 1 2 4.5

Rhizoplaca melanophthalma + 1 1 2

Rock 5 5

1 Infested by Rhizocarpon pusillum

Plot 3 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Rhizocarpon geographicum 4 4 7

Sporastatia testudinea 3 3

Umbilicaria lyngei + 10 1 13 1.5

Pseudephebe minuscula + + 6 1.5

Rock 2 2

Plot 4 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Physcia caesia ++ ++

Umbilicaria decussata 13 40

Xanthoria borealis 12 22 5

Lecidea atrobrunnea 4 6 1

Candelariella vitellina 2 7 0.5

Sporastatia testudinea - 2 2

Acarospora - 1 1.5

Plot 5 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Dimelaena oreina 3 3

Umbilicaria lyngei 1 15 1 15 1.5

Sporastatia testudinea 1

1 10(6?) 1 6

Rhizoplaca melanophthalma 1 7 1 7 3


Rhizocarpon (gray thallus) 2

1 2 1 2

Pseudephebe minuscula + 1 1 7 2

Umbilicaria decussata + 2 2

Lecidea atrobrunnea + 2 1

Rock 5 5

1 Infested by Rhizocarpon pusillum . Thalli somewhat fragmented.

2 Infested by Caloplaca epithallina

��

��

��

��

��

. Thalli somewhat fragmented.

Table 4.12. Degree ofcovering (A), number ofthalli (B), maximum thal-lus diameter in mm (C)and presence of lichens(D) in plots in 1994 and2000. P1-P8 & P10:epilithic lichen commu-nities. P11-P14: epigaeiccommunities. The de-gree of covering was es-timated using the fol-lowing, modified scaleof Hult-Sernander:5=>1/2; 4=1/2-1/4;3=1/4-1/8; 2=1/8-1/16;1<1/16; +=just present,++=dominating.

→


Plot 6 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Umbilicaria virginis 29 31 1.5

Lecidea atrobrunnea 3.2

Plot 7 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Lecidea atrobrunnea 4 5 7

Umbilicaria decussata 2 12 2 20


Candelariella vitellina + 1

Rock 4 4

Plot 8 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Parmelia saxatilis 4 5

Umbilicaria decussata + -

Pseudephebe minuscula - +

Rock 4 4

Plot 10 1994 2000

A B C A B C

Umbilicaria lyngei 3 1.2 3 1.5

Sporastia testudinea 1

2 2

Rhizocarpon (yellow thallus) 1 1

Pseudephebe minuscula + 1

Rock 4 4

1 Infested by Rhizocarpon pusillum

��

��

��

��

Plot 11 1994 2000

A B A B

Cassiope 5 5

Salix arctica 1 1

Cetrariella delisei 1 7 1 5

Cetraria islandica 1 5 1 5

Stereocaulon alpinum 1 4 1 4

Peltigera malacea + 2 + 2

Flavocetraria nivalis + 1 + 2

Solorina crocea + 1 -

Cladonia pyxidata + +

Cladonia borealis + +

Ochrolechia frigida + -

Psoroma hypnorum + +

Moss 1 1

Peltigera rufescens - 1 4

Peltigera leucophlebia - + 1

Flavocetraria cucullata - + 1

��Plot 11

A B A B

Cassiope 5 5

Salix arctica 1 1

Cetrariella delisei 1 7 1 5



Peltigera malacea + 2 + 2


Solorina crocea + 1 -




Psoroma hypnorum + +

Moss 1 1

Peltigera rufescens - 1 4

Peltigera leucophlebia - + 1


��

Cassiope

Salix arctica

Cetrariella delisei

Cetraria islandica

Stereocaulon alpinum

Peltigera malacea

Flavocetraria nivalis

Solorina crocea

Cladonia pyxidata

Cladonia borealis

Ochrolechia frigida

Psoroma hypnorum

Moss

Peltigera rufescens

Peltigera leucophlebia

Flavocetraria cucullata

�� 2000

A B

5

1

1 5

1 5

1 4

+ 2

+ 2

-

+

+

-

+

1

1 4

+ 1

+ 1

��A B

5

1

1 5

1 5

1 4

+ 2

+ 2

-

+

+

-

+

1

1 4

+ 1

+ 1

��

→

minium tubes perpendicular to the ZERO-line with five plots on each side of the line.A yellow aluminium tube marks the inter-section point.

Records from plots that were surveyedboth in 1994 and 2000 are presented inTable 4.12.

Kirsten Caning and Gabrielle Stock-mann assisted the author during the vege-tation analyses along the ZERO-line. Thevertical distribution of lichens on Aucella-bjerg was investigated by Eric Steen Han-sen and Michael Andersen in 1994 (Han-sen 1996).

Epilithic lichens

P1, situated at the ZERO-line near the topof Aucellabjerg (Fredskild & Mogensen1997), was established with the purpose ofmonitoring changes in snow melt at thishigh level of the mountain. The plot,which measures 2 x 5.80 m, was pho-tographed, and the presence of lichenswas noted. Xanthoria, which grow in a de-pression in the plot, is dependent on anample water supply during part of thesummer and probably will die, if thebasaltic substratum is too dry in a numberof summer periods. No significantchanges in the lichen vegetation at thisplot were observed in the 2000 season.

Like P1, P6 is located on basalt near theZERO-line, but at a somewhat lower level.As expected, the number of thalli of Um-bilicaria virginis had slightly increasedsince 1994. The species probably growsrather slowly at this altitude (c. 600 ma.s.l.).

P2-P5 are situated on four gneissic boul-ders on a ridge just above Oksebakkerneand near the ZERO-line. New thalli ofPseudephebe minuscula, Sporastatia tes-tudinea and Rhizoplaca melanophthalmawere recorded in P2. The number of thalliof Umbilicaria lyngei in P2 had remainedunchanged since 1994, contrary to thoseoccurring in P3. Here an increase in thenumber of thalli of U. lyngei was recorded.A significant increase in number of thalliof Umbilicaria was found in P4. This alsoapplies to Xanthoria borealis, Candelariellavitellina and to some extent Lecidea atro-brunnea. These three lichens are distinctlynitrophilous and probably have beenfavoured by nutrients from musk ox dung.No guano was observed on the blocks, butthis source of nitrogen probably has influ-enced the epilithic lichen communities,


Plot 12 1994 2000

A B A B

Dryas 4 4

Carex rupestris 3 3

Hierochloë alpina + +

Salix arctica + +

Potentilla hyparctica + +

Stellaria longipes + +

Cerastium arcticum - +

Flavocetraria nivalis 1 25 1 30



Peltigera rufescens 1 10 1 <5

Candelariella placodizans 1 10 + 5

Ochrolechia frigida 1 1

Cetraria muricata + 10 + 4

Cladonia borealis + 5 + <5

Cladonia pyxidata + + 5

Baeomyces + +

Arthrorhaphis alpina - + 5

Candelariella terrigena - + 2

Peltigera didactyla - +

Psoroma hypnorum - +

Plot 13 1994 2000

A B A B

Kobresia myosuroides 5 5

Carex bigelowii + +

Luzula + +

Polygonum viviparum + +

Dryas + +

Cladonia pocillum + 25 + 25

Physconia muscigena + +


Rinodina turfacea + +

��

��

Plot 14 1994 2000

A B A B

Dryas 4 5

Carex rupestris 3 3

Cladonia pocillum 1 1

Thamnolia subuliformis + 1 36


Hypogymnia subobscura + 4 + 3

Alectoria nigricans + 2 +

Bryoria chalybeiformis + 2 + 3

Ochrolechia upsaliensis + 2 +

Peltigera rufescens + 1 -

Rinodina venosa - + 2

Rinodina turfacea + 1 +

Baeomyces + 1 +

Catapyrenium cinereum + +


Lecanora epibryon + +

Phaeorrhiza nimbosa + -


Physconia muscigena + -

Solorina bispora + -


Cetraria muricata - +

Caloplaca cerina - +

Caloplaca tirolensis - +

Moss + 5 +

��

too. Sporastatia testudinea and Acarosporaare new species recorded in P4. In P5, thedominant crustaceous lichen, Dimelaena or-eina, had increased its size only to a smallextent. The most important change since1994 was the increase in the number ofthalli and size of Pseudephebe minuscula. Itis a black macrolichen with high heat ab-sorption capacity. New thalli of Umbilicariadecussata and Lecidea atrobrunnea had ap-peared in P5. Undoubtedly, musk oxenhave influenced the lichen vegetation inP2-P5 to a very considerable extent.

P7 is located on a gneissic boulder justwest of the old trapping station. A ratherbig increase in the size of Lecidea atrobrun-nea was recorded. It is probably due to in-fluence of guano from birds resting on theboulder. The number of thalli of Umbili-caria decussata had increased considerably.Apparently this species reproduces itselfquickly in the Zackenberg area. It is com-mon on rocks manured by birds in allparts of Greenland and is able to coverlarge areas on such rocks (Hansen 1995b).

The occurrence of Parmelia saxatilis on atwo metre high gneissic boulder west ofZackenbergelven is of great interest, as itrepresents the northern limit of distributionin East Greenland of this species. P8 was es-tablished in 1994 to monitor this lichen. Al-though growing on N-facing rock P. sax-atilis has increased its size considerably,and presumably it has overgrown Umbili-caria decussata on the rock. Pseudephebe mi-nuscula was noted as new in the plot.

P10 is situated at the northern end of Ul-vehøj. Only minor changes of the lichenswere observed. Umbilicaria lyngei andPseudephebe minuscula have increased theirsize, but no more than should be expected.

Epigaeic lichens

P11-P13 were established on Ulvehøj indifferent heath types dominated by Cas-siope, Dryas-Carex rupestris and Kobresiamyosuroides, respectively. As regards P11,three lichens, viz. Peltigera leucophlebia, P.rufescens and Flavocetraria cucullata haveappeared, and two lichens, viz. Ochrolechiafrigida and Solorina crocea, have disap-peared since 1994. Some thalli of Cetrarielladelisei probably also have been overgrownby Cassiope. In P12, five species, viz.Arthrorhaphis alpina, Candelariella terrigena,Peltigera didactyla, Psoroma hypnorum andCerastium, have colonised the soil since1994. In addition, the number of thalli of

Flavocetraria nivalis had increased, whileother lichens, for example, Cetraria murica-ta, showed a reduced number of thalli. To-tally, these changes indicate that the plothad been disturbed, either by wind or ani-mals passing through it. In P13, Cladoniaborealis had disappeared, while Rinodinaturfacea had appeared.

P14 is situated in lowland just south ofthe research station. Five lichens, viz. Ce-traria muricata, Flavocetraria cucullata,Peltigera venosa, Caloplaca cerina and C.tiroliensis, were new in the plot, while fiveother species, viz. Peltigera rufescens,Physconia muscigena, Solorina bispora,Ochrolechia frigida and Phaeorrhiza nimbosa,had disappeared since 1994. Probably, Ce-traria muricata, Flavocetraria cucullata andThamnolia subuliformis had been transport-ed to the plot by wind as thallus frag-ments or whole thalli. Caloplaca cerina andC. tiroliensis had colonised musk ox dung.

Conclusion

Apart from a number of lichens growingon rocks manured by musk oxen and/orbirds most lichens have followed the nor-mal pattern of growth and reproductionsince 1994. Climatic changes such as ele-vated temperatures and enhanced precipi-tation and UV-B radiation are expected toinfluence the lichens significantly. Thusthe metabolism (photosynthesis, respira-tion etc.) and growth of the lichens willchange and this is likely to result in lethalstress in some lichens. In the same way, aprolonged snow cover will damage manylichens.

4.2 Arthropods

Dorthe Prip Lahrmann

Two window traps and five pitfall trapstations with eight yellow traps each, wereoperated during the 2000 season. Station 7was used for the second year, while station6 was discontinued. Collecting procedureswere concurrent with preceding years, andthe first traps were opened on 4 June. Theminimal snow cover of this year (Table4.13) allowed for an early start of thearthropod traps. The two last pitfall trapscould be opened on 17 June. During thesummer, there was one incident of flood-ing of a pitfall trap (station 2 on 14 June),and three traps were destroyed, when a


group of musk oxen walked over them(station 7 on 17 June). Dorthe P. Lahrmanndid all sampling and sorting, and all col-lected specimens are kept at the ZoologicalMuseum, University of Copenhagen. Likeearlier years, Ceratopogonidae was notseparated from Chironomidae, and An-thomyiidae not from Muscidae in 2000,due to difficulties in determination.

Window traps

The two window traps in Gadekæret wereopened on 4 June and remained open until26 August. There was no disturbance ofthe traps by musk oxen during this season.Catches from the two traps were pooled,and the results are presented in Table 4.14.

This year saw the highest number ofarthropods caught so far. Chironomidae,Cecidomyiidae and Muscidae all werecaught in unprecedented high numbers.Mycetophiliidae and Culicidae are the

only two groups caught in relatively lownumbers in 2000. No new additions to thelist were made this year, but it can be not-ed that six flies of the Tachinidae familywere caught. This family showed up in thewindow traps for the first time with a sin-gle specimen in 1999. Phoridae, which wasalso trapped in 1999 for the first time, was


DATE 10.6 17.6 24.6 1.7 8.7 14.7 22.7 29.7 5.8 12.8 19.8 26.8 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

No. of trap days 12 14 14 14 14 12 16 14 14 14 14 14 166 153 174 184 182

COLLEMBOLA 2 4 9 11 17 7 2 1 40 3 5 1 102 61 5 15 65

COLEOPTERA

Latridius minutus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

HEMIPTERA

Nysius groenlandicus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4

Coccoidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 14

THYSANOPTERA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8

LEPIDOPTERA

Colias hecla 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1

Clossiana sp. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 6

Noctuidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2

Geometridae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3

DIPTERA

Nematocera larvae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Tipulidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Trichoceridae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Culicidae 0 0 3 7 22 4 19 46 5 4 1 0 111 322 138 142 98

Ceratopogonidae * 1799 * * *

Chironomidae 23 1208 3959 847 851 85 465 529 289 107 103 56 8522 5787 3743 7725 6477

Cecidomyiidae 0 0 0 1 7 0 8 8 1 5 2 0 32 6 0 0 1

Mycetophiliidae 0 0 0 1 2 4 2 6 4 1 1 1 22 16 624 240 64

Sciaridae 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 171 * * *

Empididae 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 10 9 9 1 77

Phoridae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0

Syrphidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 5 1 8 16 4

Agromyzidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0

Anthomyiidae * 3 26 11 *

Calliphoridae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 4 5 7 6 2

Heleomyzidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0

Muscidae 4 3 75 288 412 136 203 244 21 47 14 8 1455 754 745 809 1355

Scatophagidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 10 0 30 11

Tachinidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 1 6 1 0 0 0

HYMENOPTERA

Braconidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Ichneumonidae 0 0 0 0 9 14 6 15 1 1 2 48 24 18 44 43

Chalcidoidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0

Bombus sp. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 6 5

ACARINA 3 14 16 16 76 6 17 12 18 49 14 5 246 191 826 189 299

ARANEA

Linyphiidae 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 3 0 2 1 1 10 6 1 1 8

Lycosidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0

UNIDENTIFIED 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 33 1229 4065 1173 1400 256 727 877 383 224 145 76 10588 9177 6155 9248 8547

��

Table 4.14. Weekly totals of athropods caught at the window trap station in 2000. The station holds two window traps situated perpen-dicular to each other. Each window measures 20 x 20 cm. Values from each date represents catches from the previous week. Totals from1996-1999 are given for comparison. An asterisk marks that the group was not separated from a related group in that year.

Station no.

1

2

3

4

5

7

*0% snow

��

*0% snow

**7% snow

1996

3.6

<3.6*

14.6

14.6

4.6

-

�� 1997

30.5

28.5

19.6

22.6

<29.5*

-

�� 1998

6.6

29.5

18.6

26.6

1.6

-

�� 1999

15.6

8.6

27.6

2.7

12.6

<3.6**

�� 2000

1.6

<4.6*

9.6

7.6

<4.6*

<4.6*

��

Table 4.13. Date of 50%snow cover (ice cover onpond at Station 1) in thearthopod plots 1996-2000.

DATE

again present in the traps, while the beetleLatridius minutus did not have a secondshowing after last years first occurrence.

Pitfall traps

With 3155 trap days, 2000 had the highestnumber of trap days so far. Maybe partlyas a result of this, 2000 was also the yearwith the highest number of specimenstrapped until now. Weekly totals are pre-sented in Table 4.15. At several instances,traps were contaminated with a fungus. Itwas growing in the water as well as ontrapped specimens. There seems to besome connection between this fungus and

the capture of Bombus, and quite possiblethe fungi arrived in the traps carried byBombus.

The decline in numbers of Lepidopteraover the previous years was halted some-what in 2000. The highest numbers of thebutterflies arctic clouded yellow Coliashecla and fritillary Clossiana sp. since 1996were caught, together with four individu-als of Lycaenidae. Lycaenidae was foundin the samples for the first time with a sin-gle individual in 1999. However, only 19lepidoptera larvae were found this year,an all time low. It is therefore possible thatthe higher number of Lepidoptera in thetraps is not a sign of actual increase in


DATE 10.6 17.6 24.6 1.7 8.7 14.7 22.7 29.7 5.8 12.8 19.8 26.8 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996

No. of active stations 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

No. of trap days 114 241 280 280 280 240 320 280 280 280 280 280 3155 2706 2702 2797 (1512)

COLLEMBOLA 335 1713 2048 1858 1766 1220 5655 1791 3871 708 499 262 21726 23443 8957 10830 4636

HETEROPTERA

Nysius groenlandicus 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 40

Aphidoidea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 11 185 10 6

Coccoidea 1 5 26 34 238 86 67 151 76 42 35 20 781 431 3 548 254

THYSANOPTERA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2

LEPIDOPTERA

Lepidoptera larvae 1 0 0 4 1 1 1 6 0 2 2 0 18 21 106 168 354

Colias hecla 0 0 0 1 15 4 13 34 6 4 0 0 77 42 12 19 88

Clossiana sp. 0 0 0 2 18 10 40 211 25 23 0 0 329 82 56 180 1052

Lycaenidae 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 0

Plebeius franklinii 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2

Noctuidae 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 6 2 45 68

DIPTERA

Nematocera larvae 0 6 230 22 3 1 11 2 3 1 0 0 279 105 58 39 52

Tipulidae larvae 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 4 1 0 0 0

Tipulidae 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 1 4 14

Trichoceridae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0

Culicidae 0 0 3 1 2 6 18 31 0 0 0 0 61 83 22 16 2

Chironomidae 13 256 569 1189 927 117 276 237 35 26 13 8 3666 8542 2402 3337 3292

Ceratopogonidae 0 68 * * *

Cecidomyiidae 0 0 0 0 4 2 2 7 3 6 0 0 24 0 1 0 0

Mycetophiliidae 0 1 1 190 264 72 117 147 9 13 2 4 820 205 1764 1194 526

Sciaridae 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 796 * * *

Brachycera larvae 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0

Empididae 0 0 1 4 1 0 3 2 0 3 0 0 14 21 10 6 8

Phoridae 0 0 0 0 8 51 624 446 120 43 20 4 1316 435 344 214 118

Syrphidae 0 1 3 2 2 1 11 16 1 4 1 1 43 50 28 81 72

Cyclorrhapha larvae 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 7 19 75 16

Agromyzidae 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0

Anthomyiidae * 88 416 573 *

Calliphoridae 3 2 0 0 2 0 5 32 5 66 41 62 218 26 49 48 48

Fannidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Heleomyzidae 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 0

Muscidae 37 33 800 1997 2028 596 2796 3594 188 487 132 117 12805 10005 5463 6217 8114

Scatophagidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 41 0 385 26

Tachinidae 0 0 0 0 3 3 6 16 4 5 0 0 37 37 0 19 0

HYMENOPTERA

Hymenoptera larvae 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 0

Ichneumonidae 0 0 5 32 224 60 91 98 40 53 42 65 710 386 297 567 954

Braconidae 0 1 1 0 4 0 1 3 0 1 3 1 15 10 105 59 44

Ceraphronoidea 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 3 1 3 2 2 15 5 0 0 0

Chalcidoidea 0 0 1 1 4 0 3 5 0 2 2 3 21 9 2 123 48

Cynipoidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Scelionidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 101 0 0 0

Bombus sp. 0 4 1 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 10 2 6 12 2

ACARINA 136 311 756 1100 2097 1504 1255 3620 1505 1508 880 584 15256 8263 6304 19781 8182

ARANEA

Dictynidae 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 79 0 53 0

Linyphiidae 432 366 326 117 162 94 89 325 270 419 408 515 3523 2243 1108 1644 1436

Lycosidae 48 214 334 290 367 36 139 734 309 412 176 195 3254 2118 2123 3806 4548

Lycosidae egg sac 0 0 4 7 42 2 5 8 3 1 9 20 101 160 160 138 82

Thomisidae 13 9 10 8 12 3 4 20 2 21 17 15 134 144 89 245 198

OSTRACODA 0 0 44 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 46 84 0 0 0

SIPHONAPTERA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0

NEMATODE 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0

UNIDENTIFIED 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 120

TOTAL 1020 2926 5173 6861 8200 3874 11243 11545 6478 3854 2289 1881 65344 58174 30095 50446 34404

��

Table 4.15. Weekly to-tals of arthropodscaught at the five pitfalltrap stations in 2000.Each station holds eightyellow pitfall traps mea-suring 10 cm in diame-ter. Values from eachdate represent catchesfrom the previous week.Totals from 1996-1999are given for compari-son. Data from 1996-1998 have been extrap-olated to fit the sam-pling design from 1999onwards (see Caningand Rasch 2000). Aster-isks mark groups thatwere not separated fromclosely related groups inthat year.

DATE

numbers, but an effect of the relativewarm and sunny weather of 2000, facilitat-ing a higher over all activity level of thebutterflies.

Chironomidae, which were found inrecord numbers in the window traps, didby far not reach the level from 1999 in thepitfall traps. It seems to appear that thecircumstances favourable to the Chirono-midae living around the pond with thewindow traps, did not have the same ef-fect on the species living in dryer habitats.Three groups of flies, Phoridae, Calliphori-dae and Muscidae, were all found in sur-prisingly high numbers this year. Fan-nidae, which were found in small num-bers in some previous years, did not showup in the samples, while the amount of Ta-chinidae is similar to last year. Severalsmall wasps of the super family Cer-aphronoidea were trapped, a group thatwas first found in 1999. All individuals be-longed to one single family. Also Chalci-doidea and Bombus were found, in bothcases the highest number since 1996.

Ostracoda were once again present atstation 2, as were a few Nematoda for thefirst time. Individuals from both groupsare most likely flushed into the traps bysurface water.

Two important factors were probably re-sponsible for the high numbers of insectsin the traps this year. Besides the warmand sunny weather during most of thesummer, the limited snow cover in the val-ley during the 1999-2000 winter resultedin an early start and a long season.

Very large differences are apparent be-tween the five pitfall trap stations. Station2 is in wet marsh dominated by mossesand Eriophorum. Stations 3 and 4 are inlevel mesic heathland, while stations 5 and7 are in dry and early exposed heathland.Some clear differences in catches from thestations are shown in Fig. 4.2.

Insect depredation on Dryas flowers andSalix arcticaLarvae of Sympistis zetterstedtii were notencountered in the Dryas study plots in2000, and no depredation was recordedduring the season (Table 4.16).

Woolly-bear Gynaephora groenlandicacaterpillars were not recorded inside theSalix arctica plots this year, but the birdcensus worker encountered 12 larvae dur-ing June and July (Table 4.17).

A number of larvae depredating Salixarctica seeds were collected this year. They

were previously thought to be of a lepi-doptera, but turned out to be of a sawflyTenthredinidae. They were again this yearfound in ripe female Salix pods (Table4.18).


Art 2 3 4 5 7Clossiana sp. 9 71 105 65 79Chironomidae 1937 365 622 360 382Phoridae 1 5 6 213 1091Muscidae 2437 2809 3108 1980 2471Lycosidae 136 1001 690 873 553

Clossiana sp.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2 3 4 5 7Station #

Individu

als

Chironomidae

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

2 3 4 5 7Station #

Individu

als

Phoridae

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2 3 4 5 7Station #

Individu

als

Lycosidae

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2 3 4 5 7Station #

Individu

als

Muscidae

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

2 3 4 5 7Station #

Individu

als

Fig. 4.2. The number ofspecimens of five keytaxa caught at each pit-fall trap station in 2000.

Bumblebees Bombus spp.The first bumblebees Bombus polaris/hy-perboreus were recorded already on 5June. During bird census work in June, atotal of 59 individuals were recorded byHans Meltofte and a further 34 in July (foreffort, see Table 4.19). In 1999, 35 wererecorded in July (Caning and Rasch 2000).

During the line transects in mid Julyonly one bumblebee was seen (see section4.4).

4.3 Birds

Hans Meltofte

Bird observations were recorded by myselfduring 3 June-3 August and by T. B. Bergduring 4 August-1 September. Valuable

observations were provided by severalother researchers and staff during the en-tire season.

During June, the main effort was to cen-sus the breeding birds in the 19 km2 cen-sus area in Zackenbergdalen, while in Julyemphasis was on breeding phenology, i.e.finding nests and young and recheckingthese. During late July and all of August,waders and other waterbirds were count-ed every third day in the recent and theold delta of Zackenbergelven.

For scientific names in this chapter, seesection on Other observations.

Breeding populations

The 18.8 km2 census area in Zackenberg-dalen was covered on almost daily tripsbetween mid June and early August (Table4.19). The very early snow clearance (seesections 3.4 and 4.1) meant that the initialtotal census of the potentially breedingpopulations was performed already dur-ing 11-18 June, and when most wadershad started egg laying or were already in-cubating (see next chapter). This initialmapping of territorial birds took 30 hours,and was largely made on foot.

Based on records made during the ini-tial census supplemented by records dur-ing the rest of the season (see Meltofte andBerg 2000), population estimates for fivesections of the census area are presented inTable 4.20. Most populations were withinthe range estimated for previous years, ex-cept for red knot that seems to have de-clined during 1996-2000, and dunlin thatmay have increased (Table 4.21). Theptarmigan population was the lowestrecorded so far, and common eider wasfound nesting for the first time (see sectionon Other observations pp. 35-39).

In spite of the reduced snow-cover early


Plot Date Pred. Date Pred. Date Pred. Date Pred. Date Pred.

Dryas 1 17.7 2 24.6 6 15.7 3 0 0

Dryas 2 0 05.8 5 0 0 0

Dryas 3 01.7 11 24.6 18 08.7 3 0 0

Dryas 4 24.6 17 15.7 1 15.7 7 0 0

Dryas 5 08.7 2 08.7 8 15.7 2 0 0

Dryas 6 0 0 0 0 0

Dryas 7 - - 0 21.8 26 0

Dryas 8 - - 0 21.8 27 0

1999 20001996 1997 1998��

Table 4.16. Peak ratio(per cent) of Dryas flow-ers predated by larvae ofSympistis zetterstedtii inDryas plots in 1996-2000.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

June 1 2 7 7 10

July 0 1 4 17 2

Total 1 3 11 24 12

��Table 4.17. Numbers ofwoolly-bear Gynaephoragroenlandica caterpillarsrecorded by one observ-er (Hans Meltofte) instudy area 1A (the birdmonitoring area) in Juneand July 1996-2000.

Plot no. 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Salix 1 + 0 0 43 2

Salix 2 3 0 0 6 0

Salix 3 9 0 0 3 5

Salix 4 0 0 0 1 7

��Table 4.18. Peak ratio(per cent) of female Salixarctica pods infested bysawfly larvae in 1996-2000.

West of river East of river Total

June 7; 23 16; 66 23; 89

July 11; 38 23; 68 34; 106

Total 18; 61 39; 134 57; 195

��Table 4.19. Number oftrips and hours (trips;hours) allocated to birdcensusing and breedingphenology samplingwest and east of Zack-enbergelven during Juneand July, respectively.

in the season also the distribution of thewaders (shorebirds) was very similar toother years. Hence, apparently suitableand snow-free habitats were often unin-habited. The fact that the waders show solittle annual variation in numbers and dis-tribution, could be an indication that theirpopulations are adjusted to average condi-tions in the area. Most of the species in-volved are highly site tenacious andmonogamous enabling such an adjust-ment. This involves that numbers of wad-er territories remain the same in an opti-

mal year like 2000, and that parts of thebirds refrain from breeding in un-favourable seasons like 1999, when thesnow cover cleared considerably later (seesection 4.3 in Caning and Rasch 2000).

Reproductive phenology in waders

In accordance with the limited extent ofsnow cover early in the season, the wadersbred as early as recorded in any previousyear and highly synchronously (Tables4.22 and 4.23). The bulk of first egg dates


1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Red-throated diver 1-2 2 3 2-3 2-3

Pink-footed goose 0 1 0-1 2 1

Common eider 0 0 0 0 1

King eider 2-3 2 1 2-3 2-4

Long-tailed duck 5-8 4-6 6-8 7-8 5-8

Rock ptarmigan 3 11-15 4-6 7-8 1-3

Great ringed plover 54-56 40-48 38-45 53-67 41-43

Red knot 33-43 35-44 27-32 25-33 24-27

Sanderling 51-63 55-70 62-70 60-67 58-66

Dunlin 69-82 75-91 75-94 75-89 98-103

Ruddy turnstone 42-52 49-58 56-63 43-48 48-50

Red-necked phalarope 0-1 0-2 1-2 1-2 1-2

Red phalarope 0 0 0-1 0 0

Long-tailed skua 25-29 22-25 21-24 19-24 21-28

Northern wheatear 0 0 1 0 0

Snow bunting 45-55 45-56 41-46 52-65 42-47

�� Table 4.21. Census re-sults from the 18.8 km2

census area in Zacken-bergdalen, 1996-2000.

West of river

< 50 m < 50 m 50-150 m 150-300 m 300-600 m

(3.39 km2) (7.52 km

2) (3.34 km

2) (2.49 km

2) (2.06 km

2)

Red-throated diver 0 2-3 0 0 0

Pink-footed goose 1 0 0 0 0

Common eider 0 1 0 0 0

King eider 0 2-4 0 0 0

Long-tailed duck 0-1 5-7 0 0 0

Rock ptarmigan 0 0-2 1 0 0

Great ringed plover 7-9 6 5 7 16

Red knot 1-2 9-10 10 3-4 1

Sanderling 14-15 20-26 2 16-17 6

Dunlin 26-27 52-54 17-19 2 1

Ruddy turnstone 3 24-26 15 6 0

Red-necked phalarope 0 1-2 0 0 0

Long-tailed skua 4 10-14 5-7 2-3 0

Snow bunting 16-17 4-6 10-11 10 2-3

East of river

��

Table 4.20. Estimatednumbers of pairs/territo-ries in three sectors ofthe 18.8 km2 censusarea in Zackenberg-dalen, 2000.

in dunlin and ruddy turnstone was as ear-ly as 9-12 June and 8-11 June, respectively,while laying in sanderling was more ex-tended. The latter could be a result of dou-ble brooding (see section on Other obser-vations p. 37).

As usual, a number of late clutches e.g.in dunlin (Table 4.22) must have been re-laid.

Breeding success in waders

After the significantly reduced averagewader clutch sizes recorded in the climati-cally late season of 1999 (see section 4.3 inCaning and Rasch 2000), four eggs wereagain present in the vast majority of nestsfound (Table 4.24).

Predation rates were within the rangerecorded in previous years (Table 4.25).Considering the fact that nests were foundat all stages of incubation, true predationrates were certainly higher – possibly dou-ble as high. Most predation is by arcticfoxes, and the number of foxes encoun-tered during bird census work was closeto average. The ‘normal’ predation rate isremarkable considering the fact that thelemming population was at an absolutelow, and that at least three fox dens in thevalley held pups (see section 4.4). Againan indication that the close correlation be-tween lemming numbers and tundra birdbreeding success found in northernmostSiberia is not prevalent in NortheastGreenland (see section 4.3 in Caning andRasch 2000).

No other cases of nest failure wererecorded this year, and only one infertileegg was left behind in each of two ruddyturnstone nests and in one dunlin nest.

However, what should have been agood breeding season for waders at Zack-enberg was interrupted by a fierce snow-storm during the night of 17-18 July, i.e. inthe middle of the chick-rearing period.The slopes of Aucellabjerg were almostcompletely covered in 5-30 cm of snowdown to an altitude of 50-100 m, and dur-ing a survey flight on 19 July, we saw thatthe northern parts of Wollaston Forlandwere largely covered with new snow. Dur-ing the following days, the weather wasstill rainy, windy and cold, so that eventhree days later, much snow remaineddown to 200-500 m a.s.l. More than 250adult waders appeared in the river deltasat the coast off Zackenbergdalen duringthe first days after the snow-storm (seesection on Other observations p. 37),which may be an indication that manybroods had been lost. In one nest in thelowland, two out of four hatching sander-ling chicks died during the snow-storm,but some young waders even high up onthe slopes must have survived, since a fewalarm calling adult great ringed ploverswere recorded at 400-500 m a.s.l. until ear-ly August. At least some families moveddown from the slopes, but generally few


1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Great ringed plover (4.00) (4.00) (3.50) (4.00) (3.50) (4.00)

Red knot 130 (4.00) (4.00)

Sanderling (4.00) 4.00 3.86 4.00 3.67 4.00

Dunlin (4.00) (3.75) 3.90 3.70 3.93

Ruddy turnstone 3.71 3.79 3.81 3.58 3.75

��

Table 4.24. Mean clutch sizes in waders at Zackenberg 1995-2000. Samples ofless than five clutches are given in brackets.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Great ringed plover (100) (0-25) 0 (25) (0-25)

Red knot (0-100) (50)

Sanderling 17 0-40 0-11 21-29 17-33

Dunlin (0) 0 11-33 0-33 13

Ruddy turnstone 0-29 0-8 27-47 18-55 33-38

Red-necked phalarope (100)

All species pooled 13-27 0-17 14-34 20-39 22-28

N 15 24 35 41 46

Foxes encountered 3 1 6 6 5

��

Table 4.25. Predation rate in wader nests at Zackenberg 1996-2000 expressed asminimum and maximum per cent nests predated of those found with eggsthroughout the nesting period. Partially predated nests are given as successful, ifat least one young hatched, and so are nests eventually controlled with starredor pipped eggs found empty and without indications of predation later on. Nestfailures for other reasons are omitted. Samples of less than five nests are given inbrackets. Also given are numbers of encountered foxes during bird monitoring(by one field worker) in June-July.

Median date Range N

Great ringed plover 14.5 June 9-17 June 4

Red knot 9 June - 1

Sanderling 16 June 11-25 June 13

Dunlin 11.5 June 9 June - 4 July 24

Ruddy turnstone 11 June 8-27 June 23

��

Table 4.22. Median first egg dates for waders at Zackenberg 2000 as estimatedfrom incomplete clutches, egg floating, hatching dates and weights of pulli.

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Great ringed plover (15 June)

Sanderling (16 June) 18 June 18 June 23.5 June 16 June

Dunlin (18 June) 11.5 June 13 June 16.5 June 22 June 11.5 June

Ruddy turnstone (12 June) 18.5 June 13 June 12.5 June 24 June 11 June

��

Table 4.23. Median first egg dates for waders at Zackenberg 1995-2000. Databased on less than 10 nests/broods are in brackets, less than five are omitted.

alarm calling adults were recorded afterthe snowstorm. Numbers of alarm callingadults always decrease markedly in lateJuly, however.

In spite of this incident, close to averagenumbers of juvenile waders appeared inthe deltas during August (Table 4.26). Thismeans that the devastating effect of thesnow storm did not hit the entire regionfrom where these juvenile waders were re-cruited.

Reproductive phenology and successin long-tailed skuas

In accordance with the low number oflemmings (see section 4.4), few long-tailedskuas nested for the second year in succes-sion. Of the 21-28 pairs in the census area(Table 4.21), nests were recorded only infive (one of them just outside the border).First egg dates were between 15 June and21 June, which is as late as in 1999, whensnow melt generally was 2-3 weeks later(see section 4.3 in Caning and Rasch 2000).Three nests held two eggs, two nests onlyone egg. Three nests were predated, onewas deserted after 10 days of incubation,and the last was deserted just after hatch-ing of both young.

Breeding barnacle geese

On 27 June, the first barnacle goose pairwith three small goslings appeared in thedelta of Zackenbergelven. This means thategg laying must have started around 26May, or close to the date in other ‘normal’years. During the following 7-10 days,more families arrived, so that on 8 July atotal of eight pairs with goslings and oneadult pair without young were present atLomsø and in the fens east thereof. Onefurther pair with three goslings werefound along Zackenbergelven close toØsterport. The mean brood size of the

nine successful families was 3.22, or a bithigher than recorded in any of the previ-ous years (Table 4.27). A few more pairsappeared later, so that a total of 11 pairswith 34 goslings were recorded in the val-ley in late July besides three adult pairswithout young. No families were foundaround the peninsula to the east, whereseveral families gathered last year (see sec-tion 4.3 in Caning & Rasch 2000), but apair with 4-6 gosling was encountered atthe coast north of Daneborg on 16 July. Inupper Store Sødal, four families with a to-tal of 10 goslings were recorded on 23 July(see next chapter).

Flying juveniles were seen from 17 Au-gust, but still on 31 August a pair with oneunfledged gosling was encountered (seealso section on Other observations p. 36).

The lower number of families thatbrought their young to Zackenbergdalenin 2000 as compared to the last few years,may have been due to the very limitedsnow cover this year, and the consequent-ly early vegetation growth, enabling thegeese to utilise many other areas.

The brood size and juvenile percentageon the wintering grounds in Scotland alsoindicate a good breeding season (Table4.27).

Line transect

The results of the line transect counts inmid and late July through Store Sødal andbetween Daneborg and Zackenberg aregenerally in good accordance with the


1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Primo July (3.0) 3.07 (2.9) 1.92 (3.22)

Medio July (2.3) 2.71 2.31 1.82 (3.13)

Ultimo July (2.0) (3.0) 2.63 2.22 1.72 3.09

Primo August (2.3) (2.3) 2.35 1.75

No. of broods >7 6-7 19-21 >18 29 11

Britain 2.00 2.30 1.95 2.28 1.92 2.20

Per cent juv. 7.2 10.3 6.1 10.5 8.1 10.8

��

Table 4.27. Averagebrood sizes of barnaclegeese in Zacken-bergdalen during Julyand early August, 1995-2000, together with thetotal number of broodsbrought to the valley.Samples of less than 10broods are given inbrackets. Data from au-tumn on the Isle of Islayin Scotland are given forcomparison, includingper cent juveniles in thepopulation (M. Ogilvie inlitt.).

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Great ringed plover 96 126 249 42 44 142

Sanderling 304 726 149 333 445 366

Dunlin 325 360 323 232 509 273

Ruddy turnstone 80 108 82 109 23 73

Total 810 1342 803 722 1021 854

��

Table 4.26. Cumulativenumbers of juvenilewaders recorded at lowtide in the old and thepresent deltas of Zack-enbergelven duringcounts every third day inthe period 1-31 August,1995-2000. In case ofmissing counts etc., datahave been interpolated.

records from previous years (Tables 4.28and 4.29). Numbers of moulting immaturepink-footed geese in Store Sødal were stilllow (see section on Other observations p.35). The snow bunting seems to be on thedecrease in Store Sødal, while numbers ofgreat ringed plovers were higher than inprevious years.

The first two sections of the transectfrom Daneborg were not walked this year,

due to ice in the fjord preventing us fromreaching Daneborg. Figures presented inthe tables have been extrapolated for thesesections, based on figures from previousyears (see also section 4.4).

Sandøen

Only the high parts of Sandøen were freefrom snow, when we flew over the islandon 3 June, and still on 4 July it was sur-rounded by fast ice (see section 3.5).

When the island was visited by HansMeltofte on 29 July, very large numbers ofarctic terns and Sabine’s gulls were breed-ing – in spite of the late ice break up thisyear. In the order of 1000 arctic terns wereestimated to be present, and a total of 88Sabine’s gulls were counted from onepoint on the high part. The gulls were ei-ther incubating, tending young, display-ing or flying just over the ground, whilebirds higher up or around the island werenot included. This means that probablymore than 100 Sabine’s gulls were present.Most tern chicks were less than one weekold, but a few were older – maybe 10-14days. Two nests held one egg each. Fur-thermore, a common eider nest with fiveeggs was fund.

In 1999, about 2000 arctic terns and 300Sabine’s gulls were estimated to have beenpresent, as the highest numbers everrecorded (see section 4.3 in Caning andRasch 2000).


1997 1998 1999 2000

Red-throated diver 3 2 2

Pink-footed goose 263 123 27 56

Barnacle goose 182 250/23 227/23 261/14-16

Goose sp. 25

Common eider 390 119/5 55/6 10

Long-tailed duck 13 2

Rock ptarmigan 2 1

Great ringed plover 71 70 (78) (105/4)

Red knot 1 3

Sanderling 14/1 10 33 11/6

Dunlin 64/1 62/1 (56) 47

Ruddy turnstone 6 8 8 6

Long-tailed skua 13 9 14 4

Glaucous gull 11 11/2 8 (7)

Arctic tern 3 9 1 3

Common raven 10 9 2 (5)

Snow bunting 104 64/2 (54) (30/6)

��

Table 4.29. Total num-bers of birds recorded(adults/young) duringline transect surveysthrough Store Sødal andfrom Daneborg to Zack-enberg, July 1997-2000.Brackets denote interpo-lated figures (see thetext).

Store Sødal Daneborg

22-24 July 16 July

Red-throated diver 2

Pink-footed goose 56

Barnacle goose 259/10 2/4-6

Common eider 10

Great ringed plover 93 (12/4)

Red knot 3

Sanderling 4/2 7/4

Dunlin 39 8

Ruddy turnstone 1 5

Long-tailed skua 4

Glaucous gull 6 (1)

Arctic tern 3

Common raven 2 (3)

Snow bunting 25/6 (5)

��

Table 4.28. Birds record-ed (adults/young) duringline transect surveysthrough Store Sødal andfrom Daneborg to Zack-enberg (see map inMeltofte and Thing1997) in July 2000. Datafor the Daneborg tran-sect given in bracketshave been extrapolatedto cover the missing firstsection (see the text).

Other observations

This section deals with bird observationsnot reported in the previous chapters.When nothing else is stated, observationsrefer to the census area in Zacken-bergdalen.

Red-throated diver Gavia stellataOn 6 June, the first three red-throateddivers circled calling over the valley, and apair landed in Sydkærene the same evening.One more pair appeared on the next day,whereupon both pairs were seen regularlyin the area during the rest of the summer.

These and other birds were feeding inthe deltas of Zackenbergelven alreadyfrom the appearance of the first open wa-ter on 8 June. In June, no more than twobirds were present here, in July up to four,and in August up to nine.

On 18 June, a bird was sitting on a nestin Sydkærene. By 21 July, a chick hadhatched, and it remained on the pond un-til it flew out to the fjord off the deltas be-tween 27 and 30 August.

A bird was incubating on the northernshore of Lomsø on 21 June, but it mayhave started some days earlier. The nestwas predated by 1 July, whereupon thepair was building on a new nest a weeklater. A bird was incubating here from 11July until at least 11 August. On 15 Au-gust, a chick was seen, whereupon it wasrecorded regularly until we left at the endof the month. Occasionally, up to fouradults were seen on the lake.

A third pair was sitting on Ryledamme-ne on 26 July, but there was no further ac-tivity here.

Outside the census area, a pair nested atVesterport Sø. They had two eggs in lateJuly, but there was no young in mid Au-gust, so most likely, the nest was predated.Pairs were also seen on Gåsesø and Linde-mannssø, but no indication of breedingwas recorded. So, most likely a total of fivepairs were present in Zackenbergdalenthis year, which is the normal figure.

Three pairs were encountered in upperStore Sødal in late July; one of them closeto Tyrolerfjord.

Great northern diver Gavia immerA pair with one chick was sitting on asmall lake east of the large lake in west-ernmost upper Store Sødal on 30 July. Apair was present on the same lake in July1998 (Rasch 1999), but this is the first proofof breeding in our study area.

Whooper swan Cygnus cygnusFour individuals landed on open water inthe old delta of Zackenbergelven on 7June. This is one of the northernmost ob-servations of the species in East Greenland(Boertmann 1994).

Pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchusPink-footed geese were probably presentin the study area already before our ar-rival. Five were seen on 4 June, and on 7June, a gander was giving alarm calls inthe westernmost part of the census area,where a pair also nested in 1997 and prob-ably even in 1999. The nest was found on11 June, and it hatched between 29 Juneand 2 July. Most likely, the same pair wasseen with three goslings on the coast on 21July.

Mainly single individuals were recordeduntil the moult migration of immaturesfrom Iceland began on 16 June, when aflock of 40 circled over the valley. A totalof 726 pink-footed geese migrated northup until 1 July, and an accumulated totalof about 325 rambled over the valley orwere staging during the same period. Afurther 10 migrated north on 6 July. Smallflocks of flying birds were recorded in thestudy area until 12 July, but only 35 flight-less individuals were found at the penin-sula in late July. This may have been theresult of human disturbance in the areajust prior to the count (see section 6).

Also numbers in Store Sødal were low.Only 56 were found in the upper part ofthe valley during the line transect on 23July (Table 4.28).

In late August, flocks of up to 180 werestaging in Zackenbergdalen, and a flock of100 migrated south on 25 August.

Snow goose Anser caerulescensTwo snow geese – one blue and one white– moulted together with the immaturebarnacle geese at Lomsø. They were seenfor the first time on 29 June, and our lastrecord was on 2 August. On 28 July, theblue bird could fly again, but not thewhite.

They were only slightly larger than thebarnacle geese, and hence they may havebeen of the lesser subspecies A.c.caerulescens, of which many free flying(introduced) birds occur in Britain, wherethe barnacle geese winter. The snow gooseis a rare but annual visitor to NortheastGreenland (Boertmann 1994).


Barnacle goose Branta leucopsisIn early and mid June, flocks of up to 47barnacle geese were recorded in Zacken-bergdalen. In late June, they began togather at the moulting site at Lomsø,where a maximum of 111 was counted on30 June. During most of July, 80-90 moult-ing immatures stayed at Lomsø and 27 atZackenbergelven/Morænebakkerne. Inlate July, when most of the geese had re-gained flying capacity, up to 162 wererecorded in Kystkærene and around thepeninsula to the east.

During the line transect through StoreSødal, a total of 150 immatures wererecorded at Store Sø and 78 in the upperpart of the valley. Hence a grand total ofabout 410 immature barnacle geese moult-ed in the greater study area this year,which is a little more than the previousrecord of last year (Caning and Rasch2000). The increase in numbers of moult-ing immature barnacle geese especially atLomsø may be related to the high num-bers of families bringing their goslings tothis site during recent years. This again,may be related to our expelling of moult-ing pink-footed geese from the area.

In August, up to 300 barnacle geesewere regularly feeding in Rylekærene.

Common eider Somateria mollissimaTwo females appeared in the delta ofZackenbergelven on 11 June, whereuponnone were seen until up to two pairs morepermanently were present from 26 June.On 18 July, a nest was found with one eggjust above the shore of the delta, but a foxsoon predated it.

Many more birds arrived from 20 July.Up to 24 adult females and one male wererecorded off the coast in the second half ofJuly and up to 151 adult females in Au-gust. The first ducklings were seen on 26July, and during the last days of July andin August up to 16 ducklings were record-ed several times.

Just east of the peninsula, about 60 adultfemales and four ducklings were found on30 July, and some hundreds of adult fe-males with many broods were seen alongthe coast towards Daneborg the day be-fore. In the colony at Daneborg, wheremore than 1000 eiders nest, many femaleswere still incubating on 29 July, severalnests were hatching, and the young sleddogs ate a lot of eggs and newly hatchedducklings.

The last male was seen on 5 August.

King eider Somateria spectabilisThe first pair of king eiders was recordedin Kystkærene on 22 June, but they mayhave arrived several days before. Morebirds arrived during late June and earlyJuly, so that a maximum of four males andfour females were seen during this period.

Afemale was seen in Gadekæret on 1July, and on 10 July it was found to incubateon top of a turf in the middle of the easternpond. On 26 July it was attacked unsuccess-fully by two ravens, and on 1 August sixducklings had hatched. This means thategg laying must have started just after 1July. The family walked about 500 m downto Sydkærene already two days later, andthey must soon have continued 800-900 mfurther on to Lomsø, where they were seenfor the last time on 16 August.

The last male was seen on 1 August.

Long-tailed duck Clangula hyemalisThe first pair of long-tailed ducks arrivedin the census area on 6 June. More birdsappeared up until mid June, when a maxi-mum of four pairs and one male wererecorded on the 14th.

A female was prospecting for a nest-sitein Gadekæret on 20 June, and a nest wasfound here on 29 June. The bird was incu-bating until at least 16 July, but by the 19ththe nest had been predated. Another pre-dated nest was found south of Kærdal on14 July, but on 1 August a female was seenwith five ducklings on Lomsø.

Just east of the census area, a predatedlong-tailed duck nest was found on 14 Au-gust.

During July, the pairs disintegrated, andgroups of up to 11 were recorded on Lom-sø and along the coast in July, and 21 inAugust. Around the peninsula, 16 malesand (mainly) females were present in lateJuly.

Merlin Falco columbariusAn immature merlin was seen at the re-search station on 1 July and again west ofthe river on 14 July. This is the first recordof the species in Northeast Greenland, andit has not been seen in East Greenlandsince 1933 (Boertmann 1994). The nearestbreeding area is on Iceland, where the sub-species subaesalon is found.

Feathers from a snow bunting found on14 July and from two found on 30 Augustmay have been the remains of birds killedby the merlin or gyr falcons (see furtherbelow).


Gyr falcon Falco rusticolusA white individual was hunting waders inthe census area on both 5 and 6 June. On23 June, the remains of a long-tailed skuawas found, probably killed by a gyr fal-con. The same apply to feathers from asnow bunting found on 21 June, from aruddy turnstone found on 30 June andfrom a female ptarmigan in breedingplumage found on 14 July. Single gyr fal-cons were recorded four times in July andseven times in August, besides two togeth-er on 18 August.

Smaller and darker falcons were record-ed both on 6 June and 28 August. On thelatter date, the bird was mobbing a clearlylarger gyr falcon.

Rock ptarmigan Lagopus mutusVery few ptarmigans were seen this year.A male flew past the research station on 31May, a female was seen at Østerport on 8June, two males were displaying at the re-search station on 16 June and a male wasstationary in Oksebakkerne on 17 June. Asthe last record, the latter male was seen inheavy moult on 5 July.

A pair was encountered on Zackenbergon 5 June.

Waders CharadriiAll the common waders, great ringedplover Charadrius hiaticula, red knotCalidris canutus, sanderling Calidris alba,dunlin Calidris alpina and ruddy turnstoneArenaria interpres were present at our ar-rival on 3 June. Song and other displaywas recorded from the very first days, butduring the first week of June, the birdswere mainly feeding in communal feedingareas such as Gadekæret. Here, up to sixgreat ringed plovers, three red knots, fivesanderlings, 77 dunlins and 12 ruddyturnstones were recorded. Most of thedunlins were feeding on exposed mud inthe ponds, while most of the other specieswere feeding in the fen area (see further insection 5.5). Breeding was very early (seesection on Reproductive phenology inwaders p. 31), and no pre-breeders wererecorded after 8-9 June.

The first post-breeders were recorded on30 June, when groups of 2-4 red knots, onesanderling, 1-8 dunlins and two ruddyturnstones were seen. Flocks of up to 25waders were present in the old delta ofZackenbergelven already from early July,and maximum numbers of adult wadershere in the first half of July were nine great

ringed plovers, 17 sanderlings, 25 dunlinsand six ruddy turnstones. Right after thesnow-storm 17-18 July (see section onBreeding success in waders p. 32), 12 greatringed plovers, 28 sanderlings, 99 dunlinsand nine ruddy turnstones were feedingintensively in the old delta. On 20 July,numbers had increased to 80 sanderlings,160 dunlins and 25 ruddy turnstones, be-sides 11 great ringed plovers. Numbers re-mained high at the waterbird count in thedeltas on 23 July, whereas maximum fig-ures for adult waders during the rest ofthe season were 31 great ringed plovers(on 4 August), 32 sanderlings (1 August),112 dunlins (1 August) and six ruddy turn-stones (10 August).

Peak numbers of juveniles in the deltaswere 41 ringed plovers on 19 August, 69sanderlings on 19 August, 41 dunlins on22 August and 19 turnstones on 10 Au-gust. First observation dates of indepen-dent juveniles were: ringed plover 4 Au-gust, sanderling 29 July, dunlin 28 Julyand turnstone 29 July or 1 August. On 1August, four out of five juvenile sander-lings and three out of four juvenile dun-lins carried rings, indicating that theywere from the study area in Zacken-bergdalen.

The only red knots seen after the last ob-servation of a family on 18 July, were twoprobably juvenile individuals on 31 August.

Sanderling Calidris albaTo get an idea on the possible extent ofdouble-clutching in sanderlings at Zacken-berg (Parmelee and Payne 1973 versusPienkowski and Green 1976), four nests,each of them with four eggs, were checkeda number of times for the coloration of theincubating bird.

Nest 1 was found on 24 June, when ithad been incubated for about 11 days. Theincubating bird was caught by hand, andit carried a ring that it had been markedwith the year before on a nest about 600 maway. The bird was relatively ‘red’, whichcould indicate that it was a male. Up untilhatching on 7 July, the nest was checked31 times. At 13 occasions, no bird waspresent, at 14 occasions the marked birdwas incubating, and at four more occa-sions a bird with the same colour was in-cubating, but it was not checked for rings.The nest was checked at all times of theday, i.e. between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. Noother birds were seen at the nest.

Nest 2 was found on 26 June, when it


had been incubated for about eight days.It was checked eight times until it appar-ently had been predated by 8 July. Threetimes a ‘red’ (male?) bird was incubating,and five times a ‘grey’ (female?). At oneoccasion, when the grey bird was incubat-ing, a red bird was performing distractiondisplay about 100 m away.

Nest 3 was found on 27 June, when ithad been incubated for about three days.It was checked five times until hatching on15 July. At all five times, an intermediatelycoloured bird was incubating.

Nest 4 was found on 29 June, when it hadbeen incubated for about four days. Up un-til hatching on 18 July, the nest was checked12 times. At two occasions, no birds werenoted, at two occasions a ‘grey’ bird wasrecorded, while at the remaining eight occa-sions, a ‘red’ bird was seen. I did not see thegrey bird myself, so I never had the chanceto check how different the adults were.

Summing up these observations, onenest was definitely attended by one adultonly (nest no. 1), one nest was definitelyincubated by both adults (nest no. 2), onenest was apparently only incubated byone adult (nest no. 3), while the situationat nest no. 4 is a little uncertain. In the yeasto come, we will try to obtain more dataon this question.

Whimbrel Numenius phaeopusA whimbrel was seen twice flying past therunway on 22 June. This is the northern-most record so far in East Greenland(Boertmann 1994). The species is a localbreeder in Jameson Land, 400-500 kmsouth of Zackenberg.

Red-necked phalarope Phalaropus lobatusA female appeared in Gadekæret on 7June, and on the next day, a pair waspresent. They were seen together hereand in Sydkærene for about a week,whereupon only the female was seen un-til 26 June. A pair was seen at lowerKærelv on 21 June.

On 18 July, a male was feeding in theold delta of Zackenbergelven, indicatingthat it may have lost its young during thesnowstorm.

Arctic skua Stercorarius parasiticusOn 2 July, two long-tailed skuas mobbed adark arctic skua, and on 20 July, a lightbird was seen together with three long-tailed skuas.

Long-tailed skua StercorariuslongicaudusOn 4 June, eight individuals came in fromthe east, performing territorial display asthey arrived. On the next day, 15 wereseen, whereupon territories were estab-lished in the usual areas. But by the mid-dle of the month, single birds were oftenseen rambling over the terrain. On 5 July, acongregation of 15 birds was encountered,and during mid July, similarly groups of10-14 were seen. 13 migrated south overthe fjord on 10 July, and the last birds wererecorded on 26 July. On 8 July, an imma-ture (3rd calendar year?) was seen.

Lesser black-backed gull Larus fuscusOne adult lesser black-backed gull waspreying on eggs and chicks of arctic ternand Sabine’s gull on Sandøen, 29 July.

Glaucous gull Larus hyperboreusDuring June, up to seven glaucous gullswere feeding along Zackenbergelven andin the delta, and flocks of up to six migrat-ed up through the valley. Immatures wererecorded from 20 June. Similarly, up to 10were feeding in the deltas and along theriver in July. During the waterbird countsin the deltas in August, up to 14 adultsand two immatures were recorded. No ju-veniles were seen this year.

Great black-backed gull Larus marinusA great black-backed gull flew downalong Zackenbergelven on 30 June.

Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea14 terns migrated east over the delta ofZackenbergelven on 13 August.

Snowy owl Nyctea scandiacaA single male was seen on Aucellabjerg on17 July, 6 and 9 August.

Northern weathear Oenanthe oenantheA mummified adult was the only record ofnorthern weathear this year.

Common raven Corvus coraxIn early and mid June, up to three ravenswere seen at Zackenberg, and on 25 June agroup of four appeared – probably a fami-ly. Anyway, juveniles were recorded fromthe next day. In July, up to seven were seentogether, and most likely, two broods oftwo juveniles were involved. In August,up to 11 were counted.


Arctic redpoll Carduelis hornemanniFive records of single redpolls were madebetween 4 and 26 June. This is the lowestnumber recorded so far.

Snow bunting Plectrophenax nivalisThe first juvenile was recorded on 14 July,whereupon juveniles were seen regularlyduring the rest of July and in August. Thelargest flock of snow buntings was of 20individuals on 6 August.

4.4 Mammals

Thomas B. Berg

Observations on mammals were recordedby Hans Meltofte (3 June-4 August) andThomas B. Berg (30 June-1 September).Most other personnel supplied additionalrandom observations during the entirefield season. The 2.5 km2 census area forcollared lemming was censused for winternests and summer burrows during 6 July-18 August. The total number of musk oxenwas censused once a week within the 40km2 census area during 3 July-22 August.During the entire season, additionalcounts were made (whenever weatherconditions permitted it) from a fixed ele-vated point at the station covering the areafrom Lindemannsdalen along the coastline

to Lille Sødal north of Daneborg. The linetransect Daneborg – Zackenberg waswalked by T.B. Berg and Dorthe PripLahrmann on 16 July and the line transectZackenberg – Store Sødal was walked byT.B. Berg and Aka Lynge during 22-24 July.One new arctic fox den and a single newburrow entrance were recorded, and allknown dens were checked regularly foroccupation. All observations other thanlemmings, foxes and musk oxen are pre-sented in the section on Other observa-tions p. 44, where scientific names for allspecies are also given.

Collared lemming population

A total of 184 fresh winter nests and 405active summer burrows were recordedwithin the 2.5 km2 census area (Table 4.30).Numbers of winter nests continued thedecrease from 1998 to 1999 and declined


Winter nests Winter nests Summer Number of

category 1 category 2 burrows animals

1996 161 263 - 0

1997 342 109 710 1

1998 711 109 327 43

1999 305 57 403 9

2000 184 70 405 1

��

No. No./km No. No./km

Lower St. Sødal

1996 90 km 1 0.011 0 0

1997 180 km 8 0.044 9 0.050

1998 90 km 8 0.089 0 0

1999 90 km 2 0.022 0 0

2000 90 km 0 0 0 0

Upper St. Sødal

1996 60 km 1 0.017 1 0.017

1997 120 km 3 0.025 0 0

1998 60 km 13 0.217 6 0.100

1999 70 km 1 0.014 0 0

2000 70 km 1 0.014 0 0

DNB-Zackenberg

1997 50 km 22 0.440 21 0.420

1998 50 km 17 0.340 1 0.020

1999 50 km 1 0.020 0 0

2000 40km 0 0 1 0.025

Winter nests Summer burrows��

Table 4.30. Annual num-bers of recorded winternests and summer bur-rows within the 2.5 km2

census area in Zacken-bergdalen 1996-2000.Category 1 denotesnests from the previouswinter, category 2 arenests from earlier win-ters that were notrecorded previously. Thenumbers of animalswere recorded by oneperson (same effort eachyear) in the field duringJune-July.

Table 4.31. Records oflemming winter nestsand active summer bur-rows obtained along thetransects Zackenberg –Store Sødal (90 km) andDaneborg – Zackenberg(25 km). Nests and bur-rows were recordedwithin 3 m on each sideof the track by each ofthe two observers walk-ing the transect, givingtotal lengths of 160 kmand 50 km, respectively.Deviations from this ap-pear from the table.

by 42% as compared to 1999. Hence, thenumber of winter nests in 2000 was com-parable to the figure from the previouslow phase in 1996, whereas the numbersof summer burrows equalled the numberrecorded in 1999. The marked decrease isalso indicated by the reduction in numberof lemmings observed by Hans Meltofte

during bird census work in June and July(Table 4.30). The decline of the lemmingpopulation found in Zackenbergdalen wasalso apparent along the two line transects(Table 4.31).

The continued population decreaseshowing a two-year decline of the lem-ming population is equivalent to the pat-tern found at Karupelv (Fig. 4.3). Howev-er, as discussed in section 4.4 in Caningand Rasch (2000), there are differences inthe lemming population dynamics be-tween Karupelv and Zackenbergdalen. Ifthe density of winter nests in Zacken-bergdalen in 1996 and 2000 represent theaverage density during a lemming lowphase, then the amplitude of the fluctua-tions of the lemming population at Karup-elv may be up to eight times larger than inZackenbergdalen (Fig. 4.3). The maximumamplitude recorded at Karupelv is 35.2against 4.5 at Zackenberg.

The numbers of lemming winter neststhat had been predated by stoats and af-terwards used as winter quarter by thepredator, showed a slight increase from 4to 10 from 1999 to 2000. This was also thecase at Karupelv, where the figures in-creased from 12 to 16. The ratio of winternests taken over by stoats in relation to thetotal amount of winter nests fluctuatemore dramatically at Karupelv than itdoes in Zackenbergdalen (0-16% and 0.29-5.43%, respectively). On the other hand,the density (nests/km2) is much lower atKarupelv (0-1.6 nests/km2) than in Zack-enbergdalen (0.4-11.2 nests/km2).

The 29 fixed sample sites for predatorcasts and scats were checked on 30 August(Table 4.32). Except for the absence of stoatscats, the figures from 2000 correspondwell with those from 1999. Only the num-ber of scats from foxes increased com-pared to the previous years, but that re-lates well to the increased number of foxrecords (see Table 4.40). One of the twosnowy owl casts consisted entirely ofchitin from fly larvae, which indicate thatthe owl might have visited a musk ox car-cass.

Musk ox population biology

The daily censuses of musk oxen in Zack-enbergdalen from a fixed point at the sta-tion showed the same picture as in previ-ous years starting with less than 20 ani-mals in June (16.3±7.4 S.D. in 2000 com-pared with a 5 yrs. average of 13.2±8.0


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

87/8888/8989/9090/9191/9292/9393/9494/9595/9696/9797/9898/9999/00

Winters

Nests

dep

red

ate

d b

y s

toats

/km2

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Win

ter

nests

/km2

Karupelv: winter nests predation/km2

Zac.: winter nests predation/km2

Karupelv: winter nests/km2

Zac.: winter nests/km2

Skua casts Owl casts Fox scats Stout scats

1997 44 0 10 1

1998 69 9 46 3

1999 31 3 22 6

2000 33 2 31 0

��

Table 4.32. Numbers of casts and scats from predators collected from 29 perma-nent sites within the 2.5 km2 lemming census area in Zackenbergdalen. Thesamples represent the period from mid August the previous year to mid Augustin the year denoted.

Fig. 4.3. Lemming winter nests (right axis) and stoat predation on lemming winternests (left axis) at Karupelv, Traill Ø (10 km2) and in the 2.5 km2 census area in Zack-enbergdalen. Data include nests built from October to May. Data from Karupelvwere kindly provided by Benoît Sittler (partly published in Sittler 1995, 2000).

Karupelv: winter nests predated/km2

Zac.: winter nests predated/km2

Karupelv: winter nests/km2

Zac.: winter nests/km2

Nest

s d

ep

red

ate

d b

y s

toats

/km

2

Win

ter

nest

s/km

2

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

June 455 290 534 371 484

July 496 1111 652 408 900

August 2241 1343 1047 1216 1545

Total 3192 2744 2233 1995 2929

��

Table 4.33. Average number of ‘musk ox days’ (see the text) per month withinthe 40 km2 census area in Zackenbergdalen based on the daily counts from afixed elevated point at the station 1996-2000. The figure for June 1996 is inter-polated.

during 1996-2000) and increasing to an av-erage of around 50 in August (48.2±23.6; 5yrs. average: 53.3±27.4 during 1996-2000).The maximum numbers of musk oxenrecorded within the 40 km2 census area onthe weekly censuses were 84 individualson 25 July and 83 on 20 August. The maxi-mum numbers of musk oxen recorded inone day within the entire visible area (c.135 km2) were made on the same dateswith 124 and 122 individuals, respectively(see Table 4.35).

The grazing pressure by musk oxenwithin the census area expressed as ‘muskox days’ (sum of weekly averages of num-bers of animals counted per daily census)increased to a level equivalent to the fig-ures from 1996 and 1997 (Table 4.33),which like 2000 were years with limitedsnow cover. In years with little snow,musk oxen tend to use the census areamore intensively during the summer ascompared to the two adjacent areas, StoreSødal and Daneborg-Zackenberg (seeTable 4.39).

Two demography tables can be calculat-ed. The first one (Table 4.34) is based on allanimals sexed and aged within the 200km2 line transect area in one week aroundmid July (see text for Table 4.34). The or-der of the three censuses is planned tominimise the risk of double registrations.The other table (Table 4.35) is based onseven to eight weekly censuses of muskoxen within the 40 km2 census area. In thelatter case double counts and migrationpatterns are not considered.

In order to illustrate the reproductivepotential and success only the demogra-phy data from August is taken into ac-count. Although there seems to be exam-ples of cows having calves in two consecu-tive years and that cows can have twins,these occasions are assumed to be rare.

Fig. 4.4 illustrates the relation between thenumber of 3+ yr. old cows (three years orolder) without a calf occurring inside the40 km2 census area in August and thenumber of calves recorded the followingyear. The average number of cows with re-productive potential (cows without a calf)inside the 40 km2 area in August 1996-2000was 17.4 ± 4.12 SD (range: 10.3-20.0). Thismeans that on average 62.1% (range: 42.5-82.8%) of the total number of adult fe-males (F3+) inside the 40 km2 area in Au-gust are accessible to the bulls during the


F-calf M-calf F1 M1 F2 M2 F3 M3 F4+ M4+ N Max

1996 8,9 8,9 11,4 11,4 3,3 9,2 5,3 1,1 24.8 15.8 456 153

1997 6,8 6,8 5,1 6,1 10,2 8,8 (6.3) (3.7) 29.0 16.6 411 135

1998 4,3 4,3 2,5 2,5 8,4 9,2 5,3 6,1 30.3 27 393 94

1999 4,3 4,3 0,9 0 2,5 2,8 5,7 6,6 30.8 42.1 318 148

2000 10,3 10,3 4,5 4,8 1,8 0,3 3,6 3,3 32,4 28,5 330 124

��

Table 4.35. Sex and age distribution (%) of musk oxen in Zackenbergdalen as it appears from all weekly cen-suses 12 July-28 August 1996-2000. N is the total number of sexed animals. Sex of calves could not be as-sessed in the field but is assumed to be 1:1. Max gives the maximum number of musk oxen visible on onecensus the given year (i.e. also animals outside the 40 km2 census area). For 1997, data on age class 3 yearand 4+ year have been interpolated.

F-calf M-calf F1 M1 F2 M2 F3 M3 F4+ M4+ Total

1997 6.3 6.3 4.9 5.8 12.6 13.6 7.8 1.9 31.1 9.7 103

1998 4.5 4.5 4.9 5.7 6.6 6.6 6.6 5.7 36.1 18.9 122

1999 7.0 7.0 0.0 0.0 5.3 4.7 7.6 4.1 33.9 30.4 171

2000 8.5 8.5 4.1 4.8 2.7 0.7 4.8 4.1 32 29.9 147

��

Table 4.34. Sex and age distribution (%) of musk oxen based on total countsalong the two line transects and the related census in Zackenbergdalen 1997-2000. All counts were made within 16-25 July and covered an area of about 200km2. It is assumed that no double counts were made within this period.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

No. of cows without calves at t

No

. o

f calv

es a

t t1

1997 ++

1998 ++

2001

1999 +++

2000 +

Fig. 4.4. Average num-ber of calves in year t+1plotted against the num-ber of cows withoutcalves in year t. All dataare from August withinthe 40 km2 census area.The dashed line indi-cates the range of theexpected number ofcalves in 2001. Thenumber of +-signs rep-resent the amount ofsnow (+=poor, ++=inter-mediate, and +++ rich insnow).

No

. of

calv

es a

t t+

1

rut season. The reproductive success as itappears the following year (four years ofdata) is 0.44 ± 0.09 SD (range: 0.30-0.70). Inthis sense the reproductive output from1999 to 2000 was high with 70% of the fe-males giving birth to a calf that was stillalive by August 2000 (Fig. 4.4). The lowamount of snow during the winter1999/2000 and the following early accessto favourable forage may be an importantexplanation, but migration constitutes amajor potential bias.

Based on the correlation presented, thenumber of calves in 2001 will be low (be-tween two and six) compared with the

maximum average number of calves (20.6)recorded on weekly censuses in August1996.

A total of eight fresh musk ox carcasseswere encountered (Table 4.36), of whichfive were found inside the 40 km2 censusarea (ID. nos: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6). Two weresituated just outside the area (ID. nos. 7and 8) while one was found on the linetransect through Store Sødal (ID. no. 5).Only three of the eight carcasses had signsof having been eaten by wolfs. Carcass no.7 was found on the last weekly census andthe time of death must have been between15 and 18 August. The cause of death wasnot clear, but it could well be interferencewith an older bull during the rut season.The variation in the number of musk oxcarcasses from year to year is presented inTable 4.37.

On 19 July, an aerial survey for muskoxen was made over Storsletten (Fig. 4.5).Observations were made from the frontwindows as well as from both sides in aTwin Otter. The total flying time was 75minutes at midday. The survey overStorsletten took c. 30 minutes, and wasmade 2-300 meter above ground with aspeed of 150 km per hour. All musk oxenon Storsletten were recorded in the west-ern part (west of Rødryggen dividing thearea into two distinct parts). In total, 24musk oxen (incl. one calf) were recordedon the plain. Day old snow covered 70-90% of the western part of the plain and30-50% of the eastern part, which made


ID no. UTM East UTM North Sex Estim. age General remarks

00-1 514900 8265600 F 3 Eaten by wolf, only skin left

00-2 514800 8266100 M 15+ No sign of wolf. Open in left caudal ventral side. Filled with larvae

00-3 513450 8264900 ? <1 Eaten by wolf

00-4 512800 8266450 M 12+ No sign of wolf. Open dorsally. Filled with larvae

00-5 489657 8269558 M 15+ Eaten by wolf, stomach full of grass

00-6 513902 8266571 M 15+ Belly open, no signs of wolf, filled with larvae

00-7 513867 8271402 M 4 Hole two cm in diameter present in the right side of the stomach, belly open

00-8 512150 8267050 M 12+ All flesh removed, some mummified skin remains, no wolf marks

��

Table 4.36. Fresh musk ox carcasses recorded during summer 2000 incl. estimated age of the dead individual in years.

Year Snow Thaw Total 4+ yrs 3 yrs 2 yrs 1 yr Calf

days carcasses F / M F / M F / M F / M

1994-1995 ? ? 2 0 / 1 1

1995-1996 ++ 5 13 7 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 2 1 / 1

1996-1997 ++ 3 5 0 / 2 1 / 0 1 / 0 1

1997-1998 ++ 6 2 0 / 2

1998-1999 +++ 5 1 0 / 1

1999-2000 + 3 8 0 / 6 1 / 0 1

��

Table 4.37. Fresh muskox carcasses recordedduring the field seasons1995-2000. F=females,M=males. The numberof “+” in the “Snow”column represent poor(+), intermediate (++)and snow rich (+++)winters. Thaw days arenumber of days duringOctober-April with posi-tive temperatures, whichmay have caused icecrust on the snow.

��

��

Zackenberg

Daneborg

Fig. 4.5. Aerial surveyarea and route for muskox census over Storslet-ten south of AlbrechtBugt and along the out-er coast.

survey conditions poor. Several tracks in-dicated that not all musk oxen were de-tected. Further observations along the out-er coast (235 km2) along two neighbouringtransects of 133 km in total revealed 11musk oxen (incl. one calf). An aerial sur-vey made in the same area (Storsletten)between 5 and 8 July 1988 revealed 82musk oxen (incl. 17 calves) (Bay and Boert-mann 1989). The aerial survey in 1988 cov-ered also Store Sødal and Slettedal as wellas the coastline between Daneborg andZackenberg. In total 207 musk oxen (incl.47 calves) were recorded at that time. De-spite of the larger area, these 207 animalsmay be compared with the total of 182musk oxen that were recorded in 2000 in-side almost the same area. This might in-dicate that the musk ox density on Wollas-ton Forland and A.P. Olsen Land in 2000was comparable with the figures from1988. Data from the sledge patrol Siriusshow a maximum number of musk oxenrecorded on Wollaston Forland and A.P.Olsen Land of 348 during winter 1983-1984, when all major valleys were checkedby dog sledge teams (Boertmann andForchhammer 1992). The three most im-portant musk ox areas in Northeast Green-land are Jameson Land, Hold With Hopeand Wollaston Forland (Boertmann et al.1992)

Arctic fox dens

One new active den (no. 8) with five en-trances was found under a big stone alonga riverbed in Morænebakkerne (UTMzone 27: 8,267,065 m N, 511,477 m E).Three dens were used as breeding dens:nos. 1, 2, and 8 with a minimum of three,three and two pups, respectively. All pupswere of the white colour phase. Despitethe low lemming abundance, no records ofdie off were made. Free moving juvenileswere seen up to six km from their mater-nal den on 14 August. Den no. 5 situated250 m a.s.l. was used throughout the sum-mer, presumably by a lonely adult fox, asno sign of pups could be found. None ofthe other dens seemed to have been in useduring the summer.

Line transects

At the start of the line transect Daneborg –Zackenberg on 16 July, pack ice preventedus from reaching Daneborg, and accord-ingly the first section (DZ-1) was can-

celled. According to the previous fouryears this section is the least important interms of fauna, and it may be assumedthat the missing data were minimal. Be-sides a lonely arctic hare recorded on sec-tion DZ-2, the first records of mammalswere made at the end of the transect alongthe boarder of the 40 km2 musk ox censusarea in Zackenbergdalen.

The transect through Store Sødal was


Store Sødal

Zackenberg-

dalen

Daneborg-

Zackenberg

M4+ 7 25 4

M3 1 1 0

M2 0 1 0

M1 1 6 0

F4+ 9 25 2

F3 1 4 0

F2 0 3 0

F1 0 4 0

Calves 3 15 2

Unsp. yearlings 2 0 0

Winter piles 373 - 45

Summer piles 60 - 11

��

Store Sødal

Zackenberg-

dalen

Daneborg-

Zackenberg

Muskoxen/km2

1996 0.37 0.35 -

1997 0.39 1.61 0.13

1998 0.62 1.18 0.86

1999 0.78 1.20 0.70

2000 0.25 2.10 0.22

Faeces piles/km

1997 winter/summer 1.59/0.49 - 4.90/0.82

1998 winter/summer 1.55/0.39 - 1.14/0.68

1999 winter/summer 6.26/1.63 - 3.66/2.46

2000 winter/summer 2.33/0.38 - 0.90/0.22

��

Table 4.39. Musk ox densities (animals/km2) in Store Sødal (92 km2 in 1996-1998and 125 km2 in 1999-2000), the census area in Zackenbergdalen (40 km2) and inthe coastal region between Daneborg and Zackenberg (37 km2) in mid July1996-2000. The density of faeces piles (no. of faeces piles/km walked) in StoreSødal (no./150 km in 1997-1998 and no./160 km from 1999 and on) and fromDaneborg to Zackenberg (no./50 km).

Table 4.38. Musk ox data from the 90 km line transect through Store Sødal 22-24 July and the 25 km transect from Daneborg to Zackenberg on 16 July 2000together with musk ox data from Zackenbergdalen 25 July. Faeces piles of muskoxen were recorded by both observers giving total transect lengths of 180 kmand 50 km, respectively. Only faeces piles within one meter from the transectwere counted. M=male, F=female, 4+= 4 years or more.

walked during 22-24 July. Data from bothtransects are presented in Tables 4.38 and4.39. The musk ox density found in StoreSødal was the lowest ever recorded, whichcorrespond well with the assumed sce-nario that early access to the rich feedinggrounds in Zackenbergdalen makes themusk oxen leave the inland grounds earli-er that in snow rich springs. Along thecoast from Daneborg to Zackenberg thedensity was low as well. It is noteworthythat the two snow rich springs so far (1998and 1999) made the musk oxen use the to-tal area (200 km2) more evenly than insnow poor years (Table 4.39).

For bird observations, see section 4.3.

Other observations

Collared lemming DicrostonyxgroenlandicusDespite the low phase of the lemmingpopulation (see above), a total of eight ani-mals were recorded in the field between 5July and 30 August. Besides these eightanimals three were caught in live traps(“Ugglan Special”). It was evident fromthose juveniles seen during the field peri-od that summer breeding took place in thearea and that litters were born at least inearly June and in late July.

Arctic wolf Canis lupusBesides tracks seen in the area during 15June-18 August, a lonely adult female wasencountered near the old delta on 17 July.From there it passed north to Okse-bakkerne, where it was found resting laterthe same day. On 18 July fresh tracks werefound 250 m a.s.l. in fresh snow.

Arctic fox Alopex lagopusA total of 20 independent records of adultfoxes were made in Zackenbergdalen dur-ing the field season, in addition to theeight pups mentioned above. All animalswere of the white phase. According to thelocation and individual characters of the

recorded animals, the minimum numberof foxes recorded within Zackenbergdalenwas 5-6 white phase adults. One carcass ofan adult white phase fox in winter coatwas found at Tørvedammen in June. Ad-ditional fragments of at least one otherwinter coloured white phased fox wasfound south of the airstrip. An overviewof dead foxes recorded each year 1996-2000 is presented in Table 4.40.

Arctic hare Lepus arcticusAtotal of 13 Arctic hares were recorded inZackenbergdalen between 31 May and 24August. Additional records were made 28July-26 August during the census for muskoxen from a fixed point at the station. Theeast-facing slope of Zackenberg mountainwas censused by means of a 30 x spottingscope. The hares appeared within a well-de-fined area on the hillside about 1000 meterwide and between 50 and 450 m a.s.l. Themaximum count within this area was 11 ani-mals. Additional spotting scope recordsoutside this area include one animal inMorænebakkerne and eight on the slopes ofPalnatoke Bjerg. In total, a minimum of 28individual arctic hares were recorded dur-ing the field season, of which two wererecorded during the line transects.

Stoat Mustela ermineaTwo animals were recorded, one inMorænebakkerne on 14 July and one eastof Okseelv in Kuhnpasset carrying a new-ly caught lemming on 31 July.

Walrus Odobenus rosmarusHigh numbers of walruses, up to 24 indi-viduals, were again present at Sandøen af-ter the low abundance in 1999 (see section5.9). On 6 August, a walrus was seen for-aging east of Halvøen. Between 11 and 19August, three observations of up to twoindividuals were made in front of the oldZackenberg trapping station. At one occa-sion, a walrus was seen lying on a sandyspit in the new delta.


Total number Total number

1.6 –31.8 adult juvenile adult juvenile of records of carcasses

1996 3 6 1 3 31W + 3B

1997 2 1 1 17W + 5B 1W + 1B

1998 3 5 1 1 21W + 2B 1W

1999 3-4 1 18W + 1B 2W

2000 5-6 8 28W 2W

Blue phaseWhite phase��

Table 4.40. Minimumnumber of individualfoxes recorded in Zack-enbergdalen (50 km2) di-vided into colour phase(W=white; B=blue) andage class 1996-2000, in-cluding pups at dens.“Total number ofrecords” gives records ofall adults and those ofjuveniles encountered inthe field away from theirmaternal den. Also foxesvisiting the research sta-tion are included.

Seals PinnipidaeDuring the musk ox counts from 6 Juneuntil the fjord ice broke up in the innerpart of Young Sund on 8 July, a total of 230seals were counted during 16 censuses,giving an average of 14.38 ± 7.00 SD percount (Table 4.41).

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetusOn 27 July, two bowhead whales wereseen in Young Sund near Daneborg. This isone of the few sightings of this rare speciesin East Greenland in recent decades (Moreand Reeves 1993).

4.5 Lake monitoring

Kirsten Christoffersen and Erik Jeppesen

A standardised monitoring programme intwo of the shallow lakes in Morænebak-kerne has now been in action for twoyears. Details about the monitoring pro-gramme are given in section 4.5 in Caningand Rasch (2000). The lakes have also beenstudied prior to the monitoring program-me (see section 5.3 in Meltofte and Rasch1998 and section 5.4 in Rasch 1999).

These lakes have clear water originatingfrom melted snow in the catchment area,and they are very nutrient poor. One lake,Langemandssø, with a maximum depth of6.1 m, has a population of dwarf Arcticchar Salvelinus alpinus, while no fish havebeen found in the other lake, Sommerfug-lesø, with a maximum depth of 1.8 m.

The lakes were sampled three times be-tween 25 July and 17 August 2000. Physi-co-chemical data are presented in Table4.42 and in Table 4.43, they are comparedwith data from 1997-1999. First of all, thethawing of the ice in 2000 was much earli-er than in previous years and consequent-ly, water temperatures reached higher val-ues than in the other years. In 2000, water

temperatures ranged from 8.2 to 11.8ºC,with mean water temperatures of 10.4 and9.5ºC in Sommerfuglesø and Lange-mandssø, respectively. The conductivity ofSommerfuglesø (16-20 µS/cm) was slight-ly higher than in Langemandssø (9-10µS/cm) and higher in 2000 than in the pre-vious years, while concentrations of totalnitrogen were highest in Sommerfuglesø.In both lakes, total nitrogen was substan-tially higher than in 1999. Total phospho-rus concentrations were similar in the twolakes, ranging from 7 to 16 µg P/l. pH var-ied between 5.2 and 6.1. The chlorophyll aconcentration varied between 0.57 and 1.2µg/l during the sampling period, but av-eraged almost the same level in Som-merfuglesø and Langemandssø, (0.78 and0.90 µg/l, respectively), which is twofoldhigher than in 1999. Generally, the basicphysico-chemical conditions were foundto be within the range observed in previ-ous years, except for high water tempera-tures and higher total nitrogen concentra-tions, most likely owing to the early melt-ing of the ice compared to previous years.


Year Average±SD Range Counts

1997 8.52 ± 4.98 3 - 21 23

1998 7.42 ± 4.50 0 - 18 18

1999 25.05 ± 12.32 2 - 61 22

2000 14.38 ± 7.00 2 - 28 16

��

Lake SS SS SS LS LS LS

Date 25.7 7.8 17.8 25.7 7.8 17.8

Ice cover (%) 0 0 0 0 0 0

Temperature (ºC) 11.8 10.4 8.2 10.2 9.2 9.0

Conductivity (µS/cm) 16 17 20 9 10 10

pH 5.5 5.7 6.1 5.4 5.2 5.9

Total nitrogen (µg/l) 0.83 0.44 0.25 0.51 0.22 0.15

Total phosphorous (µg/l) 16 8 6 9 13 7

Chlorophyll a (µg/l) 0.79 0.82 0.67 0.57 0.95 1.26

��

Lake SS SS SS SS LS LS LS LS

Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 1997 1998 1999 2000

Date of 50% ice cover ND 9.7 18.7 24.6 ND 23.7 21.7 30.6

Temperature (ºC) 6.3 6.5 6.5 10.4 6.8 6.4 4.1 9.5

Conductivity (µS/cm) 15 13 9.9 17.3 8 6 6.6 9.7

pH 6.5 7.4 6.7 5.7 6.5 8 6.3 5.4

Total nitrogen (µg/l) ND 0.13 0.21 0.51 ND 0.08 0.12 0.29

Total phosphorous (µg/l) 4 9 11 10 8 7 7 11

Chlorophyll a (µg/l) 0.84 0.24 0.45 0.78 1.04 0.63 0.36 0.90

��

Table 4.41. Numbers ofseals counted daily froma fixed point at the sta-tion from 1 June untilthe fjord ice broke uparound mid July 1997-2000. Counts were onlymade when sight condi-tions were good.

Table 4.42. Physico-chemical conditions andchlorophyll a concentra-tions in Sommerfuglesø(SS) and Langemandssø(LS) during July and Au-gust 2000.

Table 4.43. Weightedaverage values for physi-co-chemical conditionsin Sommerfuglesø (SS)and Langemandssø (LS)in 1999 and 2000 (July-August) compared tosingle values from mid-August 1997 and 1998.ND = no data.

Unfortunately, the phytoplankton sam-ples from 2000 were damaged, but thephytoplankton species composition for1999 has now been examined and showsthat Dinophyceae (Gymnodinium spp. andPeridinium umbonatum-group) and Chryso-phyceae (mainly Dinobryon bavaricum andD. divergens) are the main components ofthe phytoplankton communities (Table4.44). Other species such as the chloro-phycean Koeliella longiseta and severaltypes of unidentified phytoflagellateswere also present, especially in Som-merfuglesø. In terms of biomass, Dino-phytes were most important in both lakes.In 1999, the biodiversity did not seem todiffer much between the two lakes, but thedensities were higher in Sommerfuglesøthan in Langemandssø (Table 4.44).

The zooplankton species diversity ispoor (Table 4.45). In the fishless Som-merfuglesø, the zooplankton is dominatedby Daphnia pulex and the rotifer Polyarthradolicopthera, while Daphnia is completelyabsent in Langemandssø probably due tothe population of Arctic char that preys

upon this large species of cladocerans. Inthe absence of competition from Daphnia,the number of rotifers and advanced stagesof copepods is higher in Langemandssø. Asimilar pattern has been observed in otherlakes in Northeast Greenland (Jeppesen etal. in press). In years with high abundanceof Daphnia or cyclopoid copepods, thenumber of rotifers was relatively lowerthan in the other years.

The abundance has varied widely fromyear to year (Table 4.45) depending upondifferences in climate, but probably alsorelated to the fact that sampling was re-stricted to one sample per year is of signif-icance. The number of cyclopoid copepodsin Langemandssø was thus high in 2000, awarm year, and the number of advancedstages much higher than in previousyears, which may be ascribed to a temper-ature-conditioned faster developmentthan in previous years. Likewise, the num-ber of Daphnia was high in Sommerfuglesøin 2000 compared to 1997 and 1999. It was,however, even higher in the cooler year of1998, their size being, though, smaller thanin 2000.

The biological structure of the two lakesappears to fit very well with those de-scribed recently for numerous arctic lakesin Greenland (Jeppesen et al. 2000). Thereseem to be year-to-year variations in zoo-plankton, which can be partly ascribed tointer-annual climatic differences amongyears.


Lake SS SS SS LS LS LS

Date 23.7 3.8 16.8 23.7 03.8 16.8

Nostocophyceae 46 0 0 0 0 0

Dinophyceae 18 79 112 139 35 30

Chrysophyceae 0 77 27 220 476 68

Chlorophyceae 13 34 5.6 21 15 13

Others 530 2185 3790 80 179 232

��

SS SS SS SS LS LS LS LS

1997 1998 1999 2000 1997 1998 1999 2000

Cladocera

Daphnia pulex 0.3 10.5 0.3 4.5 0 0 0 0

Macrothrix hirsuiticornis 0.1 0 0 0 0 0.2 0.2 0

Chydorus sphaericus 0.05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.5

Copepoda

Cyclops abyssorum alpinus 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.2 3.3 2.9 4.1 22

(adults+copepodites)

Nauplii 5.7 1.3 6.5 0.7 5.2 3.8 6.4 3.1

Rotifera

Polyarthra dolicopthera 171 90 184 65 316 330 274 168

Keratella quadrata group 5 3 17 0 4 28 34 0

Conochilius sp. 0.05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

��

Table 4.44. Density (cellsl-1) of phytoplanktontaxa in Sommerfuglesøand Langemandssø, re-spectively, during July-August 1999.

Table 4.45. Density (no l-1) of zooplanktonin Sommerfuglesø (SS)and Langemandssø (LS),respectively, in mid-August 1997-2000.

5.1 Methane emission inrelation to vascular plantproduction: summary ofresults from three years offield manipulations in thefen area.

Anna Joabsson, Torben Røjle Chistensen andLena Ström

The experiments have been carried out aspart of a larger EU funded project calledCONGAS (Biospheric controls on trace gasfluxes from northern wetlands) with com-parable field manipulation schemes atfour other northern wetland and tundrasites. The site in the fen area in Zacken-berg was established in 1998 with inten-sive field campaigns during the 1999 and2000 growing seasons.

The objective of the study has been toinvestigate the linkage between vascularplant production and methane (CH4) pro-duction and emission. It is well recognisedthat vascular plants mediate CH4 transportfrom waterlogged soil to the atmosphere,which greatly increase efflux rates. It isalso believed that vascular plants providesubstrates for CH4 production via rootturnover and exudation of various labilecarbon compounds, but these processesare less well known. Our experimentalplots have been subjected to shading in or-der to lower net ecosystem carbon dioxide(CO2) exchange (NEE) and therefore theamount of recently fixed substrate carbonthat would become available to the CH4

producers. Chamber measurements of CO2

and CH4 fluxes were carried out one tothree times per week during 1999 and 2000and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR),air temperature and soil temperatures atdifferent depths were continuouslylogged. Concentration profiles of dis-solved CH4 were sampled four times in1999 and two times in 2000, potential CH4

production was measured at two differentoccasions in 2000. In order to investigateroot exudation of organic acids, plantshoots were grown in water filled cap-sules, first in the lab and later in the field,

and the water was sampled at regular in-tervals during a campaign in 2000. Depthprofiles of organic acid concentrations inpore water were also sampled at three oc-casions in connection to this campaign. Fi-nal harvest of the site (leaf and rootbiomass) took place in late August 2000.

We conclude that CH4 emissions in thefen area were sensitive to changes in NEEinduced by the shading treatment (Fig.5.1). In 1999 the correlation was relativelystraightforward with higher plant produc-tion (more negative NEE) leading to high-er CH4 efflux. The correlation was not asclear-cut in 2000, but a storm event withhigh wind speeds and heavy rainfall on 17July 2000 might have caused long lastingmethanotrophic CH4 consumption andinhibition of methanogenesis due to oxy-genation of the soil and intrusion of alter-native electron acceptors in the form of ni-trate or sulphate salt particles. Organicacid concentration profiles and potential


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

-1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400

NEE (mg CO2/m2/hr 1)

CH

4flu

x(m

gC

H4/

m2 /h

r1 )

1999

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

-1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400

NEE (mg CO2/m2/hr 1)

CH

4flu

x(m

gC

H4/

m2 /h

r1 )

2000

Fig.5.1. Net ecosystemexchange (NEE) plottedagainst CH4 flux in 1999(top) and in 2000 (bot-tom). The marked pointsin the bottom graph aresampling occasions car-ried out before a stormevent on July 17, 2000.Filled symbols representshaded plots and opensymbols represent con-trols. Error bars are stan-dard errors (n=6).

5 Research projects

1999

NEE (mg CO2/m2/hr1)

NEE (mg CO2/m2/hr1)

2000

CH

4fl

ux (m

g C

H4/

m2 /

hr1 )

CH

4fl

ux (m

g C

H4/

m2 /

hr1 )

CH4 production peaked at the same depthas maximum root density and treatmentdifferences suggest that access to labilesubstrate carbon was tightly coupled tovascular plant production rates. Data fromthe “capsule-experiment” are currently be-ing analysed, but preliminary results con-firm that root exudation was a strongsource of easily degradable carbon com-pounds. Total aboveground biomass ex-plained about 40% of the variation inmean seasonal CH4 emission, but separa-tion into species indicates that the correla-tion might have been highly species-de-pendent (Fig. 5.2). The most likely expla-nation is that the ability to act as gas trans-porting conduits was different for thethree species present in our plots.

5.2 CO2 concentrations in arcticsoil gas

Charlotte Sigsgaard

In July 1999 measurements of the soil car-bondioxide (CO2) gas concentrations wereinitiated in three different vegetation com-munities in the Zackenbergdalen (Caningand Rasch 2000). Those measurementswere continued through the summer 2000.From early June to late August tempera-ture, soil moisture content and verticalCO2 concentrations were measured at dif-ferent depths within the soils. The aim ofthis project is to improve the understand-ing of the carbon dynamic in the activelayer in relation to different soils and plantcommunities.

In addition to the metal tubes installedin the soil last year for gas sample collec-tion, plastic bottles were installed thisyear. Perforated 250 ml bottles were insert-ed horizontally into a vertical soil pit at

depths of 5, 10, 15, 25, 40 and 60 cm with acopper tube leading to the surface. Fromthese bottles, gas samples were collectedtwice a week and analysed in the field us-ing an infrared gas detector (Gas DataLtd.). Furthermore, thermocouples andmini temperature datalogggers were in-stalled for temperature measurements anda Delta-T probe was used for TDR soilmoisture measurements.

Fig. 5.3 shows results from the site southof Zackenberg Station which is a dry heatharea dominated by Dryas. The site was freeof snow and the active layer had devel-oped to a depth of 25 cm when measure-ments were initiated in the beginning ofJune. During the entire field season con-centrations were increasing with depthswhich could be caused both by variationin the soils diffusive characteristic andchanges in the CO2 production within thesoil. A deep source of CO2 productionwould be respiration from either roots or


y = 0,3813x + 5,2058

R2 = 0,4586

y = 0,4223x + 4,1691

R2 = 0,6736

y = -0,0561x + 8,7467

R2 = 0,0244

y = 0,199x + 0,0273

R2 = 0,4049

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50Dry weight biomass (g/m2)

Mea

nse

ason

alC

H 4flu

x

(mg

CH

4/m

2 /hr)

Eriophorum Carex Dupontia Total biomass

Fig. 5.2. Abovegroundbiomass plotted againstmean seasonal (2000)CH4 flux.

Fig. 5.3. (A) Soil parameters from the Dryas domi-nated site from early June to late August 2000. Thecurve shows soil temperature at a depth of 2.5 cmand bars show soil moisture content measured byTDR in the upper 6 cm of the active layer. Measure-ments are made around midday (note the differentscaling on axes). (B) Variation in carbon dioxide con-centrations in the active layer at depth of 5, 25 and60 cm. Concentrations are increasing with depththroughout the entire field season.

Mea

n se

ason

al C

H4

flux

(mg

CH

4/m

2 /hr

)

Dry weight biomass (g/m2)

microbes. Respiration from micro-organ-isms decomposing organic material havebeen studied in the laboratory at tempera-tures ranging from -12°C to 37°C and soilsamples from different horizons allshowed activity at temperatures below0°C.

Over the season the CO2 concentrationsshow a distinct decline in mid July fol-lowed by a peak in the end of July (Fig. 5.3B). The relatively low concentrations areassociated to a period of low temperaturesand very dry soil, and the relatively highconcentrations seem to reflect the risingsoil temperature and the increasing soilmoisture content after a rain event 17 July(Fig. 5.3 A). The carbon dioxide responseto the warm temperatures in June is not aspronounced as the response in the end ofJuly which probably is due to the lowmoisture content in the soil at that time.

When measurements were initiated atthe Dryas site, the Cassiope and the SalixArctica dominated sites were still coveredby around 40 cm of snow. Using a Drägerprobe system the air CO2 concentration inthe snow pack was measured and slightlyelevated concentrations near the bottomwere observed. Compared to the atmo-spheric CO2 concentration, around 0.037%,values were increasing through the snowto values of 0.08% CO2 near the soil sur-face showing that the soil acts as a sourceof CO2 at that time.

Variations over the season observed forthe Cassiope and the Salix Arctica dominat-ed sites show the same overall pattern asseen for Dryas in Fig. 5.3. But a local maxi-mum around 15-20 cm in the vertical CO2

gradients are often observed at these sitesas well (Caning and Rasch 2000).

5.3 Hydrology, solute fluxesand Sr isotope compositionof stream water

Birgit Hagedorn, Ron Sletten, Bent Hasholt,Morten Rasch

Some of the largest changes in air temper-ature due to an increase of greenhousegases in the atmosphere are expected tooccur in the Arctic. Recently, long-termdata (>30 years) have confirmed this pos-tulate (Martin et al. 1997, Rigor et al. 2000).The ecological consequences of thesechanges in Arctic areas, however, are un-clear as we lack information and under-

standing of the hydrological, physical andchemical processes in the Arctic environ-ment. In this perspective the investiga-tions of water and solute fluxes and relat-ed weathering processes are important.

Hydrology and solute composition

The Zackenberg catchment is divided intwo main lithologies. East of the Zacken-berg river and south of Lindemannsdalensedimentary rocks occur which aredrained by the Lindemannelv, Palnato-keelv and Aucellaelv. The catchment areanorth of Lindemannsdalen and northwestof the river Zackenbergelven consists ofcrystalline rocks. Glaciers cover about 20%of this crystalline region and the majoroutflow of the crystalline area is the StoreSødal stream. In 1997, 1998, and 1999 sam-pling and discharge measurements of thestreams were carried out. Chemical and Srisotope measurements were performed inorder to identify source regions of solutesand suspended matter (SDM), and to esti-mate solute fluxes and weathering rates.Discharge, sediment load and total dis-solved solutes (TDS) of streams in thecatchment areas are listed in Table 1.Streams draining sedimentary rocks arefed by snow and active layer water andhave TDS values between 450 and 11360µmol/L with highest values at the end ofthe season. The large Store Sødal stream ismainly fed by glaciers and has TDS valuesbetween 160 and 550 µmol/L. The relativesilicate concentration is higher in watersfrom the crystalline area (Si(aq)/∑cationsratios between 0.6 and 0.2) indicating thatsilicate weathering is the major source ofsolutes. In the sedimentary catchment arealow Si(aq)/∑cations ratios between 0.2 and0.01, high amount of dissolved sulfate, cal-


Date Stream Area Q SPM TDS

(km2) (m

3/s) (mg/L) (µmol/L)

17-07-97 Lindemann 69,5 2,77 183 1200

03-08-98 Lindemann 4,82 270 970

19-07-97 Aucellaelv 8,3 0,24 259 1460

03-08-98 Aucellaelv 0,49 340 1447

13-07-97 Palnatokeelv 18,4 1,4 201 871

03-08-98 Palnatokeelv 0,71 --- 495

13-07-97 Store Sødal 421 19* 15 224

15-08-98 Store Sødal --- 9 188

*) calculated as difference between major outflow and streams of sedimentary

(Lindeman, Aucellaelv, Palnatokeelv).

��

Table 5.1. Discharge (Q),sediment load (SPM),and total dissolved so-lutes (TDS) of streamsdraining the sedimentarycatchment area (Linde-mannelv, Palnatokeelv,Aucellaelv) and crys-talline catchment (StoreSødal). Values from1997 are from Hasholtand Hagedorn (2000).

cium, magnesium, and high alkalinity in-dicate the contribution of evaporites andcarbonates to solute concentration.

Strontium composition of streamwater

In order to quantify the amount of waterand solutes of each drainage basin to themajor outflow and to identify the sourcesof weathering products, we investigatedstrontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) of thestream water. Strontium (Sr) has 4 naturaloccurring isotopes 88Sr, 87Sr, 86Sr, 84Sr withabundance 82.23%, 7.04%, 9.87%, 0.54%,respectively. The isotope abundance isconstant except for 87Sr that is produced byß- decay of 87Rb with a halflife of4.8*1010years. Therefore, the 87Sr/86Sr ratio(Sr-isotope ratio) of minerals, rocks androck units depends on their Rb concentra-tion and age. With the knowledge of87Sr/86Sr ratios and Sr-concentration ineach reservoir (e.g. mineral, rock, water)

sources and sinks of solutes and solids inecological systems can be identified andquantified. The primary sources of Sr inaquatic systems are mineral dissolutionand atmospheric deposition (dry & wet).

The potential of Sr isotopes to quantifythe contribution of each drainage basin tothe major outflow in Zackenbergelven isdemonstrated in Figs 5.4 and 5.5. Asshown in the Sr-mixing diagram in Fig.5.4, the water from the crystalline basinhas high 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.724-0.725) andlow Sr concentrations (4-6 µg/L). The wa-ter from the sedimentary area has low87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.713-0.715) and high Srconcentrations (200 µg/L). The 87Sr/86Srratios and Sr concentrations of water fromthe Zackenbergelven lie between the crys-talline and sedimentary area. In this typeof diagram (Fig. 5.4 b) a mixture of twocomponents A and B is lying on a line be-tween the components. If the 87Sr/86Sr ra-tio and Sr-concentration of the pure com-ponents and of the mixture are known, thefraction of each component in the mixturecan be calculated. In the Zackenbergdrainage basin the so-called endmembers(A, B) are the streams of the sedimentaryarea and of the crystalline area. Fig. 5.5shows the result of such a calculation forthe Zackenberg drainage basin in 1998.During the rainstorm the contributionfrom the sedimentary catchment area is in-creasing while the rest of the time the crys-talline catchment contributes more than90% to the discharge of the entire Zacken-berg drainage basin. However, as seen inFig. 5.4, the Sr isotope ratios and Sr con-centrations are variable due to seasonalchanges in stream chemistry. The use ofmedian, minimum and maximum values,respectively, indicates a relative uncertain-ty of about 10%. Furthermore, a third com-ponent of this system is the atmosphericdeposition. Since the Sr concentration ofrain and snow are very low (0.1 and 0.5µg/L), their influence on stream chemistryis negligible.

The results show that solute fluxes inthe Zackenberg drainage basin are corre-lated with lithology. The daily solute fluxis between 7.3*103 and 1.6*103 mol/km2/din streams from the sedimentary area, and1.9*103 mol/ km2/d in the Store Sødalstream. These values are comparable withsolute fluxes measured in large streamsfrom Siberia (Lena and other), Alaska(Mackenzie, Yukon), and Canada (FraserRiver) (Huh et al. 1998).


0 5 10 15 20 25 30

sedimentary basin

crystalline basin

100/Sr [1/ppb]

Zackenbergelven median

0.712

0.714

0.716

0.718

0.720

0.722

0.724

87S

r/86 S

r

A'

B'

0.80.6

0.40.2

a

b

Fig. 5.4. Sr isotope ratiosversus 1/Sr of thestreams draining thecrystalline and sedimen-tary rocks and the majoroutflow Zackenbergel-ven (a). Schematic mapof mixing of the twocomponents A and Band calculated fractionin mixture (circles) (b).

Store Sødal (crystalline bedrock)

Lindemansdalen, Palnatokeelv, Aucellaelv, (sedimentary bedrock)

Fra

ctio

n

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

164 196 208 228 228 228 229 234 243 243 249

stor

m

eve

nt

(1999)1998

Julian day

error

10:40 16:50 22:00 8:00 11:00

Fig. 5.5. Fraction of wa-ter and solutes from thesedimentary catchmentarea and the crystallinecatchment area. Calcu-lated from Sr concentra-tion and 87Sr/86Sr isotoperatio.

5.4 Global change effects onunicellulars and plants

Louis Beyens, Ivan Nijs, Koen Trappeniers,Andy Van Kerckvoorde, Fred Kockelbergh,Sofie Mertens and Ivan Impens

This project started in 1998 and involves astudy on global change effects on unicellu-lars and plants. For more informationplease refer to the ZERO 4th Annual Report1998 (Rasch 1999). We present a shortsummary of the fieldwork in 2000 fol-lowed by results from fieldwork done inprevious seasons.

The 2000 fieldwork

The fieldwork in the summer of 2000focused on collecting samples from theStore Sødal area. During a four day expe-dition into Store Sødal, 39 samples werecollected from 19 waterbodies, mainlylakes. In addition, 90 samples were takenfrom 38 sites in the Zackenbergdalen andLindemannsdalen which were not sam-pled in the two previous field seasons. Anew core for palaeoecological analysis wastaken from the thermokarst at the edge ofRylekæerne.

Communities and ecology ofunicellulars

Testate amoebae. A total of 45 taxa, belong-ing to 12 genera, were recorded in 36 mosssamples. Three taxa (Difflugia pristis, Eug-lypha strigosa f. heterospina and Heleoperarosea) that were found for the first time inthe Arctic in previous years, were alsorecorded in these moss samples. The mostabundant species, Trinema lineare (Fig. 5.6A), was found in every sample. It has amean relative abundance of 42.9% (16.7%.Other important species were (ordered bydecreasing importance) Euglypha rotunda(Fig. 5.6 B), Corythion dubium and Assulinamuscorum. Most taxa were found in thegenera Euglypha (10 taxa) and Nebela (10taxa). Two major groups of samples couldbe distinguished. The environmental forcebehind this division seems to be the mois-ture content of the moss habitat. Taxa withhigher abundances in group 1 were Trine-ma lineare, Euglypha rotunda and Centropyx-is aerophila indicating a higher moisturecontent. Taxa mainly occurring in group 2were Assulina muscorum, Corythion dubium

and Nebela minor. These taxa point towardsa drier state of the sampled mosses in thisgroup.

Diatoms. 179 different diatom taxa, belong-ing to 29 different genera, were found in54 aquatic samples. The most importantgenera were Achnanthes, Nitzschia andNavicula. Important taxa were Nitzschiaperminuta, Achnanthes marginulata and Di-adesmis gallica. Two taxa, which were firstdescribed in 1999 from arctic Siberia, oc-curred in our samples (Neidiopsis vekhovii(Fig. 5.7 A) and Pinnularia bullocostea). Thesamples from rivers and brooklets containdiatom taxa that prefer running water con-ditions (e.g. Meridion circulare (Fig. 5.7 B)and Hannaea arcus (Fig. 5.7 C)). These taxawere seldom observed in the other sam-ples. Strange was the occurrence of Han-naea arcus in Hjerte Sø.

Although the lakes from the morainearea have a different water chemistry, thediatom flora is not different. Consequent-ly, other parameters must be important indetermining the species composition. Itcan be hypothesized that some extraspecies variance can be due to differencesin substrate, predation, succession andsediment type.

A different diatom group occurred inponds which dry out during the growthseason. In these ponds diatom taxa whichcan tolerate low moisture levels dominatesthe flora (e.g. Diadesmis gallica, Caloneis arc-tica (Fig. 5.7 D)).


Fig. 5.6. (A) Trinema lin-eare Penard (25 µm); (B)Euglypha rotunda Wailes(35 µm).

A

B

Palaeoecology

A total of 7 peat or soil cores were takenfor palaeoecologial analysis. The base (-38cm) of the oldest core was dated at 5790±35 years BP. Additional samples fromother depths are currently being 14C-dated.The core consists of a mixture of soil andorganic matter, the layer between -19 cmand -26 cm however had a very low or-ganic content. The upper 4 cm of the corecontains diatom taxa indicating extremely

dry conditions (characteristic genera: Luti-cola and Diadesmis). Between -5 cm and -28cm the diatom flora reflects dry conditions(Pinnularia borealis, P. obscura). Only a fewtaxa were found in the layer between -19cm and -26 cm. Achnantes species between-27 cm and -38 cm point towards a wetterenvironment. The appearance of the tes-tate amoeba Arcella rotundata in the samelayer supports this suggestion.

Heating experiment

In 1998, three of six plots were exposed toinfrared radiation to increase the surfacetemperature by 2.5°C. The reconstructedcarbon balance for 18-29 August 1998shows that both sets of plots were a sourceof carbon. The unheated plots released 19g C/m2 whereas the heated plots released29 g C/m2 over the heating period (Caningand Rasch 2000).

To evaluate our results from this isolat-ed warm period on net ecosystem CO2 ex-change during autumn, a simple modelwas used that predicts the effects of a tran-sient warm period on soil carbon pools ina particular year and in the followingones.

The model starts with an empty systemthat gains carbon through net photosyn-thesis and loses carbon by respiration (Fig.5.8 A). It is reasonable to assume that thecarbon released by soil respiration is pro-portional by a factor, k, to the amount ofcarbon held in store. Under these condi-tions the system will eventually reach itssteady state, where input equals output.At the steady state we create one distur-bance-year by increasing the amount of ef-flux from the soil system to simulate awarm period as in the 1998 experiment.Fig. 5.8 B shows that the isolated tempera-ture disruption that we applied will onlyhave a minor impact on total carbon pools,even when the amount of respirationwould double. Although the effect on soilC stock is small, complete recovery of thedisturbance requires several centuries. Theeffects on the soil C may be small, the im-pacts on the atmosphere however, couldbe significant.

In another experiment, we collecteddata during eight weeks in 1999, when weincreased the surface temperature by 2.5°Cin three plots, while three other plotsserved as controls. We are currently pro-cessing the carbon fluxes we measuredover this longer period. Also the data anal-


0

5

10

15

20

25

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Time (yr)

SoilC

(kgm

-2)

0

50

100

150

200

250

C-fluxde

nsity

(gCm

-2yr-1)

Soil C stock

Soil C release

Soil C input

a

20,2

20,3

20,4

20,5

1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Time (yr)

SoilC

(kgm

-2) + 25%

+ 50%

+ 75%

+ 100%

b

Fig. 5.8. (A) Time courseof yearly soil C releaseand soil C stock in a sys-tem starting with emptystores and constant an-nual soil C input. (B) Re-covery of soil C stock af-ter a disturbance of25%, 50%, 75% and100% more soil respira-tion in one particularyear, after the ecosystemhas reached its equilibri-um state.

A

B C

D

Fig. 5.7. (A) Neidiopsisvekhovii Lange-Bertalot& Genkal (43 µm); (B)Meridion circulare (Gre-ville) Agardh (48 µm);(C) Hannaea arcus(Ehrenberg) Patrick (49µm); (D) Caloneis arctica(Krasske) Lange-Bertalot(44 µm).

yses on plant biomass, leaf extension rates,chlorophyll content, and NDVI (Nor-malised Difference Vegetation Index) arein progress.

To monitor changes in “greening” werecorded digital images of the plots on aregular basis during the field season. Theimages were subjected to digital colour fil-ters to end up with only the greeny tingesand black. Fig. 5.9 shows digital pictureswe took on the 29 July of plot 2, a heatedone. The picture on the left is just the regu-lar digital image and the on on the right isthe same picture after the filtering. In theanalysis we calculated the percentagegreen pixels in the image. We observed anevolution in the “greening” over the grow-ing season. In the beginning there was littlegreen in the plots (11% green pixels in plot2 1 July), whereas in the middle of thegrowing season, the green component inthe pictures was at its highest (28% greenpixels in the right picture of Fig. 5.9). To theend of the growing season, the “green” inthe pictures fell again because of a senesc-ing vegetation (the picture on 31 August ofplot 2 counted only 5% green pixels).

5.5 Observations on wadersbreeding inZackenbergdalen

Dorthe P. Lahrmann

Time allocation patterns

In the 2000 season time allocation patternsof waders breeding in Zackenbergdalenwere studied from the time they arrived inthe valley in June till they left the area inAugust. A total of more than 125 hours ofobservations were carried out. Observa-tions were split unevenly between the fivespecies breeding in the valley. Preliminaryresults are presented here.

When waders arrive at summer breed-ing grounds in the Arctic, they immediate-ly start preparing for the short and hecticbreeding season. This study is investigat-ing how the birds allocate time betweenfeeding, resting, territorial behaviour andother activities. Individual birds werestudied in 2 min. bursts, and their activitynoted every 10 seconds. For groups ofbirds at common feeding grounds, sweepobservations were done several times perobserving hour, and the activity of each in-dividual bird was scored.

Dunlins dominate in both pre-and post-breeding, while Turnstones dominate theincubation period. Knots were only ob-served during pre-breeding. This corre-sponds well with the fact that Knots arevery discrete during breeding, while Dun-lins and Turnstones are much more vocaland aggressive in territorial defence.Sanderlings and Great Ringed Ploverswere observed during pre-breeding andincubation, but not post breeding.

During pre-breeding preliminary resultsshow that the birds spend the larger partof their day and night fouraging. How-ever, the conditions seem to allow for ex-tensive resting as well. The amount of ag-gressive behaviour is much lower than ex-pected. Hardly any intra-specific aggres-sions are observed at common breedinggrounds. The 2000 season was mild andwith very limited snow cover, and this hasinfluenced the breeding conditions for thewaders making more food accessible earlyand leaving more ground uncovered andsuitable for nesting.

During incubation both members of acouple are followed at the same time. Alsohere the level of aggression was low. Veryfew examples of intra-specific aggressionswere observed. While one bird is incubat-ing, the other fourages near by, rests, orsimply sits and observes, and chases or


Fig. 5.9. Digital image ofa heated plot on 29 July1999. The left picture isunprocessed, the rightpicture is a processedimage of the same plot.

lures away potential predators like skuasand gulls.

Only Dunlins were observed during postbreeding when they move around in thevalley with chicks. While the chicks arefouraging, the adults spend most of theirtime resting, observing, preening, and occa-sionally alarming. The difference from thetwo previous periods is obvious, the birdsspend much less time fouraging when withyoung. Due to the amount of time spentresting, it is suggested that the birds were insuch good condition by the end of the 2000season, that intensive fouraging whiletending chicks was not necessary.

Food item sampling

During pre-breeding and incubation, soilsamples were taken at common fouragingsites to estimate the nature and amount offood available to the birds. During postbreeding, silt samples were taken from themain feeding area in the delta at low tide.In the first week of June, samples takenfrom two shallow pond areas show largeamounts of nematocera larvae available tothe arriving birds. Samples taken in thefourth week of June were very similar,with many springtails available as well.Samples taken on the mudflats in the sec-ond week of July show very little foodavailable to the birds, only few nematodesand copepods. However, many potentialfood items like flies, spiders and copepodsare highly mobile, and therefore do not getcaught in the sampling. End of July theamount of available food at the ponds andon the mudflats increased slightly. Furtherdata on the 2000 season insect levels canbe found in the BioBasis chapter. Due tosnow and weather conditions in 2000,plenty of food items were available to thebreeding birds throughout the season.

5.6 Diversity and compositionof the spider fauna indifferent vegetation typesat Zackenberg

Sidsel Larsen

(This report is a contribution to the ZERO5th Annual Report 1999 and was for techni-cal reasons not included there.)

Biological diversity is an important issuein conservation decisions and land use

planning. The Arctic is a simple ecosystemwith very few species and provides greatpossibilities to test methods and hypothe-sis on diversity.

Spiders are top predators among thearctic terrestrial invertebrates and as suchan important component of the ecosystem.Their activity is not as dependent onweather conditions as is the case for flyinginsects, and because they are generalistpredators they are independent on specificfood sources. These conditions make spi-ders a good testgroup.

The BioBasis programme at Zackenbergsamples invertebrates during the entiresummer season in five different vegetationtypes; in 1999 a total of 4353 spiders werecaught in the eight pitfall traps on each ofthe five stations (see chapter 4, Caning and Rasch 2000). 1907 of the spiders werejuvenile, and as identifying juvenile spi-ders in many cases is ambiguous, the juve-nile specimens were only identified tofamily level. The 2446 adult spiders wereidentified to species level.

The Zackenberg spider fauna countseight species from four different families.The Lycosidae (wolf spiders), Dictynidaeand Thomisidae (crab spiders) are onlyrepresented by a single species each. Fivelinyphiid species occur in Zackenberg,making Linyphiidae the most speciousfamily – a trend common in cold areas.

The preliminary results suggest that thetrap stations can be grouped in three dis-tinct types from the composition of thespider fauna. The fen (station 2), the earlysnow free heaths (stations 5 and 7) and thelate snow free heaths (stations 3 and 4).

The fen is the most outstanding of thevegetation types both regarding numbersof specimens and species. The station issituated in a very wet and tussocky areadominated by mosses and graminoids.The diversity is low compared to all otherareas (1-D = 0.360; H = 0.710), but theabundance of spiders is very high, espe-cially of the species Erigone psychrophila(976 specimens in 1999). This species isdominating on station 2 and is only occur-ring as a “tourist” (single specimens) inthe other vegetation types. On all otherstations, the lycosid Pardosa glacialis is thedominating species in the traps.

The family Linyphiidae is the dominatinggroup in the fen (98%), the Lycosidae onlywander late in the season, when the area isdrying out, and the Dictynidae were onlyrepresented by a few juvenile specimens.


Station 5, a tufted Dryas heath, has themost diverse spider fauna (1-D = 0.520; H= 1.088). All eight species of spiders pre-sent in the samples occurred in this area.

The crab spider, Xysticus deichmanni, waspresent on all heath localities, but the abun-dance was highest on the early snow freeheaths (stations 5 and 7). The early snowfree areas held two additional characteristicspecies: Mecynargus borealis which was onlyfound here, and Collinsia thulensis whichhad the highest abundance on these sta-tions. The occurrence of adult C. thulensisseems to follow the snow cover. On latesnow free heaths (stations 3 and 4) the peakabundance of C. thulensis was delayed byone to two weeks. The reason for the delayand the low abundance on stations 3 and 4can be the late snow melt, causing a slowerdevelopment rate and a higher mortality.

Erigone arctica and Hilaira vexatrix arefound on all stations, but are most abundantin the fen and in the late snow free heaths.

Judged from the densities of webs, Em-blyna borealis was present in very highnumbers on the heaths but the occurrenceof the species is very limited in the traps.The sampling method with pitfall traps isobviously not suitable for this relativelysedentary species.

By applying species richness estimatorsand statistical tests to the data it will bepossible to evaluate some of the methodsused in biodiversity assays. An interestingtheme is the correlation of biodiversity ofone group of organisms with other groupsand with the productivity of the area.

5.7 Collared Lemming Project –Zackenberg

Thomas B. Berg

The project has entered the second phasein which focus will be on the linkage be-tween the dynamics of the lemming popu-lation and the quality of their food plants,as well as their habitat use.

The feeding experiment

Three subadult lemmings (one female andtwo males) were caught between 5 and 6July (weight: 25-30 g). Time of birth wasestimated to be within the first weeks ofJune. On 15 August another subadult malewas caught (15 g) with an estimated timeof birth within the last weeks of July. This

animal was in poor feeding condition butgained 14 g during the following sevendays with food ad libitum. All animalswere kept in cages until the end of thefield season.

Three lemmings were used within afeeding experiment including Salix arctica(male and female separately), Dryas sp.,Vaccinium uliginosum, Kobresia myosuroidesand Poa glauca. Salix, Dryas and Poa madeup 92-95% of the biomass eaten. Salixdominated with 47-60% followed by Dryas(17-35%) and Poa (10-18%). Except for P.glauca all plant species were also used in asimulated grazing experiment at three dif-ferent intensities (one, two and three clip-pings during the field season with twoweeks interval). Poa was absent in the ex-perimental area and therefore not includ-ed in the experiment.

Chemical analyses of plant samples willgive information of the phenol concentra-tions expected to be influenced by the lev-el of grazing. High levels of phenol re-duces the nutriment quality of the plants.Observations did not give any clear indi-cation of the lemmings being able to selectplants with low phenol concentration.Hence the reduced food quality may forcethe lemming to use more time in foragingand/or lose weight.

The habitat use

The snow distribution is assumed to be themost important factor affecting the habitatuse by lemmings. Little snow in winter isexpected to make lemmings aggregate inthe best snow rich habitats, which maylead to over-exploitation of the food re-sources and an increased negative feed-back from secondary plant components.

The habitat choice of lemmings seems tobe unaffected by the presence and numberof predators. In several cases lemmingshave used burrows in the close vicinity ofbreeding long-tailed skua or even withinthe burrow complex of an active arctic foxden.

Spatial distribution of nests

As a result of the sparse amount of snowduring winter 1999/2000 the winter nestsclustered within areas supposed to be theoptimal winter habitat (Fig. 5.10). The ac-tive summer burrows were distributedwithin the areas known from previousyears (Fig. 5.11). The northeastern part of


the 2.5 km2 study area was again inten-sively used after two years (1998 and 1999)with no or only a few active burrows. Thispattern may be explained either as a resultof over-exploitation in 1997 revealing ahighly defensive plant response to grazingor it may simply be a matter of soil hu-midity and/or snow distribution.

The fraction of winter nests used forbreeding was low, as was the fraction ofwinter nests with lemming pellets (Table5.2). These figures correspond well withthe fraction of nests that was build after thesoil froze (less than 50%). All these figuresare characteristic for a declining popula-tion or at least a population at low density.

Initial investigations of summer bur-rows by means of an optical fibre scope ca-pable in entering and viewing the burrowsystems were carried out with success. Asurvey with improved equipment will becarried out in 2001.

5.8 Hyperspectral campaign atZackenberg

Mikkel P. Tamstorf and Birger Ulf Hansen

An airborne hyperspectral data samplingwas carried out at Zackenberg on 7 Au-gust 2000 with the HyMap scanner. Fieldcollection of spectral signatures in theZackenberg area was done during thesame period as ground truth for the hy-perspectral campaign.

During the last two decades monitoringand analyses of vegetation and other ter-restrial surfaces in the Arctic have beencarried out using medium and high spatialresolution satellites with relatively fewspectral channels, e.g. Landsat MSS, TM,SPOT HRV, NOAA. Landsat and SPOTimages, which have been widely used forsnow and vegetation cover monitoring inthe Arctic and at Zackenberg, cannot beused for subpixel quantification. It hastherefore been difficult to monitor andanalyse small but important habitats.


Fig. 5.11. Spatial distribution of the 405 active summer burrows recorded duringthe summer 2000 within the 2.5 km2 lemming census area. The scale of the mapdoes not allow separation between entrances placed only few meters apart. Theshaded areas represent meadows, and the dark areas are lakes. The square is thestation, and the cross is the 450 m airstrip.

Fig. 5.10. Spatial distribution of the 184 winter nestsbuild during the winter 1999/2000 and recordedduring the summer 2000 within the 2.5 km2 lem-ming census area. The circles around each nest rep-resent diameters of 30 m. The scale of the map doesnot allow separation between nests placed only fewmeters apart. The shaded areas represent meadows,and the dark areas are lakes. The square is the sta-tion, and the cross is the 450 m airstrip.

Herp-slopes and snowpatches are exam-ples of such habitats. They have a typicalareal extent of less than 20 by 20 m anddue to their high species diversity andvariation related to snow cover and cli-mate, they are important elements in the

ecosystems of the Arctic. Hyperspectraldata will, as opposed to traditional multi-spectral data, give the opportunity toquantify surface types within a pixel. Cur-rently there are no hyperspectral sensorsdeployed on commercial satellites but dur-ing the next 5 years there will be severaldeployed on satellites, allowing greaterdifferentiation between surface types.Coming hyperspectral sensors includeamongst others: OrdView-4 from OrbIm-age, PRISM from ESA and HRST fromNASA. The hyperspectral HyMap datafrom this campaign will be used to modelthe future hyperspectral satellites and as-sess their abilities for biophysical monitor-ing and modelling at Zackenberg.

Data

The hyperspectral data collected with theHyMap scanner covers approx. 625 km2 ofthe Zackenberg area as shown in Fig. 5.12.The data were collected with a Dornier 228aircraft from DLR (Deutsches Zentrum fürLuft und Raumfahrt) (Fig. 5.13). HyMaphas 126 spectral bands covering from 0.4µm to 2.5 µm with a spectral resolution ofapprox. 15 nm. The flight resulted in 12


N /% 1995/1996 1996/1997 1997/1998 1998/1999 1999/2000

In surface - 151/45 349/50 179/61 124/67

On surface - 181/55 348/50 114/39 60/33

Breeding 22/14 37/11 163/23 23/7.5 12/6.5

Pellet 36/23 158/37 257/36 74/24 48/26

Grey fur 23/14 58/17 105/15 18/6 21/11

White fur 1/0.6 1/0.3 30/4.2 3/1 9/5

��Table 5.2. Data from thewinter nest examination.“In surface” indicatesthat the nest was duginto the surface/vegeta-tion (often less than onecm) before it froze. “Onsurface” indicates thatthe nest was build afterthe soil was frozen.“Breeding” is indicatedby small slender pellets(length <2 mm) withinthe nest or along theedge of the nest. “Pel-let” indicates that thenest contained faecesand may have been leftin favour of a new nest.“Grey fur” indicates thatthe nest was build be-fore the winter moult(mid October/Novem-ber). “White fur” indi-cates that the nest wasin use during the springmoult in mid May/June.

Fig. 5.12. The area covered by the hyperspectralcampaign includes the Zackenbergdalen, Aucella-bjerg and Lindemannsdalen.

Fig. 5.13. The HyMap scanner was carried on a Dornier 228 from DLR, here shown at Constable Pynt Airport(Photo Birger Ulf Hansen).

image strips, each 3.5 km wide and 27 kmlong with an overlap of approx. 40% (seethe back of this publication). An exampleof an image strip of the central valley isshown in Fig. 5.14 with spectral band 27(829.2 nm). The spatial resolution will be 5m. Traditional airphotos were also aquiredduring the flight and will be used to pro-duce a digital terrain model with a similarspatial resolution.

Fieldwork

Spectral signatures for ground truthing ofthe HyMap data were collected during thetime of overflight. Fig. 5.15 shows a com-parison of the spectral signatures forgrassland and fell field at Zackenberg forHyMap and Landsat TM data. As seenfrom the signatures, HyMap data (smalldots) give more information on the shapeof the spectral signatures than can be ex-tracted from Landsat TM data (large cir-cles and squares). The spectral signatureswere collected at the BioBasis ITEX sitesand at all points in the ZEROCALM-2grid.

5.9 Changes in Arctic marineproduction (CAMP)

Søren Rysgaard, Ronnie Nøhr Glud, FrankWenzhöfer, Michael Kühl, Dorte Krause-Jensen, Peter Bondo Christensen, Jens Borum,Morten Foldager Pedersen, Jens WürglerHansen, Mikael K. Sejr, Jens Kjerulf Petersen,Mikkel Sand, Ole Fristed Kunnerup, MarioAcquarone, Erik W. Born and David Griffiths,Göran Ehlmé and Allan Falk

Introduction

CAMP is a three-year project studying theresponse of Arctic marine ecosystems toglobal warming. The investigations havebeen carried out both under ice cover andin open-water periods. This year the stud-ies in the open-water period was contin-ued in a field campaign from late July tomid August.

The fieldwork this year focused on: 1. Benthic microalgae2. Benthic macroalgae3. Sediment4. Bivalves5. Arctic char5. Walrus6. Film activities


Spectral signatures, Zackenberg

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Fig. 5.15. Spectral resolution of typical arctic surfaces for Landsat TM with 4 bands (large symbols) andHyMap data with 33 bands (small symbols).

Fig. 5.14. Flight strip from the hyperspectral cam-paign. Band 27 shown in vblack and white. Vegeta-tion is thereby visible as bright areas, and water asdark. The Rylekærene can be seen in the bottom ofthe strip.

The marine study area covered the outerparts of Young Sund (from Basaltøen tothe mouth of the fjord) and Dove Bugt(most of the walrus work). Young Sund issituated just south of the area permanentlycovered by ice and represents a regionmost affected by global warming.

Benthic microalgal distribution andproductionSøren Rysgaard, Ronnie Nøhr Glud, FrankWenzhöfer and Michael Kühl

Benthic microalgae, primarily pennate di-atoms, live on and among sand grains onthe seafloor and bloom in Arctic regionsduring summer when light reaches thesediment surface. During preliminary in-vestigations last year it became clear thatthese algae might be an important contrib-utor to total primary production and thattheir production was not only restricted tothe open water period but also occurred insediments below 1.5 m sea ice cover. Thus,in order to obtain a complete picture of thecarbon fixation in the marine ecosystem ofYoung Sund these primary producerswere investigated in further detail duringthe August field campaign.

The investigations covered both mea-surements in the laboratory and in situ.Since benthic microalgal primary produc-tion on an annual scale is regulated pri-marily by light due to the extensive sea icecover it is important to establish a relationbetween light and primary production.This relationship is necessary when pre-dicting the effect of future alterations insea ice thickness and distribution on pri-mary production. Thus, as backgrounddata light penetration (irradiance andspectral distribution) in the water column(cm to m resolutions) and surface sedi-ment (50-200 µm resolutions) were investi-gated at regular time intervals during Au-gust. These measurements will comple-ment previous measurements and thus in-crease the database of light conditions insea ice, water column and sediment on anannual basis for Young Sund.

The benthic microalgal distribution andproduction with depth was investigated insitu using different techniques: (a) Digitalphotos of the sea floor were recorded atvarious water depths along different tran-sects from Basaltøen to the mouth of YoungSund. These photos will be used to esti-mate the percentage coverage of benthicmicroalgae at different water depths and

found the basis for extrapolating biomassand activity measurements to a larger scaleof Young Sund. (b) Using chlorophyll-fluo-rescence techniques we measured Chl. aand photosynthetic activity in situ at differ-ent water depths (5, 10, 20 & 30 m). Fur-thermore, measurements of algal primaryproduction at different irradiances (0-250µmol photons/m2/s) were obtained. Thiswas accomplished with a newly developedunderwater fluorometer (Diving-PAM) op-erated by a diver. The heterogeneity inbiomass and production were investigatedin further detail at a water depth of 15 mbut on different horizontal scales. Thus,measurements were performed at centime-ter to decimeter to meter to tens of metersto hundred meter and kilometer scales tocalculate the horizontal patchiness of thebenthic microalgae. (c) Measurements of insitu oxygen microprofiles with a benthiclander (Profilur) were performed everytwo or three days throughout the fieldcampaign, at the same depth intervals asthe Diving-PAM measurements. Depthprofiles (100 µm resolution) were recordedin the upper 2 cm of the sediment with 3-8microsensors every 8 minute from noon tomidnight cycles in order to calculate in situnet-photosynthesis at various light intensi-ties covering minimum to maximum lightconditions. Thus, the relation between pro-duction and irradiance could be estab-lished at different water depths.

In parallel to the in situ work, several in-vestigations in the laboratory were per-formed: (a) The biomass and productionof benthic microalgae were investigatedwith the chlorophyll-fluorescence tech-nique on freshly collected sediment coresin order to include water depths thatcould not be reached by divers. Further-more, measurements on sediment corescollected at the same water depths as in-vestigated in situ showed that it is possibleto obtain measurements of biomass andproductivity in the laboratory that arecomparable to that measured in situ. (b)Benthic microalgal brutto-photosynthesiswas measured in the laboratory with oxy-gen microelectrodes using the light-dark-shift technique. Furthermore, oxygen mi-croprofiles were used to calculate net-pho-tosynthesis and the autotroph-heterotrophcoupling. (c) The sediment-water ex-change rates of oxygen, dissolved inorgan-ic carbon and nutrients were investigatedon freshly collected sediment cores usingtraditional batch incubation techniques.


The flux rates were determined on sedi-ment from different water depths (5, 10,20, 30 & 40 m) exposed to various light in-tensities (0-250 µmol photons/m2/s) to in-vestigate the response of the sedimentcommunity to varying light intensities.

In conclusion, this investigation will beused to evaluate benthic microalgal distri-bution and primary production and com-pare their production with that of otherprimary producers (e.g. phytoplankton,sea ice algae, coralline algae, and benthicmacrophytes) in the area. This will in-crease our understanding of their relativeimportance to total primary production inYoung Sund and in the numerous similarfjord ecosystems along the coast of Green-land. In addition, the investigation willcontribute to an increased understandingof the regulation of benthic microalgalproduction as a function of light and nu-trients at different water depths, sea iceand snow conditions which is a pre-requi-site to an overall understanding of theirgeographical distribution and productionin the Arctic region.

Growth in Arctic and temperatepopulations of Laminaria saccharinaDorte Krause-Jensen, Peter Bondo Christensen,Jens Borum and Morten Foldager Pedersen

L. saccharina has a broad distribution rangefrom north-temperate to Arctic areas, andwe compared growth strategy of the ArcticL. saccharina in Young Sound with that of atemperate population in Århus Bay, Den-mark.

Light and photosynthesis

The Arctic and temperate sites differ withrespect to several physico-chemical fea-tures of which the light period is the mostobvious. The Arctic site is ice-covered andin darkness for about 10 months per yearwhile it is exposed to light during bothday and night for 2 summer months. Incontrast, the temperate site has a dailylight-dark cycle throughout the year.

Photosynthesis of L. saccharina saturatesat about 50-100 µmol photons/m2/s, andat the Arctic site, light intensities are oftenabove this level, and therefore not avail-


Fig. 5.16. The photoshows the distribution ofalgae at 20 m (max dis-tribution) with micro-scopic photo of diatominserted in one corner.The graph in situ pro-duction-irradiancecurves for the samedepth. Ek represent theirradiance where photo-synthesis begins to satu-rate. Rapid light curveshows how algae areadapted to in situ light,and slow curve repre-sents the adaptationalresponse to higher lightintensities.

able for photosynthesis. At the temperatesite, a larger fraction of the light can be ex-ploited.

Morphology and growth

L. saccharina is composed of a perennialhaptera and stipe, and a blade which is re-newed every year. The growth zone is sit-uated at the transition between stipe andblade, and the new blade thus appears be-tween the stipe and the base of the oldblade. Secondary growth takes place in thestipe and creates annual growth rings.

We measured length growth by punctur-ing a pair of holes at the base of the newblade, and measuring the distance from thebase to the holes at time intervals. In ArcticL. saccharina, the old blade remained at-tached with 2 or 3 blades being visible andseparated by a distinct narrow zone be-tween the leaves of different age. We foundthat the length of the new blade in mid-Au-gust corresponded exactly to annual lengthgrowth, and this finding allowed us to esti-mate annual growth rates of all individualscollected in mid august.

Annual growth rates

In the depth range 2.5-10 m, Arctic algaewere on average 135 cm long (when ex-cluding the juveniles) and grew about 65cm per year corresponding to a turn overrate of the blade of almost 2 years. Thelongest individuals were up to 4 m andgrew up to 175 cm per year. Growth ratesand blade lengths were much reduced at15 m depth, and at 20 m L. saccharina wasgenerally absent.

Annual length growth increased as afunction of the length of the old blade, in-dicating that the new blade benefited fromthe production of the old blade (Fig. 5.17).Lengths of the old and new blade as wellas stipe length were related to the numberof growth rings in the stipe. Blade lengthand growth rates were largest for interme-diate age groups while the length of theperennial stipe increased with the age ofthe alga.

Temperate L. saccharina was generallyshorter (90 cm on average) but had largerannual growth rates (140 cm on average)than in Arctic individuals. Consequently,the turn over rate of the blade was muchshorter (6 months) in temperate than inArctic individuals. Also, temperate L. sac-charina was generally younger (up to 3

growth rings) than Arctic individuals (upto 6 growth rings).

Growth in winter and summer

Arctic algae grew fastest from late June tomid-August (0,6 cm per day), and 40% ofannual length growth took place duringthis period. From mid-August to the fol-lowing June, the remaining 60% of thelength growth occurred, and this lengthgrowth under ice-cover makes the newblade ready to efficiently intercept the irra-diance once the ice breaks.

During summer, the algae grew not onlylonger but also thicker. The specific bladebiomass thus increased from June to Au-gust, and at least 60% of the growth inbiomass, i.e. the �real growth�, occurredduring this period.

At the temperate site, length-growthwas fastest in spring (1 cm per day), andwas reduced to a minimum in late sum-mer. Although length growth decreasedduring summer, the blades gainedbiomass by becoming thicker, andbiomass growth reached a maximum inmid-summer. In early winter, the newblade was initiated, and during winter


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Fig. 5.17. Annualgrowth of the blade ofLaminaria at differentwater depths in relationto the length of the oldblade.

and spring a new long and thin bladewas produced partly by recycling of oldblade material.

Conclusion

In conclusion, L. saccharina copes remark-ably well with the adverse conditions ofthe Arctic. Longer life span allows the Arc-tic algae to grow larger than temperate in-dividuals in spite of lower growth rates.

Mineralization in the sediment aftersedimentation of organic materialJens Würgler Hansen

Global warming is expected to result in in-creased marine primary production in theArctic. This is mainly a consequence of in-creased light availability due to a decreasein area extent and thickness of the ice. Partof the CAMP project is to investigate howthe Arctic sediment responds to increasesin marine primary production.

The effect of increased marine primaryproduction on sediment biogeochemicalprocesses was also investigated in 1999. In1999 the study was carried out in June,where the sediment is depleted in sub-strate as very little organic material thathas been supplied during the previous 9months of ice cover. This year the studywas carried out in August, where the sedi-ment had recently received a large inputof organic material from the sedimentationfollowing the bloom in primary produc-tion and the river runoff after the meltingof snow and ice from mid June to mid July.

Benthic metabolism

The dynamics of sediment metabolism af-ter sedimentation of faecal pellets and var-ious species of algae were studied in atemperature-controlled laboratory experi-ment. During two weeks of incubation, thesediment-water fluxes of oxygen, carbondioxide and nutrients were determined atregular intervals. Furthermore, the mi-croscale distribution of oxygen at the sedi-ment surface was measured at the begin-ning and at the end of the incubation us-ing microelectrodes.

The preliminary results support the find-ings from last year, that the Young Sundsediment responds much more slowly tothe addition of organic material than hasbeen observed in temperate sediments.Furthermore, the overall sediment

metabolism was not affected differentlywhen the organic material was added as di-atoms, green algae or faecal pellets pro-duced by mussels. These observations indi-cate that although the Arctic benthic com-munity may metabolize as rapidly as docommunities from warmer waters, the lowtemperature has an inhibitory effect on thedynamic response to rapid pertubations.

During the 10 months of ice cover inYoung Sund, primary production andthereby the supply of organic material tothe sediment is very low. Therefore, thebenthic metabolism is mainly fuelled fromthe sedimentation of organic material dur-ing the short open-water period. To studythe long-term effect of the benthic sedi-ment to this pulse supply of organic mate-rial, a number of sediment cores werebrought back to Denmark and the incuba-tion was continued in a thermostated con-tainer. The experiment is still running andwill provide information on how the ben-thic metabolism reacts to the long period oflow substrate availability during ice cover.

Benthic organisms in Young Sound:Level of adaptation and role in carboncyclingMikael K. Sejr, Jens Kjerulf Petersen andMikkel Sand

Previous work on the composition of ben-thic animals in Young Sound has revealeda high abundance of bivalves, especiallythe large species Hiatella arctica and Myatruncata which are a dominant food sourcefor the walruses in the area. Little isknown, however, of how the low tempera-ture and variable food levels influencephysiological processes such as filtrationand respiration of these bivalves. The ob-ject of this summer’s work was to quantifybiomass of dominant bivalves, especiallyH. arctica along depth transects in the out-er part of Young Sound and to supplementearlier studies on benthic compositionwith underwater photography. Further-more, the filtration of M. truncata wasstudied in order to assess its adaptation totemperature and food availability

Growth, biomass and production ofthe mussel Hiatella arctica

Abundance and composition of the benthicfauna, particularly the bivalve Hiatella arc-tica, were investigated along several depthtransects in the outer part of Young Sound.


H. arctica was a dominant species of thebenthos within the studied areas especiallyat depths around 30 m. In August 1998, 50individuals of H. arctica were measured,tagged and released at 36 m in order to ob-tain estimates of bivalve growth under insitu conditions to supplement growth ratesestimated from shell analysis. Althoughthe recapture rate was relatively high(85%) shell growth was less than the detec-tion limit of 0.5 mm and could thereforenot be estimated. The lack of measurablegrowth during the 2-year period, however,agrees well with preliminary results fromshell analysis that revealed ages of up to105 years. Based on the available data ongrowth and abundance, estimates of pro-duction and production/biomass ratioscan be calculated for this species. Togetherwith the available data on primary produc-tion and sedimentation it will be possibleto estimate the role of H. arctica in the totalcarbon mineralization in the outer part ofYoung Sound.

Detailed knowledge is available on howbivalves take up and assimilate food andconvert it into growth in temperate areaswhereas little is known of how polar tem-peratures and food regimes influence ener-gy utilisation of macrobenthic organisms.In order to understand how the long peri-od of low food availability during winteraffect H. arctica filtration, assimilation, res-piration and excretion were studied at dif-ferent food levels in the laboratory. Thus itwill be possible to test a hypothesis oftenput forward, that benthos of polar areashas high growth efficiencies because of lowtemperatures and variable food availabili-ty. Preliminary investigations on effects offood level on filtration rates were carriedout this summer and showed that filtrationrates are dependent on food concentrations(Fig. 5.18). At low algae concentrations,corresponding to <2 µg chl. a/l, filtrationrates are lower than at optimal concentra-tions of approx. 4 µg chl. a/l. With furtherincreasing food concentrations, filtrationrates decrease correspondingly to a con-stant food uptake rate. A similar functionalresponse has been observed in other mus-sels, also from temperate regions.

Filtration as a function oftemperature in Mya truncata

Mya truncata demonstrated a high level ofadaptation as filtration rates at in situ tem-perature generally matched rates from bo-

real regions. Increasing filtration rateswere found as a function of temperaturesup to about 8°C after which rates de-creased (Fig. 5.19). Similarly, last yearsstudies showed that the filtration rates ofHiatella arctica also increased up to approx.8°C in an Arctic population, whereas fil-tration rates increased from 5 to 22°C in aScandinavian population. This suggeststhat the adaptation to cold temperatures inbivalve filtration rates have occurred atthe expense of lacking plasticity towardstemperature changes. In order to fully un-derstand the level of adaptation of theArctic population, similar measurementsof the effect of temperature on filtrationrates in M. truncata are currently takingplace on individuals from southern Swe-den.


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Fig. 5.19. Filtration ratein 5 specimens of Myatruncata as a function oftemperature.

Arctic charOle Fristed Kunnerup

During summer, a large number ofanadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinusL.) migrate via Zackenbergelven fromStore Sø into the marine environment ofYoung Sund to forage on the abundance offood available here. Arctic char is theworlds most northern living Salmoniidaeand frequently appears as the only fresh-water species in Greenland. Chars spendmost of their life in freshwater, either inlakes or in rivers. Stocks that have accessto marine environments migrate eachsummer, and tend to grow faster and havehigher fecundity than landlocked stockswithout access. In the Zackenberg areaboth migratory (anadromous) and land-locked stocks of Arctic char are found. Inorder to estimate the direct and indirect in-fluence of anadromous Arctic char on pro-duction in Young Sund a basic knowledgeof the char population is needed.

A pilot project launched in 1997(Meltofte & Rasch, 1998) provided impor-tant knowledge of char migration strate-gies in Young Sund and furthermore infor-mation on size distribution and diet. Thisyears campaign was designed to add fur-ther to this knowledge and to gather infor-mation on the population size, growth, theimportance of different types of preythrough the season, and other basic popu-lation related topics. This years field sea-son covered July and the first half of Au-gust. Anadromous chars were caught bothin the fjord and in the river Zackenberg. Inthe fjord the chars were caught throughoutthe season using a beach seine, gillnetsand rod and tackle. Each year the Siriuspatrol launches a fishing campaign, and inclose cooperation with the fishing mem-bers of the patrol, the amount of charsavailable for investigation increased dra-matically during a weekend. All fishing inthe fjord took place from the shorelinenear the old trapping station.

From mid-July a fish trap was mountedin the river, 500 m upstream from the Zack-enberg research station. The fish trapcaught a proportion of the fish moving upriver and thus provided information on thenumber of anadromous char, together withinformation on migration patterns correlat-ed with water level, time in season, andtemperature. A total of 522 fish was caughtduring the season, 239 in the fjord and 283in the fish trap migrating upstream.

This years results show that char in their

marine environment prey upon snails,crustaceans and fish fry as the most im-portant food items. Combined with datafrom 1997 this draws a picture of char asbeing a generalist feeder, preying onwhichever food is in abundance. The full-ness of the stomachs collected during theseason indicates that in the early summer,prey is reduced in number, but already inmid-July food is in high abundance.

In order to estimate growth parametersof the population, a number of otoliths(earstones) were collected from a represen-tative subsample. The otoliths are pairedcalcified structures used for balanceand/or hearing in all teleost fishes.Otoliths contain information on the age ofthe fish, like year rings in trees. Based onthese otoliths an age to length relationshipcan be established leading to a growth esti-mate of the population. The age reading isstill in process, but in earlier investigationsanadromous char ranged from 6 to 20years of age. Data from the fish trap havenot yet been analysed, but will undoubted-ly help in establishing an overall picture ofthe nature of char migration in the area andwill provide valuable information on thepopulation size of migrating chars.

Studies of walrus energetics andbehaviourMario Acquarone, Erik W. Born and DavidGriffiths

The goal of this study, linked to the CAMPstudy, is to determine the role of walrusesas predators in the arctic marine ecosys-tem. During the 2000 field season, the sec-ond in this three-year project, from 27 Julyuntil 28 August, we concentrated our ef-fort on measuring the walrus watermetabolism and daily activity. Because ofthe general absence of walruses at theSandøen haul-out in 1999 we concentratedour efforts at the Lille Snenæs site (Fig.5.20) on the northern coast of Dove Baywhere previous studies have indicated ahigh and reliable presence of walrusesthrough the open-water season (Born andKnutsen 1992, 1997). However, we also in-spected Sandøen both at the beginningand at the end of the field season. OnSandøen we positioned an automaticweather station and time lapse camera tomonitor walrus activity on the haul-outbeach and successfully recovered the satel-lite tag positioned on the tusk of an animalin 1999.


Observations at Sandøen

For the third year in a row an automaticcamera was set up to monitor activity atthe haul-out site on the south-eastern tipof Sandøen through the open-water sea-son. The instrument was programmed totake pictures at 00, 06, 12, and 18 hours lo-cal time from July 27 until August 27. Apreliminary analysis of the pictures showsa continuous use of the haul-out through-out the period by a greater number than atany time in 1999.

Throughout the entire period other re-searchers related to the CAMP project anda team of film photographers operated inthe area. They reported the observation ofa maximum of 22 animals on the beach.Furthermore, a walrus from 1999 still bear-ing a satellite tag attached to one of itstusks was observed both in the watersaround Daneborg and on the haul-out atSandøen. August 27 we successfully im-mobilised this individual and substitutedthe old instrument with a new one. On


Fig. 5.20. The move-ment of 4 walrusesequipped with satellite-linked dive recorders atLille Snenæs in summer2000 (Relocations of theleast precise categoryhave also been includedand may give the falseimpression that the ani-mals were located rela-tively far inland at cer-tain sites)

that occasion we observed 18 walruses onthe beach.

An automatic weather station moni-tored wind speed, wind direction and airtemperature in the vicinity of the haul-outduring the entire period.

Observations at Lille Snenæs

The Lille Snenæs haul-out was monitoredeach hour during 24hr cycles both visuallyand photographically from 3 August until23 August. A preliminary analysis of thedata gathered shows that the haul-out wasoccupied during 17 of the 21 monitoringdays. The maximum number of animalspresent on the beach at any time was 15.There was no particular tendency in thenumber of animals that hauled out duringthe season, which indicates that our activi-ty did not influence the utilisation of thesite by the walruses. On days where noanimals were observed on the beach, com-pact pack ice had accumulated along theshore suggesting that they chose to escapebefore they were trapped. A similar situa-tion was observed in 1989.

A weather station similar to the oneused on Sandøen was established at thissite too.

Immobilisation and instrumentation

During the 23 days of our field season weperformed 21 immobilisations. It was pos-sible to keep the animals immobilised longenough to inject deuterium-enriched wa-ter and sample blood from the epiduralvein at regular time intervals for up to 6hours in 18 of the immobilisations. On

only 2 occasions the animals awoke quick-ly from the immobilisation and escaped tosea where they exhibited a normal, rapidswimming behaviour. All of the immo-bilised animals later returned to the beachand showed no visible sign of long-termeffects from the treatment.

During immobilisation we measured theanimals and, when possible, weighedthem. At the same time we equipped themwith a satellite linked dive recorder (SDR),a time depth recorder (TDR) and flippertags. Upon later recapture we sampledblood and downloaded data from theTDR’s. A total of 7 animals were equippedwith a SDR attached to one of the tusks and6 of these were also provided with a TDRon the other tusk. At the end of October thesatellite position data received showed that4 of the instrumented animals have trans-mitted high quality position data and thatthey mainly utilised the northern andwestern part of Dove Bay (Fig. 5.20).

The TDR’s have given us a large amountof detailed depth, temperature and lightintensity data (more than 55 samplingdays) which will be analysed later. As anexample, a diagram that shows dive datafor one animal for a period of half an houris presented in Fig. 5.21.

Water metabolism

The final aim of this study is to measurethe energy requirements of free rangingwalruses and for this purpose it is essen-tial to determine the water metabolism ofthe walruses (total body water and bodywater turnover). Deuterium enriched wa-ter was administered to a total of 7 ani-


0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

15:57 16:04 16:12 16:19 16:26 16:33

time

dep

th (

m)

Fig. 5.21. Detailed diveinformation for walrus4345 on 18 August2000 between 16:00and 16:30.

mals immediately after a first blood sam-pling, to determine background plasmalevels of deuterium. Four animals weresubsequently sampled for blood at regularintervals for a maximum of 6 hours to de-termine deuterium equilibration times andtotal body water. In four other cases it waspossible to recapture the animals and takefurther blood samples to determine bodywater turnover rates.

From these data it will be possible to de-termine the exact dosage of double la-belled water to be injected in the animalsin 2001 to measure their energy expendi-ture during the open water season.

Walrus photos and filmGöran Ehlmé and Allan Falk

The previous year’s photography and filmdocumentation of walrus behaviour inYoung Sund and nearby areas was contin-ued this year. Photo and film record ofwalruses was performed to documenttheir resting, diving and feeding be-haviour. The project will support the sci-entific observations and produce photomaterial for public broadcastings of ani-mal behaviour in polar regions.

Walruses are thought to be dangerous,and we are the first to dive with them andto film their feeding behaviour.

We have spent much time to get confi-dent with the animals and they with us.This year was the 4th in a row where wehave been filming walruses in YoungSund. The animals appeared not to be hos-tile in the surface when the diver wasswimming toward them and sometimesthey even turned around and gently ap-proached the diver. However, at the bot-tom in bad visibility the walruses oftensaw the diver at a very short distance,which scared them and made them escape.

An average number of 12-13 walruseshauled out on Sandøen this year. Further-more, some new young animals hadjoined the group. Their main feeding area

was still from the airstrip north west ofSandøen to the old dump east ofDaneborg. Furthermore, we observedsome feeding just off the coast in the areabetween Daneborg and Zackenberg and inthe area around the Basaltøen. The feedingdepth was from 5 meters to 30 meters withan average of 10-11 meters.

Future studiesSøren Rysgaard

This year was the last field campaign ofthe CAMP project that will end in April2001. The plan is now to work up all dataand present the results through publica-tions. When all specific studies have beenpublished we will attempt to integrate allmeasurements in a summarizing publica-tion. The publication status can be fol-lowed on the internet at location:www.dmu.dk/LakeandEstuarineEcolo-gy/camp.

Several new aspects have arisen fromthe CAMP project and hopefully we willbe able to continue our work next yearbased on the proposals submitted in 2000.

5.10 A collection of Nysiusgroenlandicus

Morten Frej Bøyesen

200 individuals of the Greenlandic het-eropteran Nysius groenlandicus were col-lected during the summer 2000 at Zacken-berg in order to establish an experimentallaboratory model for the study of temper-ature adaptations in Arctic insects includ-ing N. groenlandicus from Zackenberg andQeqertarsuaq/Godhavn. The study willinclude various life history traits (clutchsize, size and weight) in single femalelines reared in different temperatureregimes, thus simulating the long-termhuman induced changes in the climate.


Surface activities in the study area

The number of ‘person-days’ (one personin one day) spent in the terrain in the mainresearch zone 1 was among the lowest sofar (Table 6.1). Activities in the low impactstudy area (1b) remained very low, where-as activities in the protection zone formoulting and breeding geese (1c) washigher than in previous years. These activ-ities were both by boat along the coast andon foot with dogs on land. The areaaround the peninsula was totally devoidof moulting geese when checked on 21July, six days after the most intensive dis-turbance had taken place. Almost 200 part-ly flying geese had returned by 29-30 July(see under Other observations in section4.3).

Only four ATV trips were made on the‘road’ north of the climate station in Julyand August, and none of them passedTørvedammen. The remaining trips weredown to the coast at the present delta ofZackenbergelven.

Aircraft activities in the study area

The number of fixed-wing aircraft take-offand landings in 2000 (Table 6.2) was aboutthe same as in 1998 and 1999. No heli-copter operations were performed thisyear.

Discharges

As in previous years, combustible waste(paper etc.) was burned at the station,while plastics, cans, bottles etc. were flownout of the area. Solid but biologicallydegradable toilet and kitchen waste waspoured through a grinding mill into Zack-enbergelven in August, including an

amount left over from 1999. During stor-age of the waste in June, July and August,a total amount of about 500 g ‘Vera-flue-safe’ was added as a killing agent againstfly maggots. The active chemical is cyro-mazine (N-cyclopropyl-1,3,5-treazine-2,4,6-triamine) in a concentration of 2%. Asimilar amount was used in 1999. The totalamount of untreated wastewater and solidwaste let into Zackenbergelven from thetoilets, kitchen, showers, sinks and laun-dry machines equalled about 1000 ‘per-son-days’.

Manipulative research projects

In Tørvekæret, 26 plots of 1 x 1 m wereshaded during the period 3 July – 19 Au-gust (see section 5.1).

Take of organisms

A total of 239 arctic char Salvelinus alpinuswere caught during July-August off theold trapping station together with 283 inriver Zackenbergelven close to the re-search station. The size range was 14-66cm with an average around 45 cm. Almostall fish caught at the coast were killed,while those from the river were releasedalive (see section 5.9). A total of 76,000arthropods were collected by BioBasis (seesection 4.2). 200 live Greenlandic seedbugs Nysius groenlandicus were collectedfor physiological studies (section 5.10) andthree individuals of collared lemming Di-crostonyx groenlandicus were brought homefor exhibition at the Natural History Mu-seum, Aarhus. 30 tube samples of fen veg-etation, each 5 cm in diameter and about 6cm deep, were taken in Gadekæret and 18in Sydkærene during June and July, to-gether with 12 similar samples of sedi-ment in the old delta of Zackenbergelvenduring July and August for invertebrateanalysis (see section 5.5). All leaves ofDryas and Vaccinium were harvested regu-larly from 40 10x10 cm plots on the firstterrace just south of the station, and allleaves from 40 male and 40 female indi-viduals of Salix arctica were harvested inthe area. Between 5 July and 1 September


6 Disturbance in the study areaHans Meltofte

Research zone May June July Aug. Sept. Total

1 133 260 333 726

1b 1 19 11 31

1c (20.6-10.8) 11 3 14

2 10 4 14

ATV-trips 1 6 2 9

��

Table 6.1. ‘Person-days’and trips in the terrainwith an ATV (all terrainvehicle) allocated to theresearch zones in theZackenberg study area30 May-1 September2000. Visits by boat inthe goose protectionzone (1c) count oneeach.

daily samples of Dryas, Salix and Poa acticawere randomly collected in close vicinityof the station as food for the four livetrapped lemmings (see section 5.7). 15 soilsamples, 9.5 cm in diameter and about 50cm deep, were taken in July-August on theCassiope heath near the climate station (sixsamples at UTM 8,264,739 m N, 513,371 mE), on Dryas heath south of the runway(three samples at UTM 8,264,100 m N,513,000 m E) and in Rylekærene (six sam-ples at UTM 8,266,185 m N, 513,444 m E).At each of these sites, a further five sam-

ples, 20 cm in diameter, of all above-ground-vegetation were harvested in Au-gust (see section 5.2). About 50 samples oflichens were taken from different parts ofthe valley.


Type of aircraft May June July Aug. Sept. Total

Fixed-wing 2 8 14 27 1 52

Helicopter 0

��

Table 6.2. Number offlights with fixed-wingedaircraft and helicopters,respectively, over thestudy area in Zacken-bergdalen 30 May-1September 2000. Eachground visit of an air-craft is considered twoflights.

Scientific papers

Berg, P., Risgaard-Petersen, N. and Rys-gaard, S. 1997. Interpretation of mea-sured concentration profiles in sedimentpore water. – Limnology and Oceanogra-phy 6: 1500-1510.

Buhl, P.N. 1997. Microhymenoptera fromZackenberg, North East Greenland (Hy-menoptera: Chalcidoidea, Cynipoidea etCeraphronoidea). – Entomologiske Med-delelser 65: 161-164.

Christensen, T.R. 1999. Potential and actu-al trace gas fluxes in Arctic terrestrialecosystems. – Polar Research 18: 199-206.

Christensen, T.R., Friborg, T., Sommer-korn, M., Kaplan, J., Illeris, L., Soegaard,H., Nordstroem, C., Jonasson, S. 2000.Trace gas exchange in a high-arctic val-ley. 1. Variations in CO2 and CH4 fluxbetween tundra vegetation types. –Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14(3): 701-713.

Christensen, T.R., Jonasson, S., Michelsen,A., Callaghan, T.V. and Havstrøm, M.1998. Environmental controls on soil res-piration in the Eurasian and Green-landic Arctic. – Journal of Geophysical Re-search 103 D22: 29015-29021.

Christiansen, H.H. 1998. ‘Little Ice Age’ ni-vation activity in northeast Greenland. –The Holocene 8, 6: 719-728.

Christiansen, H.H. and Humlum, O. 1993.Glacial history and periglacial land-forms of the Zackenberg area, NortheastGreenland: preliminary results. – Geo-grafisk Tidsskrift 93: 19-29.

Christiansen, H.H. 1994. Thermolumines-cence dating of nival sediments fromZackenberg, Northeast Greenland. –Quaternary Geochronology (QuaternaryScience Reviews) 13: 491-496.

Christiansen, H.H. 1998. Nivation formsand processes in unconsolidated sedi-ments, NE Greenland. – Earth SurfaceProcesses and Landforms 23: 751-760.

Christiansen, H.H. 1999. Active layermonitoring in two Greenlandic per-mafrost areas: Zackenberg and Disko Is-land. – Geografisk Tidsskrift 99: 117-121.

Elberling, B. and Jakobsen, B.H. 1998. Pro-cesses controlling soil water chemistryin the High Arctic Greenland. – EarthCryosphere 2: 79-85.

Friborg, T., Christensen, T.R., Hansen,B.U., Nordstroem, C., Soegaard, H. 2000.Trace gas exchange in a high-arctic val-ley. 2. Landscape CH4 fluxes measuredand modeled using eddy correlationdata. – Global Biogeochemical cycles 14(3):715-723.

Friborg, T., Hansen, B.U., Nordstroem, C.and Soegaard, H. 1999. Controls on thegreenhouse gas exchange of a high-arctic ecosystem. – Geografisk Tidsskrift99: 19-26.

Friborg, T., Hansen, B.U., Nordstroem, C.,and Soegaard, H. 1999. Seasonal ex-change of CH4 and CO2 during the shorthigh arctic summer in northern Green-land. – In: Greenhouse gasses and their rolein climate change: the status of research inEurope, Orvieto, Italy, 1997. EC Direc-torate General for Science Research andDevelopment, Climate and NaturalHazards Unit, pp. 66-69.

Glud, R.N., Risgaard-Petersen, N., Tham-drup, B., Fossing, H., Rysgaard, S. 2000.Benthic carbon mineralization in a high-Arctic Sound, (Young Sound, NE-Green-land). – Marine Ecology Progress Series206: 59-71.

Hansen, E.S. 1996. Vertical distribution oflichens on the mountain, Aucellabjerg,Northeastern Greenland. – Arctic andAlpine Research 28(1): 111-117.

Hasholt, B. 1996. Sediment transport inGreenland: erosion and sediment yield:global and regional perspectives. – IAHSPubl. no. 236: 105-114.

Humlum, O. 1997. Active layer thermalregime at three rock glaciers in Green-land. – Permafrost and Periglacial Proces-ses 8: 383-408.

Humlum, O. 1998. The climatic signifi-cance of Rock Glaciers. – Permafrost andPeriglacial Processes 9: 375-395.

Jacobsen, A. and Hansen, B.U. 1999. Esti-mation of the soil heat flux/net radia-


7 Zackenberg-DaneborgPublications 1993-2000This is an accumulated bibliography of the literature generated by research at the Zackenberg-Daneborg Research Station from the early start in 1993 until 2000.

tion ratio based on spectral vegetationindex in high-latitude Arctic areas. – In-ternational Journal of Remote Sensing 20:445-461.

Joabsson, A. and Christensen, T.R. (sub-mitted). Methane emissions from wet-lands and their relationship with vascu-lar plants: an Arctic example. – GlobalChange Biology.

Jonasson, S., Michelsen, A., Schmidt, I.K.,Nielsen, E.V. and Callaghan, T.V. 1996.Microbial biomass C, N and P in twoarctic soils and responses to addition ofNPK fertilizer and sugar: implicationsfor plant nutrient uptake. – Oecologia106: 507-515.

Kerckvoorde, A.v., Trappeniers, K., Char-dez, D., Nijs, I. and Beyens, L. 2000.Testate amoebae communities from ter-restrial moss habitats in the Zackenbergarea (North-East Greenland). – Acta Pro-tozoologica 39: 27-33.

Kerckvoorde, A.v., Trappeniers, K., Nijs, I.,Beyens, L. 2000. Terrestrial soil diatomassemblages from different vegetationtypes in Zackenberg (Northeast Green-land). – Polar Biology 23: 392-400.

Levinsen, H., Turner, J.T., Nielsen, T.G.,Hansen, B.W. 2000. On the trophic cou-pling between protists and copepods inArctic marine ecosystems. – Marine Eco-logy Progress Series. 204: 65-77.

Lloyd, C.R., Aurela, M., Hargreaves, K.J.and Nordstroem, C. 1999. Trace gas flux-es in the Arctic. – In: Greenhouse gassesand their role in climate change: the statusof research in Europe. Orvieto, Italy, 1997.EC Directorate General for Science Re-search and Development, Climate andNatural Hazards Unit, pp. 40-47.

Michelsen, A., Quarmby, C., Sleep, D. andJonasson, S. 1998. Vascular plant 15Nnatural abundance in heath and foresttundra ecosystems is closely correlatedwith presence and type of mycorrhizalfungi in roots. – Oecologia 115: 406-418.

Nordstroem, C., Soegaard, H., Christen-sen, T.R., Friborg, T. and Hansen, B.U.(in press). Seasonal carbon dioxide ba-lance and respiration of a high-arctic fenecosystem in NE-Greenland. – Theoreti-cal and Applied Climatology.

Rasch, M., Christiansen, H.H., Hansen,B.U., Hasholt, B., Humlum, O., Jakob-sen, B.H. and Nielsen, N. 1996. Green-land landscape elements as indicators ofrapid environmental change. – In: Berg-er, A.R. and Iams, W.J. (eds.): Geoindica-tors: assessing rapid environmental change

in earth systems. A.A. Balkema, Rotter-dam/Brookfield, pp. 69-92.

Rasch, M., Elberling, B., Holm Jakobsen,B., Hasholt, B. 2000. High-resolutionmeasurements of water discharge, sedi-ment, and solute transport in the riverZackenbergelven, Northeast Greenland.– Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research32(3): 336-345.

Riget, F., Jeppesen, E., Landkildehus, F.,Lauridsen, T.L., Geertz-Hansen, P.,Christoffersen, K. and Sparholt, H. 2000.Landlocked Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpi-nus) population structure and lake mor-phometry in Greenland – is there a con-nection? – Polar Biology 23: 550-558.

Rysgaard, S. and Berg, P. 1996. Mineraliza-tion in a northeastern Greenland sedi-ment: mathematical modelling, mea-sured sediment pore water profiles andactual activities. – Aquatic Microbial Eco-logy 11: 297-305.

Rysgaard, S. and Risgaard-Petersen, N.1997. A sensitive method for determina-tion of nitrogen-15 in Urea. – MarineBiology 2: 191-195.

Rysgaard, S., Finster, K. and Dahlgaard, H.1996. Primary production, nutrient dy-namics and mineralisation in a northernGreenland fjord during the summerthaw. – Polar Biology 16: 497-506.

Rysgaard, S., Nielsen, T.G., Hansen, B.1999. Seasonal variation in nutrients,pelagic primary production and grazingin a high-arctic coastal marine ecosys-tem, Young Sound, Northeast Green-land. – Marine Ecology Progress Series179: 13-25.

Rysgaard, S., Thamdrup, B., Risgaard-Pe-tersen, N., Fossing, H., Berg, P., Chri-stensen, P.B. and Dalsgaard, T. 1998.Seasonal carbon and nitrogen mineral-ization in a high-Arctic coastal marinesediment, Young Sound, NortheastGreenland. – Marine Ecology Progress Se-ries 175: 261-276

Sejr M.K., Jensen K.T., Rysgaard S. 2000.Macrozoobenthos in a Northeast Green-land Fjord: Structure and Diversity. – Po-lar Biology 23: 792-801.

Sittler, B., Gilg, O. and Berg, T.B. 2000.Low Abundance of King Eider Nestsduring Low Lemming Years in North-east Greenland. – Arctic 53: 53-60.

Soegaard, H. and Nordstroem, C. 1999.Carbon dioxide exchange in a high-arc-tic fen estimated by eddy covariancemeasurements and modelling. – GlobalChange Biology 5: 547-562.


Soegaard, H., Nordstroem, C., Friborg, T.,Hansen, B.U., Christensen, T.R., Bay, C.2000. Trace gas exchange in a high-arcticvalley. 3. Integrating and scaling CO2fluxes from canopy to landscape usingflux data, footprint modeling, and re-mote sensing. – Global BiogeochemicalCycles 14(3): 725-744.

Trappeniers, K., Kerckvoorde, A. v.,Chardez, D., Nijs, I., Beyens, L. 1999.Ecology of testate amoebae communi-ties from aquatic habitats in the Zacken-berg area (Northeast Greenland). – PolarBiology 22: 271-278

Wenink, P.W., Baker, A.J., Rösner, H.-U.and Tilanus, M.G.J. 1995. Global mito-chondrial DNA phylogeography of Hol-arctic breeding Dunlins (Calidris alpina).– In: Wenink, P.W.: Mitochondrial DNAsequence evolution in shorebird populations.Proefschrift Wageningen, p. 67-96.

Reports

Andersson, T.I.H., Böcher, J., Fredskild, B.,Jakobsen, B.H., Meltofte, H., Mogensen,G.S. and Muus, B. 1991. Rapport om mu-ligheden for placering af en naturvidenska-belig forskningsstation ved Zackenberg, Na-tionalparken i Nord- og Østgrønland. Uni-versity of Copenhagen and Danish Po-lar Center. 48 pp.

Bay, C. 1998. Vegetation mapping of Zacken-berg valley Northeast Greenland. DanishPolar Center and Botanical Museum,University of Copenhagen. 29 pp.

Born, E.W. and Berg, T.B. 1999. A photo-graphic survey of walruses (Odobenus ros-marus) at the Sandøen haul-out (YoungSund, eastern Greenland) in 1998. Green-land Institute of Natural Resources,Technical report nr. 26.

Bøcker, C. 1998. Beregning af NDVI fraLandsat TM, Zackenberg 1998. Asiaq

Bøcker, C. 1999. Beregning af NDVI fraLandsat TM, Zackenberg 1999. Asiaq

Caning, K. and M. Rasch (eds) 2000. Zack-enberg Ecological Research Operations, 5th

Annual Report, 1999. Danish Polar Cen-ter, Ministry of Research and Informa-tion Technology. 86 pp.

Christiansen, H.H. 1992. Geomorfologiskmoniteringsmanual, Zackenberg, 1992. In-stitute of Geography. 12 pp.

Christiansen, H.H. 1995. Nivation forms,processes and sediments in recent and for-mer arctic areas. Ph.D. thesis. Institute ofGeography, University of Copenhagen.185 pp.

Dalsgaard, M. 1995. Spalchnacéere ved Zack-enberg i Nord-Østgrønland. Unpublishedbiology project report. 41 pp.

Danish Polar Center 1991. Zackenberg – enforskningsstation i Grønlands nationalpark,Nordøstgrønland: fra idé til virkelighed i dethøjarktiske. Danish Polar Center. 12 pp.

Fredskild, B. and Mogensen, G.S. 1997.ZERO Line final report 1997: a descriptionof the plant communities along the ZEROline from Young Sund to the top of Au-cellabjerg and the common plant communi-ties in the Zackenberg valley, NortheastGreenland. Greenland Botanical Surveyand Botanical Museum, University ofCopenhagen.

Fredskild, B. (ed.) 1996. GrønlandsBotaniske Undersøgelse 1995-1996: rapport.Botanisk Museum. 21 pp.

Jacobsen, A. 1995. Overvågning af ClimateChange variable i et vegetationsdækket ark-tisk miljø: Zackenberg, Nordøstgrønland:under anvendelse af klimatiske feltdata andremote sensing: (M.Sc. thesis). Geographi-ca hafniensia C3. Publications / Insti-tute of Geography, University of Copen-hagen. 105 pp. (in Danish with Englishabstract).

Meltofte, H., Berg, T.B. and Forchhammer,M.C. 1997. BioBasis: conceptual design andsampling procedures of the biological pro-gramme of Zackenberg Basic. Version ofApril 1997. Danish Polar Center, Min-istry of Research and Information Tech-nology.

Meltofte, H., Berg, T.B. and Forchhammer,M.C. 1998. BioBasis: conceptual design andsampling procedures of the biological pro-gramme of Zackenberg Basic. 2nd ed. Na-tional Environmental Research Institute,Department of Arctic Environment. 67pp.

Meltofte, H. and Berg, T.B. 1999. BioBasis:Conceptual design and sampling proceduresof the biological programme of ZackenbergBasic. 3rd ed. National EnvironmentalResearch Institute, Department of ArcticEnvironment.

Meltofte, H. and Berg, T.B. 2000. BioBasis:Conceptual design and sampling proceduresof the biological programme of ZackenbergBasic. 4th ed. National EnvironmentalResearch Institute, Department of ArcticEnvironment. 74 pp.

Meltofte, H. and Rasch, M. (eds.) 1998.Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations:3rd annual report, 1997. Danish Polar Cen-ter, Ministry of Research and Informa-tion Technology. 68 pp.


Meltofte, H. and Thing, H. (eds.) 1996.Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations.1st annual report, 1995. Danish Polar Cen-ter. Ministry of Research and Technolo-gy. 64 pp.

Meltofte, H. and Thing, H. (eds.) 1997.Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations,2nd annual report, 1996. Danish PolarCenter, Ministry of Research and Infor-mation Technology. 80 pp.

Misissueqqaarnerit 1995. KlimastationZackenberg: teknisk beskrivelse: A 1782.Misissueqqaarnerit. 8 pp. + 16 enclo-sures.

Nordstroem, C. 1999. Atmospheric exchangeof greenhouse gases in arctic terrestrialecosystems. Ph.D. Thesis. Institute ofGeography, University of Copenhagen.

Rasch, M. 1999. Zackenberg Ecological Re-search Operations, 4th Annual Report, 1998.Danish Polar Center, Ministry of Re-search and Information Technology. 62pp.

Schmidt, N.M. 2000. Spatiotemporal distri-bution and habitat use of the collared lem-ming, Dicrostonyx groenlandicus Traill, inhigh arctic Northeast Greenland. Depart-ment of Zoology, University of Copen-hagen and Danish Polar Center. 84 pp.

Simonsen, J. 1999. Effekter af kantlyngbevok-sning på jordbundsdannelse ved Zacken-berg, Nordøstgrønland. Geografisk Insti-tut, Københavns Universitet. 41 pp.

Tamstorf, M.P. 1997. Analyse af sne- og vege-tationsdækket ved Zackenberg, NØ-Grøn-land, ved brug af Landsat TM og SPOTHRV images. Geographica Hafniensia C4.

Abstracts

Berg, P., Rysgaard, S., Funch, P. and Sejr,M. 2000. The effects of bioturbation onsolutes and solids in marine sediments.ASLO meeting Copenhagen 4-9 June.

Berg, T.B. 1999. Population fluctuations ofcollared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groen-landicus) in Greenland in relation to foodquantity and quality. – Arktisk BiologiskForskermøde VII: 17.

Hansen, B. and Nielsen, T. 2000. Calanusspp. dynamics during sea ice break upoff Greenland. ASLO meeting Copenhagen4-9 June.

Hansen, J.W., Rysgaard, S. and LaursenJ.S. 2000. Primary production of ice al-gae and phytoplankton in a high-arcticfjord: Light artifacts when measuringfrom a hole in the sea ice. ASLO meetingCopenhagen 4-9 June.

Krause-Jensen, D., Christensen, P.B.,Thinggaard, R., Borum, J., Olesen, B.and Nielsen K. 2000. Growth dynamicsin temperate and arctic populations ofLaminaria saccharina. ASLO meetingCopenhagen 4-9 June.

Kühl, M., Glud, R.N. and Rysgaard S.2000. Photosynthesis of algae below seaice as measured in situ by fluorescenceand microsensor analysis. ASLO meetingCopenhagen 4-9 June.

Meltofte, H. 1999. Progress of the BioBasismonitoring programme at Zackenberg,Northeast Greenland (abstract). – In:Hollister, R.D. (ed.). Plant Response toClimate Change: Integration of ITEX Dis-coveries. Proceedings from the 9th ITEXMeeting January 5-9, 1999. Arctic EcologyReport 1. Michigan State University,East Lansing.

Meltofte, H. 2000. The BioBasis monitoringprogramme at Zackenberg 1995-1999. –Arktisk Biologisk Forskermøde VII: 3.

Nielsen, T., Thomsenm, H., Hansen, B.,Levinsen, H. and Madsen S. 2000. Annu-al dynamics of primary- and bacterialproduction in the Disko Bay, WesternGreenland. ASLO meeting Copenhagen 4-9 June.

Ottosen, L., Fossing, H. and Rysgaard S.2000. Pelagic N-mineralization underArctic ice cover. ASLO meeting Copen-hagen 4-9 June.

Roberts, R., Glud, R.N., Kühl, M. and Rys-gaard S. 2000. Primary production ofcoralline algae at Daneborg, NortheastGreenland. ASLO meeting Copenhagen 4-9 June.

Rysgaard, S. 2000. Carbon and nitrogencycling in an Arctic coastal environ-ment. Institut für Polarökologie, Chri-stian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Ger-many. 17. April.

Rysgaard, S. 2000. Hvad sker der medhavets organismer omkring Grønland,hvis klimaet og dermed isen ændre sig?Arktisk økologi, forelæsningsrække,Københavns Universitet 4 Apr.

Rysgaard, S. and Hansen J.W. 2000. A car-bon budget for a high-arctic fjordecosystem: Implications of global warm-ing. ASLO meeting Copenhagen 4-9 June.

Rysgaard, S. and Hansen J.W. 2000. Kul-stofkredsløbet i en høj-arktisk fjord. Det11. danske havforskermøde. Roskilde, Den-mark, 26-28 Jan.

Schmidt, N.M. and Jensen, T.S. 2000. Sum-mer home range of the collared lem-ming, Dicrostonyx groenlandicus, in the


Zackenberg valley, NE Greenland. –Arktisk Biologisk Forskermøde VII: 5

Sejr, M.K., Rysgaard, S. and Jensen K.T.2000. Bundfauna i Young Sund, NordøstGrønland. Det 11. danske havforskermøde.Roskilde, Denmark, 26-28 Jan.

General information

Berg, T.B. 1999. Population fluctuations ofcollared lemmings (Dicrostonyx groen-landicus) in Greenland in relation to foodquantity and quality (abstract). – Apode-mus Nyhedsbrev for dansk PattedyrforeningNr. 6, December.

Berg, T.B. 2000. Halsbåndlemmingen iNordøstgrønland. – Kaskelot 127: 20-23.

Caning, K. and Stockmann, G. 2000. Zack-enberg Forskningsstation holder øjemed klimaet. – Uppik: 8-9.

Christensen, P.B., Rysgaard, S. andNielsen, K. 2000. Ishavet – et varmtemne. – Megafonen no. 3.

Christensen P.B., Rysgaard S. and NielsenK. 2000. Kortsigtet klimaforskning. –Megafonen no. 3.

Arktisk og globalt miljø. – In: DanmarksMiljøundersøgelser, Beretning og aktiviteter1999-2000. Miljø- og Energiministeriet,2000, pp. 14-15.

Elberling, B. and Holm Jakobsen, B. 2000.Jordbundsudviklingen. – Kaskelot 127:16-19.

Madsen, L.P. 1999. Livet under havisen. –Berlingske Tidende, 4 sektion, 14 Dec.

Meltofte, H. 1999. Late breeding season –results and questions. – Wader StudyGroup Bulletin 90: 16-17.

Meltofte, H. 2000. BioBasis. Hvordan rea-gerer Nordøstgrønlands planter, leddyr,fugle og pattedyr på klimaændringer? –Kaskelot 127: 16-19.

Meltofte, H. 2000. Snestorm midt i juli!Rejsebrev fra Zackenberg i Nordøst-grønland. – Fugle og Natur 20(4): 24-25.

Meltofte, H. 2000. Vadefugle i Nord- ogNordøstgrønland. – In: Jakobsen, B.H etal. (eds.). Topografisk Atlas Grønland. DetKongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab,Kort- og Matrikelstyrelsen, pp. 158-161.

Nielsen, T.G. 2000. CO2-pumpen i Nordat-lanten. Miljø og Klima. – DMU nyt nr. 1.

Rasch, M. 2000. KlimaBasis og GeoBasis –overvågning af den fysiske natur vedZackenberg. – Kaskelot 127: 12-14.

Rasch, M. 2000. Zackenberg Station – fraen plet på landkort til en højteknologiskforskningsfacilitet. – Kaskelot 127: 2-7.

Rasch, M. 2000. ZERO (Zackenberg Eco-logical Research Operations) – et kon-cept, som samler forskning, moniteringog logistik. – Kaskelot 127: 8-11.

Rasch, M. 2000. Vigtige klimastationer iødemarken. – KlimaNyt 9: 3

Rysgaard, S. and Christensen, P.B. 2000.Klimaforandringer og arktiske marineøkosystemer. – Kaskelot 127: 28-31.

Thing, H. and Rasch, M. 2000. Forsknings-station Zackenberg. – In: Jakobsen et al.(eds.). Topografisk Atlas Grønland. Detkongelige Geografiske Selskab, Kort- ogMatrikelstyrelsen, pp. 188-189.

Tornbjerg, J. 2000. Arktis smelter i varmen.– Politiken 17 Nov.

Tornbjerg, J. 2000. Opvarmning truer skrø-beligt ishav. – Politiken 19 Nov.


Research

ZackenbergChristian Bay, Ph.D., National Environ-

mental Research Institute, Denmark(BioBasis, vascular plants, 27 July-14August)

Thomas B. Berg, Ph.D. student, NationalEnvironmental Research Institute, Den-mark (BioBasis, lemming ecology, 30June-1 September)

Kirsten E. Caning, Danish Polar Center(BioBasis, general information, 27 July-8August)

Henrik Gammelager, graduate student,University of Aarhus (Biobasis, vscularplants, 27 July-14 August)

Birgit Hagedorn, Institute of Geochem-istry, University of Göttingen, AlfredWegener Institut (water chemistry, 26August-1 September)

Birger Ulf Hansen, Institute of Geography,University of Copenhagen (hyperspec-tral analysis, BioBasis, 28 July-8 August)

Eric Steen Hansen, M.Sc., Botanical Muse-um, University of Copenhagen and Na-tional Environmental Research Institute,Denmark (BioBasis, lichens, 27 July-8August)

Anna Joabsson, Department of Plant Ecol-ogy, University of Lund (trace gas ex-change, 30 June-26 August)

Andy Van Kerckvoorde, Laboratory of Po-lar Biology, University of Antwerpen(testate amoebae ecology, 27 July-8 Au-gust)

Ole Fristed Kunnerup, University of Aarhus(marine ecology, 30 June-14 August)

Dorthe Prip Lahrmann, M.Sc., NationalEnvironmental Research Institute, Den-mark (BioBasis, wader ecology, 3 June-1September)

Joke Lennaers, Laboratory of Polar Biolo-gy, University of Antwerpen (testateamoebae ecology, 27 July-8 August)

Hans Meltofte, D.Sc., National Environ-mental Research Institute, Denmark(BioBasis Manager, 3 June-4 August)

Claus Nordstrøm, Ph.D., Institute of Geog-raphy, University of Copenhagen(BioBasis, 3 June-19 June)

Jonathan N.K. Petersen, ASIAQ, Green-land Field Investigations (ClimateBasis,14 August-26 August)

Charlotte Sigsgaard, graduate student, In-

stitute of Geography, University ofCopenhagen (Geobasis, nivation, pedol-ogy, 3 June-1 September)

Gabrielle Stockman, Danish Polar Center(BioBasis, general information, 27 July-8August)

Lena Ström, Department of Plant Ecology,University of Lund (trace gas exchange,8 August-26 August)

Mikkel Tamstorf, Ph.D. student, NationalEnvironmental Research Institute, Den-mark (hyperspectral analysis, BioBasis,28 July-8 August)

Lars Thomsen, ASIAQ, Greenland FieldInvestigations (ClimateBasis, 14 August-26 August)

Koen Trappeniers, Laboratory of Polar Bi-ology, University of Antwerpen (testateamoebae ecology, 27 July-8 August)

DaneborgMario Acquarone, Ph.D. student, National

Environmental Research Institute (ma-rine ecology, 27 July and 26-30 August)

Erik W. Born, Ph.D., National Environ-mental Research Institute, Greenland In-stitute of Natural Resources, Greenland(marine ecology, 27 July and 26-30 Au-gust)

Peter Bondo Christensen, Ph.D., NationalEnvironmental Research Institute (ma-rine ecology, 27 July-16 August)

Göran Ehlmé, photographer, Water ProofDiving AB, Sweden (marine ecology, 27July-16 August)

Allan Falk, photographer, Stalia 6619,47496 Nösund, Sverige (marine ecology,27 July-16 August)

Egon R. Frandsen, technician, NationalEnvironmental Research Institute (ma-rine ecology, 27 July-16 August)

Ronni Nøhr Glud, Ph.D., The Marine Bio-logical Laboratory, University of Copen-hagen (marine ecology, 27 July-16 Au-gust)

David Griffiths, veterinary, NorwegianCollege of Veterinary Medicine & De-partment of Animal Science and AnimalHealth, Royal Veterinary and Agricul-tural University (marine ecology, 27 Julyand 26-30 August)

Jens Würgler Hansen, Ph.D., National En-vironmental Research Institute (marineecology, 27 July-16 August)


8 Personnel and visitors

Jens Kjerulf Petersen, Ph.D., National En-vironmental Research Institute (marineecology, 27 July-16 August)

Dorte Krause-Jensen, Ph.D., National En-vironmental Research Institute (marineecology, 27 July-8 August)

Michael Kühl, Ph.D., The Marine Biologi-cal Laboratory, University of Copen-hagen (marine ecology, 2-16 August)

Jens Larsen, technician, National Environ-mental Research Institute (marine ecolo-gy, 27 July-16 August)

Søren Rysgaard, Ph.D., National Environ-mental Research Institute (marine ecolo-gy, 27 July-16 August)

Mikkel K. Sand, Cand. scient, Institute forBiological Sciences, University ofAarhus (marine ecology, 27 July-16 Au-gust)

Frank Wenzhöfer, Max Planck Institute forMarine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany(marine ecology, 27 July-16 August)

Logistics

ZackenbergKarina Bernlow, Cook, Danish Polar Cen-

ter (30 June-1 September)Aka Lynge, Logistics Manager, Danish Po-

lar Center (29 May-1 September)Henrik Philipsen, Logistician, Danish Po-

lar Center (29 May-1 September)

Others

ZackenbergJens Gregersen, Artist (visit, 19 June-30

June)Lars Moseholm, National Environmental

Protection Agency, Denmark (visit, 8August-14 August)

Hans Pedersen, Radio Denmark (visit, 8August-14 August)

Leif Skov, Aage V. Jensens Fonde (visit, 8August-14 August)

Niels Skov, Aage V. Jensens Fonde (visit, 8August-14 August)

Øystein Slettemark, Greenland Home Rule(visit, 8 August-14 August)

Frank Sonne, National Environmental Pro-tection Agency, Denmark (visit, 8 Au-gust-14 August)

Further contributors

Morten Frej Bøyesen, graduate student,Zoological Institute, University ofCopenhagen

Kirsten Christoffersen, Ph.D., FreshwaterBiological Laboratory, University ofCopenhagen (BioBasis)

Erik Jeppesen, D.Sc., National Environ-mental Research Institute, Denmark(BioBasis).

Henrik Søgaard, Ph.D., Institute of Geog-raphy, University of Copenhagen(BioBasis)


The monitoring programme at Zackenbergis based on means granted by the Green-land Home Rule, The Danish Ministry ofEnvironment and Energy, the Institute ofGeography at University of Copenhagenand the Danish Polar Center. The DanishMinistry of Information Technology and

Research provided support for the opera-tion of the station and the two ZackenbergScholarships.

We wish to thank the Sirius militarysledge patrol for being neighbourly, and tothank all guests at Zackenberg in 2000 forvisiting the station.


9 Acknowledgements

Bay, C. 1992. A phytogeographical study ofthe vascular plants of northern Greenland –north of 74º northern latitude. Meddelelserom Grønland Bioscience 36: 1-102.

Bay, C. and Boertmann, D. 1989. Biologisk –arkæologisk kortlægning af GrønlandsØstkyst mellem 75ºN og 79º30’N. Del 1:Flyrekognoscering mellem Mestersvig(72º12’N) og Nordmarken (78ºN). Grøn-lands Hjemmestyre, Miljø- og Naturfor-valtning. Teknisk rapport no 4.

Boertmann, D. 1994. An annotated checklistto the birds of Greenland. Meddelelser omGrønland Bioscience 38: 1-63.

Boertmann, D. and Forchammer, M. 1992.A rewiev of muskox observations fromNorth and Northeast Greenland. Green-land Environmental Research InstituteReport Series, no. 4.

Boertmann, D. Forchammer, M., Olesen,C.R., Aastrup, P. and Thing, H. 1992.The Greenland muskox population sta-tus 1990. – Rangifer 12: 5-12.

Born E.W. and Knutsen, L.Ø. 1992. Satel-lite-linked radio tracking of Atlanticwalruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus)in northeastern Greenland, 1989-1991. –Zeitschrift für Zäugertierkunde 57: 275-287.

Born E.W. and Knutsen, L.Ø. 1997. Haul-out activity of male Atlantic walruses(Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in north-eastern Greenland. – Journal of Zoology(London) 243: 381-396

Böcher, T.W. 1935. Om en metode til un-dersøgelse af konsistans, skudtæthed oghomogenitet. – Botanisk Tidsskrift 43:278-304.

Caning, K. and Rasch M. (eds.) 2000. Zack-enberg Ecological Research Operations, 5th

Annual Report, 1999. Danish Polar Cen-ter, Ministry of Research and Informa-tion Technology.

Degerbøl, M. and Møhl-Hansen, U. 1943.Remarks on the breeding conditions andmoulting of the collared lemming (Di-crostonyx). Meddelelser om Grønlandvol. 131(11): 1-40.

Fredskild, B. and Mogensen, G.S. 1997.ZERO Line Final Report 1997. A descrip-tion of the plant communities along theZERO line from Young Sund to the top ofAucellabjerg and the common plant commu-nities in the Zackenberg valley, NortheastGreenland. Greenland Botanical Survey

& Botanical Museum, University ofCopenhagen.

Hansen, E.S. 1995a. Lichen studies atZackenberg. – In: Fredskild, B., Mo-gensen, G. S. and Hansen, E. S. Grøn-lands Botaniske Undersøgelse. GreenlandBotanical Survey 1994: 4-16.

Hansen, E. S. 1995b. Greenland Lichens.Atuagkat, Rhodos & Danish Polar Cen-ter.

Hansen, E. S. 1996. Vertical Distribution ofLichens on the Mountain, Aucellabjerg,Northeastern Greenland. – Arctic andAlpine Research 28: 111-117.

Hasholt, B. and Hagedorn, B. 2000. Hy-drology and geochemistry of river bornematerial in a High Arctic drainage sys-tem, Zackenberg, Northeast Greenland.– Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research32(1): 84-94.

Huh, Y., Panteleyev, G., Babich, D., Zait-sev, A., and Edmond, J.M. 1998. The flu-vial geochemistry of the rivers of east-ern Siberia; II, Tributaries of the Lena,Omoloy, Yana, Indirka, Kolyma, andAnadyr draining the collisional/accre-tionary zone of the Verkhoyansk andCherskiy ranges. – Geochimica et Cos-mochimica Acta 62(12): 2053-2075.

Jeppesen, E., Christoffersen, K., Land-kildehus, F., Lauridsen, T. & Amsinck, S.in press. Fish and crustaceans in north-east Greenland lakes with special em-phasis on interactions between Arcticchar (Salvelinus alpinus), Lepidurus arcti-cus and benthic chydorids. – Hydrobiolo-gia.

Martin, S., Munoz, E., Drucker, R. 1997.Recent observations of a spring-summersurface warming over the Arctic Ocean.– Geophysical Research Letters 24(10):1259-1262.

Meltofte, H. and Berg, T.B. 2000. BioBasis:Conceptual design and sampling proceduresof the biological programme of ZackenbergBasic. 4th edition. National Environmen-tal Research Institute, Department ofArctic Environment (74 pp.).

Meltofte, H. and Rasch, M. 1998. Zacken-berg Ecological Research Operations, 3rd

Annual Report, 1997. Danish Polar Cen-ter, Ministry of Research and Informa-tion Technology.

Meltofte, H. and Thing, H. (eds.) 1997.


10 References

Zackenberg Ecological Research Operations,2nd Annual Report, 1996. Danish PolarCenter, Ministry of Research and Infor-mation Technology.

Moncrieff, J.B., Massheder, J.M. de Bruin,H., Elbers, J., Friborg, T., Huesunkveld,B., Kabat, P., Scott, S., Soegaard, H. andVerhoef, A. 1997. A system to measuresurface fluxes of energy, momentumand carbon dioxide. – Journal of Hydrolo-gy 188-189: 579-601.

More, S.E. and Reeves, R.R. 1993. Distribu-tion and movement. – In: Burns, J.J.,Montague, J.J. & Cowles, C.J. The Bow-head Whale. Special Publication no. 2,The Society for Marine Mammalogy.

Parmelee, D.F. and Payne, R.B. 1973. Onmultiple broods and the breeding strate-gy of arctic Sanderlings. – Ibis 115: 218-226.

Pienkowski, M.W. and Green, G.H. 1976.Breeding biology of Sanderlings innorth-east Greenland. – British Birds 69:165-177.

Rasch, M. 1999. Zackenberg Ecological Re-

search Operations, 4th Annual Report, 1998.Danish Polar Center, Ministry of Re-search and Information Technology.

Rigor, I.G., Colony, R.L., Martin, S. 2000.Variations in surface air temperature ob-servations in the Arctic, 1979-97. – Jour-nal of Climate 13(5): 896-914.

Sittler, B. 1995. Response of stoats (Mustel-la erminea) to a fluctuating lemming (Di-crostonyx groenlandicus) population inNorth East Greenland: preliminary re-sults from a long-term study. – AnnalesZoologic Fennici 32: 79-92.

Sittler, B. 2000. Karup Valley Project – cur-rent status and prospects of ongoing moni-toring surveys of lemming cycles in North-east Greenland (1988-1999). Report.

Soegaard, H., Nordstroem, C., Friborg, T.,Hansen, B. U., Christensen, T. R. & Bay,C. 2000. Trace gas exchange in a high-arctic valley 3: Integrating and scalingCO2 fluxes from canopy to landscapeusing flux data, footprint modelling andremote sensing. – Global Biochemical Cy-cles 14: 725-744.


Corrections to the 5th ZERO Annual Re-port, 1999 are given in bold.

P. 91st column, line 26:… landings was 26 in 1999, 16 in connec-tion …

P. 14Fig. 3.4. Variation in wind speed (m/s)and wind direction 1999. Parameters aremeasured 7.5 meters above terrain.

P. 332nd column, line 3:… probability test: p<0.05 for both sander-ling …

P. 34 1st column, line 15:… (Table 4.21) …2nd column, line 8:… Table 4.21 …

P. 35 1st column, line 29: … At least a further four pairs withoutgoslings stayed at Lomsø …

P. 392nd column, line 41:… (Fig. 4.1) …

P. 40 2nd column, line 28: … (Table 4.28) …2nd column, line 31: … (Table 4.29) …

P. 41 1st column, line 1: … Table 4.30 …1st column, line 12: … (Table 4.30) …1st column, line 25:… (Table 4.30) …1st column, line 35: … Table 4.35 …1st column, line 39: … (Table 4.39) …

P. 422nd column, line 19: … Table 4.31 …2nd column, line 39: … Table 4.39 …

P. 432nd column, line 37: … Fig. 4.2 …

P. 451st column, line 23:… and 4.1 (in Langemandssø …


Erratum

ZERO

– 6th

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ort 2000 6th Annual Report 2000

Danish Polar CenterMinistry of Research & Information Technology

2001

Zackenbergdalen was scanned by a hyperspectral scanner on 7 August 2000.Each strip shows three spectral bands from the nearinfrared, red and greenspectra in red, green, blue, respectively. Vegetation is therefore shown in redcolours, barrens in grey and snow in white. The Zackenberg station is located inthe mid-lower part of the image.

6 annual report 2000 - · pdf filezackenberg ecological research operations, 6th annual...

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