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Microarthropod communities of industrially disturbed or imported soils in the High Arctic; the abandoned coal mining town of Pyramiden, Svalbard

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Abstract

The terrestrial environment of the High Arctic consists of a mosaic of habitat types, both natural and anthropogenic. At the abandoned coal mining town of Pyramiden, Svalbard, topsoil was imported from southern European Russia. This, and further industrial disturbance in the town, offers new opportunities for the native invertebrate fauna, but may also introduce alien, potentially invasive, species. Few studies have examined anthropogenic habitats in the High Arctic. But increasing activity, including industry and tourism, requires an understanding of the responses of the Arctic to such pressures. The microarthropod communities observed in the settlement were substantially different from the natural tundra. In the settlement, nine species of mesostigmatid mite occurred (three new records for Svalbard; Dendrolaelaps foveolatus) and two additional not identified to species (Halolaelaps sp., Arctoseius sp.), 26 species of Collembola (12 not seen in the natural tundra close to Pyramiden) and two new records (Thalassaphorura debilis and Desoria tigrina), but only five Oribatida. This is set against 8, 20 and 24 species respectively for Mesostigmata, Oribatida and Collembola from natural tundra in the vicinity. The imported soils remain to be yet fully exploited by the native microarthropod fauna. Taxa disparities may result from differential mortality during collection and shipping of the soil, and subsequent colonisation. While none of the introduced species appear to be invasive, responses to climate change scenarios are difficult to project. Understanding of alien species and the timespans required for colonization by native faunas are of importance for remediation and reclamation projects in polar regions.

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Acknowledgments

The fieldwork was funded via Norwegian Research Council project AVIFauna (6172/S30) and internal funding from the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS). The Governor of Svalbard (Sysselmannen på Svalbard) is acknowledged for providing permission for the fieldwork. The Svalbard temperature data series used in this study was obtained from the eKlima internet data portal hosted by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. We are grateful to the chief editor of the journal “Russkii Vestnik Spitsbergena” N. Shmatova for assistance in contacting the Arktikulgol Trust archives and N. Myski for historical information on lawns and farming in the settlement of Pyramiden. We also thank N.E.Koroleva for examining and identifying some species of vascular plants and L.A.Konoreva for consultation on lichens collected in Pyramiden, Prof. A. Sjöblom for help producing Fig. 1 and, finally, the three anonymous reviewers who provided valuable contributions to improve to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arctic Biology, University Centre in Svalbard, P.O. Box 156, 9171, Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway

    Stephen J. Coulson

  2. Mågerøveien 168, 3145, Tjøme, Norway

    Arne Fjellberg

  3. Institute of Biology of Komi Scientific Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Kommunisticheskaja, 28, 167000, Syktyvkar, Russia

    Elena N. Melekhina & Anastasia A. Taskaeva

  4. Institute of Arid Zones, Southern Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences and Azov Branch, Murmansk Marine Biological Institute, Kola Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chekhova 41, 344006, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    Natalia V. Lebedeva

  5. Laboratory of Flora and Vegetation, Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden and Institute, Kola Science Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, Fersman St. 18a, Apatity, Murmansk Province, 184209, Russia

    Olga A. Belkina

  6. Department of Zoology, Kazimierz Wielki University, Ossolińskich 12, 85-092, Bydgoszcz, Poland

    Stanisław Seniczak

  7. Department of Ecology, University of Technology and Life Sciences, Kordeckiego 20, 85-225, Bydgoszcz, Poland

    Anna Seniczak

  8. Department of Forest Pathology, Poznan University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71, 60-625, Poznan, Poland

    Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz

Authors
  1. Stephen J. Coulson
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  2. Arne Fjellberg
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  3. Elena N. Melekhina
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  4. Anastasia A. Taskaeva
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  5. Natalia V. Lebedeva
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  6. Olga A. Belkina
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  7. Stanisław Seniczak
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  8. Anna Seniczak
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  9. Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen J. Coulson.

Additional information

Communicated by David Hawksworth.

Electronic supplementary material

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Supplementary material 1 (DOC 64 kb)

Supplementary material 2 (DOC 120 kb)

Supplementary material 3 (DOC 119 kb)

Fig. S1

Sampling sites in the settlement of Pyramiden. hd- A: Close to main road in vicinity of helicopter pad, hd- B: Wood chippings and scrapings from animal houses, hd- C: east side of animal house, hd- D: north side of animal house, hd- E: saltmarsh vegetation to south-east of fuel storage tanks, is- F: close to road behind housing block, is- G: Close to location where greenhouses stood, nest- H, kittiwake nest material beneath housing block close to Tulip Hotel (JPEG 7371 kb)

Fig. S2

Undisturbed ground at Pyramiden (site un- I). Picture orientation approximately north (JPEG 1458 kb)

Fig. S3

Natural vegetation on the raised beaches at Skottehytta (site un- Z), Picture orientation approximately north-west (JPEG 7849 kb)

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Coulson, S.J., Fjellberg, A., Melekhina, E.N. et al. Microarthropod communities of industrially disturbed or imported soils in the High Arctic; the abandoned coal mining town of Pyramiden, Svalbard. Biodivers Conserv 24, 1671–1690 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0885-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0885-9

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