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This edition first published 2021
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Thomas, David N. (David Neville), 1962–editor.
Title: Arctic ecology / edited by David Neville Thomas, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Finland
Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, 2021. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020026614 (print) | LCCN 2020026615 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118846544 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118846575 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781118846551 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Ecology–Arctic regions.
Classification: LCC QH84.1 .A745 2021 (print) | LCC QH84.1 (ebook) | DDC 577.0911/3–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026614
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020026615
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Dennis Fischer Photography/Getty Images
Sitting down to write this brief introduction is overshadowed by recent reports of a record highest temperature of 38 °C within the Arctic Circle. Undeniably the Arctic is warming at an alarming rate and we can foresee climate and environmental records in the whole region being routinely broken in even the short term. This book was never intended to be a book about the effects of global climate change on Arctic ecology, although we have included two fundamental chapters covering climate change in the Arctic (Chapters 2 and 3). This is not because that issue is not important, in fact it is arguably the region where change is amplified to the greatest extent. However, many statements we make about climate change effects will quickly be out of date and there are more easily and regulated updated resources than a book like this (cf. Box et al. 2019; IPCC 2019; Overland et al. 2019). Instead our aim was to produce a book that seeks to systematically introduce the diverse array of ecologies within the Arctic region, highlighting some influences of global climate change where appropriate.
The Arctic is often portrayed as being isolated, but the reality is that the connectivity with the rest of the planet is huge, be it through weather patterns, global ocean circulation, and large-scale migration patterns to name but a few. A more immediate connectivity is evident in Figure P.1. From 2008 this illustration well reflects the connectivity in terms of human populations associated with the perimeter of the Arctic Circle. It does not leave much to the imagination as to how this will change over the next decades.
This project was conceived in October 2012 and gelled during 2013. The need for this book was obvious then, but over the intervening seven to eight years its pertinence has grown immensely. Our aim, as in 2012, is that the book stimulates a wide audience to think about the Arctic by highlighting the remarkable breadth of what it means to study its ecology. The Arctic is rapidly changing and by the time a second edition of this book is published, it will be a very different place than it is today. Understanding the fundamental ecology underpinning the Arctic is paramount to understanding the consequences of what such change will inevitably bring about.
A final comment is that although we have tried to synthesize current understanding, for many habitats within the Arctic we are still only beginning to understand some key processes and mechanisms. It is hoped that this book will spur the imagination of many readers to go on to dedicate their efforts so that some of the conclusions outlined here are confirmed, or even disproven, and the many knowledge gaps filled.
David N. Thomas
Anglesey, July 2020
Figure P.1 A view of the Arctic showing the Arctic Circle and human population density in red and large oil fields in black.
Source: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal. https://www.grida.no/resources/7143.
Denmark
Roskilde