Biodiversity changes in Arctic coastal ecosystems under borealization
Climate change is playing a major role in the current global biodiversity crisis. However, despite climate change being most pronounced in the Arctic, its impacts on biodiversity in this region remains largely unknown. Here, we combined three decades of abundance data from various animal groups (from zooplankton to megafauna) and regions in the European Arctic and Greenland to assess recent changes in biodiversity within Arctic coastal communities. Our results support the "borealization" hypothesis in all regions and provide evidence that marine ecosystems in the North Atlantic Arctic are shifting toward a boreal (i.e. cold temperate) state. Arctic endemic species are generally declining in abundance, while boreal species are increasing. These changes in abundance are associated with an average increase in biodiversity (e.g. species richness), although there are important variations among animal groups. This increase might be transient and the long-term implications of the ongoing changes in Arctic coastal biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and services remain uncertain.
Authors
- KAI BISCHOF
- C. Lydersen
- Flemming Ravn Merkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3779-8012)
- Robert W. Schlegel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0705-1287)
- Laurène Mérillet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2838-8740)
- Nigel G. Yoccoz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2192-1039)
- Simon Jungblut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0056-7651)
- Paul E. Renaud (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3821-5974)
- Marika Marnela
- Anna Vader (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6566-4292)
- Christophe Sauser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8809-781X)
- Geir Helge Systad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9291-4517)
- Kit Maureen Kovacs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5878-4819)
- Børge Moe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2306-1899)
- Luisa Düsedau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2750-6437)
- Janne Søreide
- Jørgen Berge
- Anette Wold
- Arunima Sen
- Lis L Jørgensen
- Sveinn A Hanssen
- Sébastien Descamps
- Haakon Hop
- Allison Bailey
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (NO)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Collecte Localisation Satellites (France) (FR)
- Grønlands Naturinstitut (GL)
- Akvaplan-niva (NO)
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO)
- Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche (FR)
- University Centre in Svalbard (SJ)
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO)
- Norwegian Polar Institute (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PNAS Nexus
- Published
- 2026-01-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgag004
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Marine and fisheries research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 36.62