BioBasis programme

The BioBasis programme monitors the dynamics of organisms and biological processes in the terrestrial and limnic ecosystems at Zackenberg and Nuuk. The BioBasis programme plays a central role in the development and implementation of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) http://www.caff.is/monitoring across the Arctic.

A large variety of species and processes across plant and animal populations and their interactions are monitored within the BioBasis programme, thereby documenting the inter-annual variation and resilience as well as the long-term trends. Emphasis is on biodiversity, abundance, reproduction and phenology as important components in the structure and functioning of the arctic ecosystems:

• Monitoring of flora (lichens, mosses and vascular) including species diversity, abundance and phenology, herbivory, and greening patterns.
• Monitoring of arthropod biodiversity and emergence phenology.
• Monitoring of birds including species diversity, abundance, and breeding phenology.
• Monitoring of mammals including species diversity, abundance and reproduction.
• Monitoring of freshwater biotic and abiotic dynamics, including biodiversity and phenology of phyto- and zoo-plankton, and abundance of fish as well as water chemistry.

Monitored parameters

Vegetation  Flowering phenology Plant community composition Plant community distribution and zonation ITEX and effect monitoring Arthropods and microarthropods Abundance Emergence phenology Herbivory rates Birds Abundance Reproductive phenology Reproduction and predation rates

Mammals Abundance Spatial distribution Reproduction and predation rates Lake flora and fauna Phytoplankton abundance and diversity Zooplankton abundance and diversity Fish stocks General Tissue sampling Plot-scale abiotic parameters