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.