BioBasis Zackenberg

As part of Greenland Ecosystem Monitoring, BioBasis Zackenberg monitors key species and key processes across plant and animal populations and their interactions within the terrestrial and limnic ecosystems at Zackenberg, thereby documenting the intra- and inter-annual variation, resilience and long-term trends. Emphasis is on biodiversity, abundance and composition, phenology, reproduction and predation as important components in the structure and functioning of the high arctic ecosystems:

1. Flora (phytoplankton, lichens, mosses and vascular plants), including species diversity, community composition, abundance and phenology, herbivory, and greening patterns.
2. Invertebrates (zooplankton, arthropods) biodiversity, community composition, abundance and emergence phenology.
3. Vertebrates (fish , birds and mammals), including species diversity, community composition, abundance, breeding phenology, and predation.
Additional biotic (e.g. NDVI) and abiotic parameters (e.g. snow-melt patterns, soil moisture and water chemistry) related to biota are monitored, complementing other subprograms.

BioBasis aims at maintaining the integrity of the long core time series available from Zackenberg, whilst developing the monitoring to embrace new methodologies and questions.