Circumpolar depiction of species richness based on the distributions of the 11 ice-associated Focal Ecosystem Components (according to the distributions reported in IUCN Red List species accounts). A maximum of nine species occur in any one geographic location. The Arctic gateways in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions have the highest species diversity. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/marine-mammals" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 152 - Figure 3.6.1

The Arctic Council’s 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) identified a number of recommendations to guide future action by the Arctic Council, Arctic States and others on current and future Arctic marine activity. Recommendation II C under the theme Protecting Arctic People and the Environment recommended: “That the Arctic states should identify areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance in light of changing climate conditions and increasing multiple marine use and, where appropriate, should encourage implementation of measures to protect these areas from the impacts of Arctic marine shipping, in coordination with all stakeholders and consistent with international law.” As a follow-up to the AMSA, the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) and Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working groups undertook to identify areas of heightened ecological significance, and the Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) undertook to identify areas of heightened cultural significance. The work to identify areas of heightened ecological significance builds on work conducted during the preparation of the AMAP (2007) Arctic Oil and Gas Assessment. Although it was initially intended that the identification of areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance would be addressed in a similar fashion, this proved difficult. The information available on areas of heightened cultural significance was inconsistent across the Arctic and contained gaps in data quality and coverage which could not be addressed within the framework of this assessment. The areas of heightened cultural significance are therefore addressed within a separate section of the report (Part B) and are not integrated with the information on areas of heightened ecological significance (Part A). In addition, Part B should be seen as instructive in that it illustrates where additional data collection and integration efforts are required, and therefore helps inform future efforts on identification of areas of heightened cultural significance. The results of this work provide the scientific basis for consideration of protective measures by Arctic states in accordance with AMSA recommendation IIc, including the need for specially designated Arctic marine areas as follow-up to AMSA recommendation IId. Reference: AMAP/CAFF/SDWG, 2013. Identification of Arctic marine areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance: Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment (AMSA) IIc. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo. 114 pp. Data avaiable from: source: <a href="http://www.amap.no/documents/doc/Identification-of-Arctic-marine-areas-of-heightened-ecological-and-cultural-significance-Arctic-Marine-Shipping-Assessment-AMSA-IIc/869" target="_blank">Identification of Arctic marine areas of heightened ecological and cultural significance</a>

Relative abundance of major eukaryote taxonomic groups found by high throughput sequencing of the small-subunit (18S) rRNA gene. Time series collected by sampling every 2-6 weeks in Amundsen Gulf of the Beaufort Sea over the winter-spring transition in 2007–2008. Sampling DNA gives information about presence/absence, while sampling RNA gives information about the state of activity of different taxa. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/plankton" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 72 - Figures 3.2.3

Seasonal abundance (1000 individuals m- 2) of sea ice meiofauna at landfast sea ice (Barrow, 2005-2006, A and C) and pack ice (North of Svalbard, 2015, B and D). A and B show larval stages (polychaete juveniles and nauplii, respectively), while C and D show nematodes and harpacticoid copepods, respectively. Circles represent individual cores (n = 107 for A and C, and 39 for B and D), shading the extent of minimum as well as maximum values, and blue line indicates mean values. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/sea-ice-biota" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 43 - Figure 3.1.5 From the report draft: "In addition to showing composition and peak abundance ranges, we illustrate the phenology of ice meiofauna over the ice-covered season in the entire combined data set. For this purpose, the data were normalized to the daylight hours at each location during the date of sampling using R package geosphere (Hijmans 2015) and a method described in Forsythe et al. (1995). This was necessary, because ‘spring’ arrives earlier at lower latitudes than at higher latitudes, so that using month or day of year would obscure the pan-Arctic integration of the data. Other influential factors such as snow depth, ice thickness and nutrient concentrations were not accounted for in this analysis."

<a href="http://caff.is/strategies-series/359-the-alaska-yukon-region-of-the-circumboreal-vegetation-map-cbvm" target="_blank"> <img width="150px" height="150px" alt="logo" align="left" hspace="10px" src="http://geo.abds.is/geonetwork/images/flora_logo.png"> </a>A map of boreal vegetation for the Alaska-Yukon region was developed to contribute to the circumboreal vegetation mapping (CBVM) project. The effort included developing a map of bioclimates with 12 bioclimate zones, a map of biogeographic provinces with Alaska-Yukon and Aleutian provinces, and a map of geographic sectors with six sectors that provided the basis for classification of boreal vegetation. Vegetation mapping was done at 1:7.5 million scale using the mapping protocols of the CBVM team. Mapping used MODIS imagery as the basis for manual image interpretation and an integrated-terrain-unit approach, which included classifications for bioclimate, physiography, generalized geology, permafrost, disturbance, growth from, geographic sector, and vegetation. Vegetation was mapped at two hierarchical levels: (1) formation group differentiating zonal and azonal systems; and (2) geographic sectors based on bioclimatic zonation and dominant species that characterize broad longitudinal regions or biogeographic provinces. Each of the 19 map units was described by identifying the dominant and characteristic species and its climatic and landscape characteristics, as well as references that relate to the unit.

Trends in abundance of plankton Focal Ecosystem Components across each Arctic Marine Area. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - Chapter 4 - Page 178 - Figure 4.2

Appendix 11. Taxa of hetorotrophic protists reported from Foxe Basin, Canada (FB), Disko Bay, W Greenland (DB; Vors 1993), the Greenland Sea (GLS; Ikävalko & Gradinger 1997) and Northern Baffin Bay, Canada (NBB; Lovejoy et al. 2002).

Abundance (birds/km2) of least auklets in four regions (see map) of the eastern Chukchi Sea, 1975-1981 and 2007-2012, based on at-sea surveys (archived in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database). Figures provided by Adrian Gall, ABR, Inc. and reprinted with permission. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/seabirds" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 138 - Box fig. 3.5.1 The shapefile outlines 4 regions of the eastern Chukchi Sea that were surveyed for seabirds during the open-water seasons of 1976-2012. We compared the density of seabirds in these regions among two time periods (1975-1981 and 2008-2012) to assess changes in seabird abundance over the past 4 decades. We also include a figure showing abundance of Least Auklets 1975-2012. Data are from the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database, maintained by the USGS (http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/biology/nppsd/index.php).

Figure 3.2.2a: Relative abundance of major eukaryote taxonomic groups found by high throughput sequencing of the small-subunit (18S) rRNA gene across Arctic Marine Areas. Figure 3.2.2b: Relative abundance of major eukaryote functional groups found by microscopy in the Arctic Marine Areas. STATE OF THE ARCTIC MARINE BIODIVERSITY REPORT - <a href="https://arcticbiodiversity.is/findings/plankton" target="_blank">Chapter 3</a> - Page 70 - Figures 3.2.2a and 3.2.2b

Appendix 9.7 Species list with full names of liverworts of Greenland according to Damsholt (2010, unpublished) including 22 families, 50 genera and 173 species.