Abstract:

The Chinese Yellow River Station in Ny-Ålesund, Arctic Svalbard, is an ideal area for monitoring and studying the response of ecosystems to global change. Since its foundation in 2004, Chinese scientists have established a marine transect in Kongsfjorden and 11 terrestrial vegetation quadrats for monitoring, and projects on pollution and bird population evolution. Key research findings include: (1) species replacement is obvious in areas of glacial retreat, with mosses like Warnstorfia exannulata well reflecting variations in air temperature at the same period; (2) Bacterial strains have been isolated and 3 new genus and 21 new species have been discovered; (3) Kongsfjorden nanoplankton diversity is high, and during summer limited by surface-water nitrogen levels; (4) microalgae is highly adapted to temperature, and, by self-regulation, capable of adapting to environmental change; (5) tundra plants accumulate heavy metals, with atmospheric transmission the main pathway for persistent organic pollutant (POPs) population; and (6) since arriving in Ny-Ålesund 9 400 years ago, bird abundance has fluctuated with the maximum arriving 7 650 year ago. In the coming decades, the monitoring of marine transect and vegetaion quadrats should continue in order to know the trandency of population variations; meanwhile, combine the monitoring of atmosphere, glacier, plants and marine, carry out the study on atmosphere-ice-land-marine interation and form unique research feature.

Key words: Arctic, Yellow River Station, ecosystem, environment, study progress