Features of freshwater ecosystems of the Franz Josef Land archipelago

Russian High Arctic archipelagos still lack knowledge on the freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. Here, we present results of the freshwater bodies' survey of the nine islands in the Franz Josef Land archipelago, northeastern Barents Sea, carried out in August 2016. Freshwater lakes and streams along with associated coastal habitats were examined for hydrochemistry, elemental composition of sediments, microbiota, macrozoobenthos, flora and vegetation as well as ornithofauna. Despite the harsh climate conditions and ephemeral character of the freshwater bodies, there were a diverse microflora and macrozoobenthos. Macrozoobenthos consisted primarily of chironomid larvae (with highest abundances at 6644.4 specimens/m2 and wet biomass hereinafter referred biomass 3.1 g/m2) and enchytraeids (abundances up to 922.2 specimens/m2, biomass up to 0.2 g/m2); additionally, numerous mermitides were found in two sites; and tardigrades were found in a single water body. Grassmoss and moss communities in coastal habitats were described. We propose to include freshwater bodies of Franz Josef Land in the CBMP network, which at the moment lacks any monitoring sites in the Russian High Arctic, and has the only site at comparable latitudes in the Arctic Canada. Our results can be used as the background data on the freshwater environment and biodiversity for - further monitoring.