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Comprehensive assessments of contemporary diatom distributions across the Arctic remain scarce. Furthermore, studies tracking species compositional differences across space and time, as well as diatom responses to climate warming, are mainly limited to paleolimnological studies due to a lack of routine monitoring in lakes and streams across vast areas of the Arctic.The study aims to provide a spatial assessment of contemporary species distributions across the circum‐Arctic, establish contemporary biodiversity patterns of diatom assemblages to use as reference conditions for future biomonitoring assessments, and determine pre‐industrial baseline conditions to provide historical context for modern diatom distributions.Diatom assemblages were assessed using information from ongoing regulatory monitoring programmes, individual research projects, and from surface sediment layers obtained from lake cores. Pre‐industrial baseline conditions as well as the nature, direction and magnitude of changes in diatom assemblages over the past c.200 years were determined by comparing surface sediment samples (i.e. containing modern assemblages) with a sediment interval deposited prior to the onset of significant anthropogenic activities (i.e. containing pre‐1850 assemblages), together with an examination of diatoms preserved in contiguous samples from dated sediment cores.We identified several biotypes with distinct diatom assemblages using contemporary diatom data from both lakes and streams, including a biotype typical for High Arctic regions. Differences in diatom assemblage composition across circum‐Arctic regions were gradual rather than abrupt. Species richness was lowest in High Arctic regions compared to Low Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions, and higher in lakes than in streams. Dominant diatom taxa were not endemic to the Arctic. Species richness in both lakes and streams reached maximum values between 60°N and 75°N but was highly variable, probably reflecting differences in local and regional environmental factors and possibly sampling effort.We found clear taxon‐specific differences between contemporary and pre‐industrial samples that were often specific to both ecozone and lake depth. Regional patterns of species turnover (β‐diversity) in the past c.200 years revealed that regions of the Canadian High Arctic and the Hudson Bay Lowlands to the south showed most compositional change, whereas the easternmost regions of the Canadian Arctic changed least. As shown in previous Arctic diatom studies, global warming has already affected these remote high latitude ecosystems.Our results provide reference conditions for future environmental monitoring programmes in the Arctic. Furthermore, diatom taxa identification and harmonisation require improvement, starting with circum‐Arctic intercalibrations. Despite the challenges posed by the remoteness of the Arctic, our study shows the need for routine monitoring programmes that have a wide geographical coverage for both streams and lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic freshwaters support biota adapted to the harsh conditions at these latitudes, but the climate is changing rapidly and so are the underlying environmental filters. Currently, we have limited understanding of broad‐scale patterns of Arctic riverine biodiversity and the correlates of α‐ and β‐diversity.Using information from a database set up within the scope of the Arctic Council's Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Plan, we analysed patterns and correlates of α‐ and β‐diversity in benthic diatom and macroinvertebrate communities across northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We analysed variation in total β‐diversity and its replacement and richness difference components in relation to location of the river reach and its drainage basin (Baltic Sea in the south, the Barents Sea in the east and the north, and the Norwegian Sea in the west), in addition to climate and environmental variables.In both macroinvertebrates and diatoms, the replacement and richness difference components showed wide variation. For macroinvertebrates, the richness difference component was the more important, whereas for diatoms, the replacement component was the more important in contributing to variation in β‐diversity. There was no significant difference in β‐diversity between the three main drainage basins, but species composition differed among the drainage basins.Based on the richness difference component of β‐diversity, climate variables were most strongly associated with community variation in macroinvertebrates. In diatoms, both environmental and climate variables were strongly correlated with community compositional variation. In both groups, there were also significant differences in α‐diversity among the three main drainage basins, and several taxa were significant indicators of one of these drainage basins. Alpha diversity was greater in areas with a continental climate, while the oceanic areas in the west harboured greatly reduced flora and fauna.The correlates of biodiversity were relatively similar in macroinvertebrates and diatoms. Climate variables, in particular temperature, were the most strongly associated with biodiversity patterns in the Arctic rivers of Fennoscandia. Sedimentary geology may be associated with increased productivity and, to a lesser extent, with sensitivity to acidification. There was considerable variation in community composition across Arctic Fennoscandia, indicating the necessity of protecting several stream reaches or even whole catchments within each region to conserve total riverine biodiversity. Furthermore, it is likely that the predicted changes in temperature in Arctic areas will influence riverine diversity patterns across Fennoscandia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic and sub‐Arctic lakes in northern Europe are increasingly threatened by climate change, which can affect their biodiversity directly by shifting thermal and hydrological regimes, and indirectly by altering landscape processes and catchment vegetation. Most previous studies of northern lake biodiversity responses to environmental changes have focused on only a single organismal group. Investigations at whole‐lake scales that integrate different habitats and trophic levels are currently rare, but highly necessary for future lake monitoring and management.We analysed spatial biodiversity patterns of 74 sub‐Arctic lakes in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Faroe Islands with monitoring data for at least three biological focal ecosystem components (FECs)—benthic diatoms, macrophytes, phytoplankton, littoral benthic macroinvertebrates, zooplankton, and fish—that covered both pelagic and benthic habitats and multiple trophic levels.We calculated the richnessrelative (i.e. taxon richness of a FEC in the lake divided by the total richness of that FEC in all 74 lakes) and the biodiversity metrics (i.e. taxon richness, inverse Simpson index (diversity), and taxon evenness) of individual FECs using presence–absence and abundance data, respectively. We then investigated whether the FEC richnessrelative and biodiversity metrics were correlated with lake abiotic and geospatial variables. We hypothesised that (1) individual FECs would be more diverse in a warmer and wetter climate (e.g. at lower latitudes and/or elevations), and in hydrobasins with greater forest cover that could enhance the supply of terrestrial organic matter and nutrients that stimulated lake productivity; and (2) patterns in FEC responses would be coupled among trophic levels.Results from redundancy analyses showed that the richnessrelative of phytoplankton, macrophytes, and fish decreased, but those of the intermediate trophic levels (i.e. macroinvertebrates and zooplankton) increased with decreasing latitude and/or elevation. Fish richnessrelative and diversity increased with increasing temporal variation in climate (temperature and/or precipitation), ambient nutrient concentrations (e.g. total nitrogen) in lakes, and woody vegetation (e.g. taiga forest) cover in hydrobasins, whereas taxon richness of macroinvertebrates and zooplankton decreased with increasing temporal variation in climate.The similar patterns detected for richnessrelative of fish, macrophytes, and phytoplankton could be caused by similar responses to the environmental descriptors, and/or the beneficial effects of macrophytes as habitat structure. By creating habitat, macrophytes may increase fish diversity and production, which in turn may promote higher densities and probably more diverse assemblages of phytoplankton through trophic cascades. Lakes with greater fish richnessrelative tended to have greater average richnessrelative among FECs, suggesting that fish are a potential indicator for overall lake biodiversity.Overall, the biodiversity patterns observed along the environmental gradients were trophic‐level specific, indicating that an integrated food‐web perspective may lead to a more holistic understanding of ecosystem biodiversity in future monitoring and management of high‐latitude lakes. In future, monitoring should also focus on collecting more abundance data for fish and lower trophic levels in both benthic and pelagic habitats. This may require more concentrated sampling effort on fewer lakes at smaller spatial scales, while continuing to sample lakes distributed along environmental gradients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Phosphorus (P) often limits the biomass of primary producers in freshwater lakes. However, in unproductive northern lakes, where anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition is low, N instead of P can limit primary producers. In addition, light can be limiting to primary producers at high concentrations of coloured dissolved organic matter (cDOM), as cDOM is the major determinant of light penetration in these lakes. To address resource limitation of epilithic algal biomass, we repeatedly sampled epilithon (periphyton on stony substrata) in 20 lakes covering a large, correlated cDOM and N‐deposition gradient across boreal and subarctic Sweden. Across these lakes, pelagic total N (TN) and total P (TP) were positively correlated, and benthic light supply was negatively correlated, with cDOM. Microscopically determined algal biovolume and epilithic carbon (C), N and P were subsequently regressed against benthic light supply and pelagic TN and TP. Patterns in epilithic biovolume were driven by N2‐fixing cyanobacteria, which accounted for 2%–90% of total epilithic biovolume. Averaged over the growing season, epilithic algal biovolume, C and N were negatively related to TP and positively to TN, and were highest in the clearest, most phosphorus‐poor lakes, where epilithon was heavily dominated by potentially N2‐fixing cyanobacteria. A structural equation model supports the hypothesis that cDOM had two counteracting effects on total epilithic algal biovolume: a positive one by providing N to algae that depend on dissolved N for growth, and a negative one by shading N2‐fixing cyanobacteria, with the negative effect being somewhat stronger. Together, these findings suggest that (1) light and N are the main resources limiting epilithic algal biomass in boreal to subarctic Swedish lakes, (2) epilithic cyanobacteria are more competitive in high‐light and low‐nitrogen environments, where their N2‐fixing ability allows them to reach high biomass, and (3) epilithic N increases with N2 fixer biomass and is—seemingly paradoxically—highest in the most oligotrophic lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]