BIODIVERSITY OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

ABSTRACT: Global climate changes which has been observed over the recent years affects organisms occurring in the Arctic seas and the functioning of the whole maritime ecosystems there. The research note presents and briefl y analyses the biological diversity of the Arctic Ocean and the most important factors which change the relations between organisms and the environment in the Arctic. KEY WORDS: Arctic, biodiversity, climate change. Various scenarios of global change shown by IPCC and by a regional publication relating to the Arctic (ACIA 2005) in unison demonstrate that the biggest intensiveness of warming is already observed in the Arctic, especially in the area of Beaufort Sea and in the European Arctic. For organisms occurring in the Arctic seas and for the functioning of the whole maritime ecosystems there are three factors that are the most important: • thinning of the ice cover and lessening of the area which it takes; • a rise of sea water temperature; • an increase in the meltwater outfl ow from the (glacial) land causing a lowering of salinity level. Each of the above factors has a number of consequences which change the relations between organisms and the environment, e.g. a thinner, intersected with numerous canals drifting ice cover is favourable for the development of heliophilous