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Changes in Arctic vegetation can have important implications for trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning leading to climate feedbacks. Plot-based vegetation surveys provide detailed insight into vegetation changes at sites around the Arctic and improve our ability to predict the impacts of environmental change on tundra ecosystems. Here, we review studies of changes in plant community composition and phenology from both long-term monitoring and warming experiments in Arctic environments. We find that Arctic plant communities and species are generally sensitive to warming, but trends over a period of time are heterogeneous and complex and do not always mirror expectations based on responses to experimental manipulations. Our findings highlight the need for more geographically widespread, integrated, and comprehensive monitoring efforts that can better resolve the interacting effects of warming and other local and regional ecological factors.

This review provides a synopsis of the main findings of individual papers in the special issue Terrestrial Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing Arctic. The special issue was developed to inform the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report developed by the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), Arctic Council working group. Salient points about the status and trends of Arctic biodiversity and biodiversity monitoring are organized by taxonomic groups: (1) vegetation, (2) invertebrates, (3) mammals, and (4) birds. This is followed by a discussion about commonalities across the collection of papers, for example, that heterogeneity was a predominant pattern of change particularly when assessing global trends for Arctic terrestrial biodiversity. Finally, the need for a comprehensive, integrated, ecosystem-based monitoring program, coupled with targeted research projects deciphering causal patterns, is discussed.

Introduction. Crop wild relatives (CWR) play an important role in combatting threats to global food security and the adverse effects of climate change on food production. At the same time, climate change is predicted to lead to significant challenges for species survival, including Nordic CWR taxa. Aim. The modelling of future climate scenario effects on Nordic priority CWR taxa was undertaken to set priorities for in situ and ex situ conservation for both species and areas. Methods. We modelled the effect of future climate change on suitable habitats for 84 taxa under two CMIP6 Shared Socio-economic Pathways scenarios (SSP 2-4.5, and SSP 5-8.5). The present potential distribution range was compared to the status by year 2100. Results. The results revealed that even modest climate change causes negative effects in many species. There was large variation among the species’ responses to climate change, but over half of the taxa showed a reduction in suitable future habitats under both SSP scenarios. Threatened and mountainous species appear to be more negatively affected than the rest of the priority CWR taxa. Conclusions. We recommend in situ conservation with active management of Nordic CWR, prioritizing ex situ collection for species vulnerable to climate change. In addition, regular monitoring of CWR populations is essential to detect diversity loss and guide management, and a comprehensive Nordic CWR in situ network, integrated with ex situ conservation, is critical for long-term species survival.

The Arctic is undergoing biological and environmental changes, and a coordinated effort to monitor is critical to detect these changes. The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP) of the Arctic Council biodiversity working group, Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), has developed pan-Arctic biodiversity monitoring plans that aims to improve the ability to detect and report on long-term changes. Whilst introducing this special issue, this paper also presents the making of the terrestrial monitoring plan and discusses how the plan follows the steps required for an adaptive and ecosystem-based monitoring programme. In this article, we discuss how data on key findings can be used to inform circumpolar and global assessments, including the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity Report, which will be the first terrestrial assessment made by the CBMP. Key findings, advice for future monitoring and lessons learned will be used in planning next steps of pan-Arctic coordinated monitoring.

The SLU Swedish Species Information Centre (SSIC, SLU Artdatabanken) accumulates, analyses and disseminates information concerning species and habitats occurring in Sweden. The SSIC provides an open access biodiversity reporting and analysis infrastructure including the Swedish Species Observation System, the Swedish taxonomic backbone Dyntaxa, and tools for species information including traits, terminology, quality assurance and species identification.*1 The content is available to scientists, conservationists and the public. All systems, databases, APIs and web applications, rely on recognized standards to ensure interoperability. The SSIC is a leading partner within the Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure (SBDI). Here we present a data flow (Fig. 1) that exemplifies the strengthening of the cooperation and transfer of experiences between research, community, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), citizen science and governmental agencies, and also presents solutions to current data challenges (e.g., data fragmentation, taxonomic issues or platform relations). This data flow aimed to facilitate the process for evaluating and understanding the distribution and spread of species (e.g., invasive alien species). It provides Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data and links related information between different parties such as universities, NGOs, county administrative boards (CABs) and environmental protection agencies (EPAs). The digital structure is built on the national Swedish taxonomic backbone Dyntaxa, which prevents data fragmentation due to taxonomic issues and acts as a common standard for all users. The chain of information contains systems, tools and a linked data flow for reporting observations, verification procedures, and it can work as an early warning system for surveillance regarding certain species. After an observation is reported, an alert can be activated, field checks can be carried out, and if necessary, eradication measures can be activated. The verification tool that traditionally has been focused on the quality of species identification has been improved, providing verification of geographic precision. This is equally important for eradication actions as is species accuracy. A digital catalogue  of eradication methods is in use by the CABs but there are also recommendations on methods for ‘public’ use, and collaboration between Invasive Alien Species (IAS) coordinators in regional CABs is currently being developed. The CABs have a separate tool for documentation of eradication measures and, if/when measures are carried out (by CABs), this information can be fed back from the CAB-tool into the database in SSIC where it is possible to search for, and visualize, this information. Taxonomic integrity over time should be intact and related to the taxon identifier (ID) provided by Dyntaxa. However, metadata, such as geographic position, date, verification status, mitigation results, etc., will be fully used when reporting under the IAS Regulation 1143/2014 (EU). The development of the digital structure is a collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (Havs-och Vattenmyndigheten).

The SLU Swedish Species Information Centre (SSIC, SLU Artdatabanken) accumulates, analyses and disseminates information concerning species and habitats occurring in Sweden. The work is frequently carried out in cooperation with various experts and non-governmental organisations. The SSIC produces the Swedish Red List of threatened species and works on commission by the Government and other authorities within the field of Swedish biodiversity, e.g. risk assessment of invasive alien species (IAS) and the Habitats Directive. Since 2002, when the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative (STI) was established, the SSIC is commissioned by the Swedish Parliament to identify and describe all species of multicellular plants, fungi and animals in Sweden and to make the information available to scientists, conservationists and the public. The SSIC provides an open access biodiversity reporting and analysis infrastructure including for example the Swedish Species Observation System, the Swedish taxonomic backbone Dyntaxa and tools for species information including traits, terminology and species identification (artfakta.se). All systems, including the Swedish LifeWatch (SLW) Analysis Portal, rely on recognized standards to ensure interoperability and consist of databases, APIs and web applications. In addition, the SSIC was the leading partner within the former SLW consortium and now cooperates in the Swedish Biodiversity Data Infrastructure and the Living Atlases Community. In the first example we show what data from Hygrophorus , one of the genera where taxon concepts are mapped within Fennoscandia, is available in the SSIC web applications and hence what kind of data could be shared, based on the ongoing collaboration within the Nordic Taxonomy Initiatives. The Hygrophorus data consists of a identification key, descriptions (characters, distribution, ecology), names & classification, nature conservation lists (for red listed species descriptions of threats, conservation measures and assessments). Furtheremore, there are different classfications for filter functions ( e.g. landscape type, habitat, substrate, ecological group, mycorrhiza/symbiosis), an image gallery and observation maps generated from sightings. Most come from Artportalen, which in total contains more than 93,000,000 georeferenced observations, along with 3,000,000 images, videos or sounds of some 37,000 species from Sweden. Observation records are harvested by the national Species Observation System (SOS) (serving, amongst others, the Swedish authorities with data) and by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The SSIC also offers tool for image-based species identification, collaborating with PlantNet and Artsoraklet/Naturalis. The second example demonstrates the Swedish network and collaboration on invasive alien species (IAS), which is another example of species information of international interest when it comes to sharing and vizualiazing data. In collaboration with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (Havs- och vattenmyndigheten) a reporting system focusing firstly on the species listed in the IAS Regulation 1143/2014 (EU) has been developed in Sweden (invasivaarter.nu). Here, anyone can report an observation of one of these species, with information on geographic position, date and a photo. This information will be directed to a network of experts verifying both the species identification and the place, if necessary in dialogue with the reporting individual. Once verified occurrence data is published, responsible authorities (often County Administrative Boards, CABs) can carry out field checks and, if necessary, instigate appropriate eradication measures. A digital catalogue of such eradication methods is under development and collaboration between IAS coordinators in regional CABs is being established. The CABs have a separate tool for documentation of eradication measures and since the beginning of this year the complete digital chain is working, from observation to documentation of eradication measures taken. If/when measures are carried out (by CABs) this information is fed back from the CAB-tool into the database in SSIC where it is possible to search for and visualize this information.