Long-range transport of pollutants and global warming are processes causing fundamental changes even in regions far from direct anthropogenic impact. Ecological, limnological and physiological studies on fish from high mountain lakes showed that the combination of both types of processes tends to endanger fish populations by leading to highly elevated metal accumulation. For instance, levels of cadmium and lead in the liver of Arctic char from a high mountain lake were comparable to those of fish from waters receiving metal-polluted industrial effluents. Water temperature has been shown to be the driving force of excessive metal accumulation in these fish.
Global climate change has become a critical problem during the second half of the 20^th century. Modeling of global temperature due to CO₂ increases (“Green house effects“) predicts the biggest increases in high mountain and polar regions in the next century. But both high-altitude and high-latitude lakes are very sensitive ecosystems where even slight environmental changes may substantially affect ecosystem function. Climate change could therefore severely impact fish populations in terms of their habitat and the changing rates of accumulation of both natural and man-made toxicants from water and diet. Why? An increase in global temperature would not only lead to rising water temperature during the ice-free period of lakes but also to a prolongation of the ice-free period. The combined action of these environmental events is likely to lead to an increase of metabolic rates which in turn would cause metal levels in fish to rise.
The overall aim of High Arctic 1997 - 2008, an on-going joint Austrian-Canadian research project, is the comparison of metal bioaccumulation and effects in fish from high mountain lakes with those in fish from high latitude lakes. This multi-year project, which is conducted at lakes near Resolute, Nunavut (Cornwallis Island, Somerset Island, Devon Island; click here to see map), involves close cooperation between scientists from the Institute of Zoology and Limnology (University of Innsbruck) and several Canadian research institutes .The research group is conducting detailed studies of the interactions between the bioaccumulation of metals in land-locked populations of Arctic char and lake water temperature and physico-chemical parameters, seasonality, and inter-annual climatic trends. Investigations include analysis of metals and organotoxicants, various biochemical indicators of stress in the fish, stable isotopes, population genetics and parasitological studies. Furthermore, sediment cores are taken from a number of lakes to compare temporal mercury trend in char with the sediment record of mercury input in the same Arctic lakes. Members of the Inuit community of Resolute have supplied invaluable help during sampling, sample preparation and shipping. Logistical support from Polar Continental Shelf Project Canada in the years 1997 - 2007 has been of vital importance to the past and continued success of the project.
The initial studies have confirmed that predictive relationships between lake water temperature (and seasonality) and metal uptake were similar for the high arctic lakes and the previously studied Austrian high alpine lakes. Furthermore, there were indications for a significant impact of the very strong 1998 El Niño event in the Canadian arctic on the fish populations studied. Thus, preliminary results illustrate that fish from high latitude and high altitude lakes could be used as sensitive indicators of the interactive effects of pollution and climate change around the globe. The study also has implications for human health because indigenous people in the Canadian high arctic are very dependent on local fisheries resources for food. Contaminant levels in fish in the Canadian arctic are a priority of several Canadian government departments, and this study will contribute useful information for exposure assessment.
The major component of the ongoing project will be the sampling of lakes along a latitudinal trend within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Furthermore, the organization of a “technical assistance“ training program aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills as well as the contribution to scientific and environmental impact studies of Inuit from communities in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is under discussion. The research and training being conducted with Inuit in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago builds on several years of preliminary work, funded primarily through the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, with much-needed support from the Polar Continental Shelf Project as well as the Northern Contaminants Program of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada. The researchers hope that increased funding for the training and research activities in the Canadian Arctic can be expanded to include many more Inuit participants and communities within the Archipelago, as well as a broader geographic cross-section of Archipelago lake ecosystems and char populations.

Being a new aspect of High Arctic, the "Lake Hazen Depth Sounding and Sediment Coring Project (HAZCOR) " has started in 2004. The aim of this ongoing project carried out in cooperation with Derek Muir and Charles Talbot (Environment Canada, Burlington) and Parks Canada is the development of a bathymetric map of Lake Hazen (Ellesmere Island, Quttinirpaaq National Park) and the use of sediment cores as archive of temporal trends of pollution in the Arctic. Support from Parks Canada in the years 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 has been of vital importance to the project.

The project is carried out within the framework IGBP-International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme.   

In the course of the past years, the scientific work of our research group received extensive media coverage both in Austria and abroad.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ON THAT TOPIC

RELATED LINKS:
    CANADA´S ARCTIC
    ARCTIC CIRCLE
    ARCTIC MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME (AMAP)
    ARCTIC CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT (ACIA)
    INTERNATIONAL GEOSPHERE-BIOSPHERE PROGRAMME (IGBP)
    INTERGOVERMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE (IPCC)
    THE NUNAVUT HANDBOOK
    NUNAVUT TOURISM

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Special thanks to: The community of Resolute (partic. Deborah Iqaluk, Terry Jesudason, Paddy Aqiatusuk, Saroomie Manik, Peter Amarualik, Dave Roberts), Bonni Hrycyk (PCSP Ottawa), Staff of PCSP Base Resolute (partic. Dave Maloley, Jerry McEachern, Helen Gordon, Debbie Clouthier, Shannon Partridge, Nicole Couture, George Benoit, Eric Osmond, Wally Benoit, Tim Norman, Derek Mueller), Resolute Hunters and Trappers Organisation, Tony Romito (Wildlife Office Resolute), Adam Perles (Resolute Weather Station), Nunavut Research Institute (Iqualuit), Vicki Sahanatien, Dennis Hache, Doug Stern, Blair Fyten (Parks Canada), Department of Fisheries and Oceans Winnipeg, Trevor Phillips (PraxAir Edmonton), Rudi Philips (First Air Cambridge Bay), Claudia Englbrecht (Zoologisches Institut München), Andrew Geggie (NAPL Ottawa), Irene Gabriel, Andreas Geisler & Christian Smoliner (BMBWK), Peter Koller & Roland Grill (Kulturabteilung des Landes Tirol), Canadian Embassy Vienna (partic. Paul Dubois, Roswitha Fritscher and Pierre Guimond), Austrian Embassy Ottawa (part. Walther Lichem), Air Canada, Austrian Airlines Group, Katja Haselwanter (AUA Innsbruck), Daniela Feichtner (Ökista Innsbruck), Ursula Mathis (Zentrum für Kanadastudien Innsbruck), Sonja Krusch (Veterinärverwaltung-BKA Wien), Georg Heiss (Zollstelle Flughafen Innsbruck),  Walter Rabl (GMI Innsbruck), and Wolfgang Wieser, Nikolaus Medgyesy, Hellmuth Forstner, Reinhard Lackner, Harald Pehofer (Institute of Zoology and Limnology-Department of Ecophysiology), Albert Jagsch, Hubert Gassner (Bundesanstalt für Wasserwirtschaft, Institut für Gewässerökologie, Fischereibiologie und Seenkunde, Scharfling), Wolfgang Beißkammer (AMIS Financial Consulting)
 

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