A catalogue of the terrestrial and marine animals of Svalbard

The Arctic hosts a minor, but unique componenof global biodiversity in that it contains endemic species and unique ecological processes and adaptations caused by a short growing seasona long and cold winter during which completedarkness reigns for a period which correlatewith latitude (with equivalent periods of midnight sun each summer), and sea ice. Althoughthe Arctic has relatively few species, the genetic diversity of many of these species is high, creating a mosaic of distinct populations and subspecies (Groombridge & Jenkins 2000; CAFF 2001)Knowledge of individual species and their distributions is fundamental in all ecological investigations. As biodiversity is lost across the globe(Wall et al. 2001), it becomes urgently
importanto document what species are present.