Dossier
North Pole (Arctic) and South Pole (Antarctica)
Our work in the Arctic and Antarctic pole regions has a wide variety of subjects, but has a shared focus on the important role of sea ice in sustaining the rich polar food webs. In this dossier you can find news, backgrounds and results of research of Wageningen University & Research in the North and South Pole region: WUR Polar.
South Pole research (Antarctica)
The work of researchers on Antarctica has a wide variety of subjects, from polar sea to sea ice and from krill to whales. This research is a Statutory Research Task (WOT) we perform for the Dutch ministry. This task follows from the Netherlands' consultative membership in the Antarctic Treaty, the international agreement for shared government of the Antarctic continent and Southern Oceans. Additional support is obtained from the Netherlands Polar Program of the Netherlands Science Foundation and from foreign host countries that kindly support logistics in our cooperative projects.
News about Antarctica
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Antarctica: balancing conservation and tourism in a fragile frontier
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From idea to breakthrough: twenty years of SUIT changes polar research
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Surface water sampling reveals large numbers of juvenile krill undetected by conventional monitoring methods
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Rare whale species observed during recent Antarctic expedition
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Diet young polar cod more varied than previously assumed
Projects about Antarctica
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ANTARC-SHIP: Fostering environmental stewardship among Antarctic tourism governance actors and institutions
The aim of the ANTARC-SHIP project is to examine to what extent, and how, environmental stewardship can be assessed, enhanced, and facilitated among... -
Fungi in boreal peatlands and polar regio
Fungi play a significant role in terrestrial ecosystem functioning as the main decomposers of the organic matter in soils and peatlands. Arctica and...
Alfred Wegener Institut
Read the book
Publications
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Occurrence of Psychrophilomyces antarcticus in the Arctic
Fungal Ecology (2025), Volume: 74 - ISSN 1754-5048 -
Spatio-temporal changes in the macrozooplankton community in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean during austral summers : A comparison between 1996 and 2018–2019
Progress in Oceanography (2025), Volume: 231 - ISSN 0079-6611 -
Exploring Polar Hydrocommons : A speculative counter-cartography of the poles
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Values and Principles in the Antarctic Treaty and the Environmental Protocol : An Overview and Categorization
The Yearbook of Polar Law (2024), Volume: 15, Issue: 1 - ISSN 1876-8814 - p. 285-308. -
Where the White Continent Is Blue : Deep Learning Locates Bare Ice in Antarctica
Geophysical Research Letters (2024), Volume: 51, Issue: 3 - ISSN 0094-8276 -
Toward Antarctification? Tourism and place-making in Antarctica
Polar Geography (2024), Volume: 47, Issue: 1 - ISSN 1088-937X - p. 49-70. -
Demography of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) from the KY1804 austral summer survey in the eastern Indian sector of the Southern Ocean (80 to 150˚E), including specific investigations of the upper surface waters
Frontiers in Marine Science (2024), Volume: 11 - ISSN 2296-7745 -
The use of weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information in the Polar Regions: What is known after the decade-long Polar Prediction Project?
Weather, Climate, and Society (2024), Volume: 16, Issue: 3 - ISSN 1948-8327 - p. 369-387. -
Consuming placelessness: a geographic critique of current Antarctic tourism development
Tourism Geographies (2024) - ISSN 1461-6688 -
Contrasting mechanisms of non-vascular and vascular plants on spatial turnover in multifunctionality in the Antarctic continent
Journal of Ecology (2024), Volume: 112, Issue: 7 - ISSN 0022-0477 - p. 1624-1637.
Video's about Antarctica
The Petrels
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Ice net SUIT
During the expeditions, the researchers are fishing with the ice net SUIT (Surface and Under Ice Trawl - SUIT). With this gear, the top layer of the water under the ice can be examined.
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North Pole research (Arctic)
With the receding sea-ice in the Arctic, an increase in human activities
such as shipping, oil and gas exploration, fisheries and tourism is
expected in this region. Wageningen University & Research conducts
impact assessments of these activities. This is needed to identify
relevant mitigation measures to minimise impacts of these activities and
to give advice to governments, industry and NGOs on sustainable
developments in the Arctic.
News about Arctic research
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From idea to breakthrough: twenty years of SUIT changes polar research
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Rare whale species observed during recent Antarctic expedition
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Diet young polar cod more varied than previously assumed
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Leeuwarden centre of Antarctic scientific consultation
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The reasons behind the rapid warming of the North Pole
Projects about the Arctic
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Arctic Marine Litter Project
Take a moment to visualise the Arctic: icebergs, snow-capped mountains, polar bears, walruses...But the truth is quite the opposite. Many of the... -
Sustainable Arctic Resource Use
This project aims to analyse the use of information in natural resource governance and management in the Arctic region.
Publications
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Earlier springs increase goose breeding propensity and nesting success at Arctic but not at temperate latitudes
Journal of Animal Ecology (2023), Volume: 92, Issue: 12 - ISSN 0021-8790 - p. 2399-2411. -
Mercury-Modulated Immune Responses in Arctic Barnacle Goslings (Branta leucopsis) upon a Viral-Like Immune Challenge
Environmental Science and Technology (2023), Volume: 57, Issue: 13 - ISSN 0013-936X - p. 5337-5348. -
The future of sustainable polar ship-based tourism
Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures (2023), Volume: 1 - ISSN 2754-7205 -
Public health and rodents : A game of cat and mouse
In: Zoonoses - Springer - ISBN: 9783031271632 - p. 915-928. -
Microbial Activity of Technosols Based on Peat-Sand Mixtures in Different Climatic Zones
In: Smart and Sustainable Urban Ecosystems: Challenges and Solutions - Cham: Springer - ISBN: 9783031372155 - p. 195-206. -
Migratory swans individually adjust their autumn migration and winter range to a warming climate
Global Change Biology (2023), Volume: 29, Issue: 24 - ISSN 1354-1013 - p. 6888-6899. -
Experiencing Svalbard sustainably? Reflecting on what we can learn about polar cruise tourism from the SEES expedition
The Polar Journal (2023), Volume: 13, Issue: 1 - ISSN 2154-896X - p. 177-185. -
Increased summer temperature is associated with reduced calf mass of a circumpolar large mammal through direct thermoregulatory and indirect, food quality, pathways
Oecologia (2023), Volume: 201 - ISSN 0029-8549 - p. 1123-1136. -
Biomes of the world under climate change scenarios : increasing aridity and higher temperatures lead to significant shifts in natural vegetation
PeerJ (2023), Volume: 11 - ISSN 2167-8359 -
Sustainable Squirrel Conservation : A Modern Reassessment of Family Sciuridae
