We now have two years of data collected by the BioBasis programme. Generally, there is a high consistency in data collected during the two years indicating that the data and the procedures used are reliable and sound.

The year 2009 had a later snowmelt than 2008. A preliminary review of data related to flowering and plant reproductive phenology indicate that 2009 was characterised by later flowering. However, flowering terminated at roughly the same time as in 2008 resulting in a shorter flowering season. The two species on sparsely vegetated plots, Silene acaulis and Loiseleuria procumbens, produced more flowers in 2009 than in 2008, while the two species on highly vegetated plots, Eriophorum angustifolium and Salix glauca, produced fewer flowers.

The general pattern is that vegetation greening (measured as NDVI) starts as soon as the snow has melted in June with a peak of greenness in mid-summer (20 July to 5 August) and a gradual decrease in greenness resulting in more or less bellshaped curves and gradually levelling off during autumn until the frost sets in.

Measurements of the land-atmosphere exchange of CO2 using the closed chamber technique, soil temperature, soil moisture and phenology of Salix glauca have been conducted weekly during June-September since 2008. All plots generally functioned as sinks of CO2. The net CO2 uptake was generally higher in control plots compared with plots with increased temperature and plots with shading. These results show the initial response of the heath ecosystem to the treatments, and may not be indicative of long-term trends. It is thus important to run the experiment for several years to be able to study possible changes over time.

Arthropods were sampled during the period 28 May to 2 October. No identifications of specimens have been carried out yet. Soil characterisation of the microarthropods plots was completed showing signifi cant differences between plots. Extraction efficiency was satisfactory and species determinations have been doublechecked with good results. There is a striking absence of epigeic collembolans, which may probably be a common feature of many arctic tundras and heaths. The Salix and Empetrum plots were very similar in terms of abundance and diversity when comparing the two sampling years 2007 and 2009. Only few distinct phenological patterns were detected in the data over the two to three months sampling period.

The most common breeding passerine bird species were snow bunting and Lapland bunting with about 20 territories each. Only one territory of northern wheatear was observed and two to five redpoll individuals were seen. Censuses from bird observation points revealed fewer birds in 2009 compared to 2008.

Lake ecology is studied in two lakes: Badesø (with fish) and Qassi-sø (without fish). Nutrient levels are generally low in the two lakes. However, in 2009 especially nitrogen levels were lower than in 2008. In contrast, the Secchi depth decreased in Badesø in 2009, whereas it increased, as expected, in Qassi-sø from 2008 to 2009. Temperature differs slightly with the lowest temperature in Qassi-sø. In Qassi-sø the zooplankton biomass was, in general, higher than in Badesø. The ratio between zooplankton and phytoplankton is higher in Qassi-sø than in Badesø. This reflects the fish predation on the zooplankton in Badesø, which in turn are less effective in grazing the phytoplankton.