The BioBasic programme was initiated in 2007 by the National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, in cooperation with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

We established plots for monitoring reproductive phenology for four plants species: Silene acaulis, Salix glauca, Eriophorum angustifolium, and Loiseleuria procumbens. For each species four phenology observation plots were set up to cover the ecological amplitude of the species with respect to snow cover, soil moisture and altitude.

Weekly monitoring of CO2 flux between the soil/vegetation cover and the atmosphere was made in a mesic dwarf shrub heath dominated by Empetrum nigrum with Salix glauca as a sub-dominant species. The monitoring includes experimental plots to study the effects of increased shading from clouds and increased temperature.

Monitoring of the effect of UV-B radiation on plants was established by setting up five plots each with three treatments: Control, UV-B filter, and filter control in a mesic dwarf shrub heath dominated by Empetrum nigrum.

The permanent vegetation transect, the NERO-line, was established in order to monitor future changes in the location of boundary lines between vegetation zones and in the species composition of the plant communities. The NERO-line consists of three transects (the main transect, a short salt marsh transect, and a very short Deschampsia-Juncus transect). The total length of the main vegetation transect is approximately 3 km and it intersects 83 vegetation zones.

Furthermore, ground-truth data for vegetation mapping were sampled. The vegetation is classified into seven types (dwarf shrub heath, snow bed, herb slope, fen, early snow free grassland, lake/pond vegetation, and salt marsh) based on the species composition, physiognomy and species diversity in addition to water contents of the soil, expected snow cover and terrain aspects.

Four pitfall trap stations for arthropods were established in connection to three different plant phenology plots (Eriophorum, Salix glauca, and Silene acaulis). Further, one plot was established in Empetrum nigrum heath. Three microarthropod sampling plots, each with two replicates of three different plant phenology plots (Silene acaulis, Salix glauca and Empetrum nigrum), were established. Samples indicated that microarthropods are abundant at all three habitats, and 17 different collembolan species were recorded.

Data were collected on the distribution of birds, including some nests. The data will be compiled in a master thesis and published in 2008.

A monitoring programme was established for two lakes, one with arctic char at low altitude (“Badesøen”) and one presumably without arctic char at a higher altitude (“K2”). Four taxa of zooplankton larger than 140 mm were observed. Moss vegetation and macrophytes are found in the more shallow parts of ”Badesøen”, but is very sparse in comparative areas in ”K2”. In both lakes moss were found in the very near shore areas, and especially in ”Badesøen” it was common along the entire lake shore.