ABSTRACT
Global warming facilitates intrusion of invasive alien species into the Polar Regions putting endemic polar species under further pressure. On the one hand, polar biodiversity may be better adapted to climate variability and change than biodiversity in most other biomes, but on the other, the speed and expected magnitude of the present global warming may exceed what it can sustain. Contamination of Arctic animals with heavy metals and other toxic substances has long been of concern, especially as humans in many regions live off marine predators that have relatively higher levels of contaminants that accumulate in humans. In the Antarctic, contaminants in wildlife originating from human activities are at much lower levels compared to the Arctic and 'only' local effects of rubbish dumps are seen. In the terrestrial Arctic, increased UV-B radiation has negative consequences for plants and has been shown to affect the resource availability, productivity and trophic interactions and dynamics of freshwater organisms as well.
