Exploring Climate Change, Geopolitics, Marine Archeology, and Ecology in the Arctic Ocean Through Wood-Boring Bivalves

We present the first record of a wood-boring, deep-sea mollusk belonging to the genus Xyloredo from the high Arctic. Wood-boring mollusks of the genus Teredo have previously sporadically been documented in the Arctic, but only in shallow waters strongly affected by relative warm Atlantic waters. Our finding not only identifies a new and until now unknown member of the Arctic marine bottom fauna but also points to the fact that historical shipwrecks in the region may not be as well preserved as we thought. Further, this study demonstrates how the natural and cultural histories of the Arctic are deeply intertwined, necessitating interdisciplinary approaches to uncover connections and insights across domains that might otherwise remain obscure. Specifically, we demonstrate how the discovery of wood-boring mollusks, inside a Siberian larch that sprouted in the Yenisei region in 1652 and recovered in a bottom trawl offshore Svalbard, is directly linked to the Transpolar Drift. Analyzing how a tree ends up in a Svalbard fjord more than 100 years after its death in 1904 also provides insights into how the logging industry in Siberia has significantly influenced human presence on and the history of Svalbard. Without extensive logging in Siberia, far less driftwood would have reached Svalbard during the last 100 years. Hence, there would have been fewer wood falls to attract the wood-eating bivalves in its ecosystem, and as driftwood has been an important resource for firewood and building materials, Svalbard’s human history would most likely have been different.