The high Arctic is thought to be biologically quiescent during the long 'polar night' — the winter months when the Sun never rises. But Jørgen Berge at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø and his colleagues have discovered a surprising level of biological activity.

During three winters in the cold and dark in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, the team recorded, for example, growing bivalves, foraging seabirds, scavenging crabs and reproducing and respiring zooplankton.

The ecosystem seems to thrive without photosynthesis by relying on energy that has been stored or brought in with Atlantic water.

Curr. Biol. http://doi.org/7xd (2015)