In the extreme conditions of the archipelago, there is quite a variety of flora and fauna.

Species that inhabit the island have adapted to the harsh Arctic climate, with its peculiarities. Russian scientists have summed up the results of many years of work to study the local inhabitants.

They have compiled an updated list of cyanobacteria of the archipelago. They number 85 species, and among them, one unknown to science so far, has been found. It is called Nodosilinea svalbardensis. Cyanobacteria secrete oxygen during metabolism and thus affect all biological chains. They inhabited the Earth billions of years ago, and the existence of the atmosphere in its present form without them would be impossible.

In addition to bacteria, specialists have catalogued mosses and lichens, among which they also found a new species - Lophozia svalbardensis. These tiny organisms form the basis for all the plants and animals inhabiting Svalbard. The quantitative and qualitative composition of the found lichen colonies makes it possible to determine global and local climatic changes.

"Mapping and compilation of electronic databases is an important part of the work, which in the future will help to study the existence and evolution of the ecosystem of the Polar region", - representatives of the Polar-Alpine Institute of RAS believe.