Invasive species threaten Antarctica; climate change and visitors boom blamed
Antarctic tourists and scientists may be inadvertently seeding the icy continent with invasive species, a new study says. Foreign plants such as annual bluegrass are establishing themselves on Antarctica, whose status as the coldest and driest continent had long made it one of the most pristine environments on Earth.
But a boom in tourism and research activities to the Antarctic Peninsula may be threatening the continent's unique ecosystems, scientists say.
For the study, ecologist Steven Chown at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and colleagues vacuumed the clothes, footwear, bags, and gear of approximately 2% of people who visited during the Antarctic summer from late 2007 to early 2008. That amounted to 853 scientists, tourists, and accompanying support workers and ships' crew members.
“Endless hours were spent vacuum-cleaning clothes and gear. ... If one is doing so on a ship underway on a rough ocean, it can take a strong stomach,” Chown recalled.
The results revealed more than 2,600 seeds and other detachable plant structures, or propagules, had hitched a ride to Antarctica on these visitors.
On average, tourists each carried two to three seeds, while scientists each carried six. However, the annual number of tourists now far outnumbers that of scientists, about 33.000 tourists to about 7.000 scientists in the 2007-2008 Antarctic summer. As a result, tourists and scientists likely pose similar risks overall to Antarctica, Chown said.
Disturbingly the scientists said that 49 to 61% of the foreign plant material that reaches Antarctica are cold-adapted species that can withstand and colonize in extreme conditions. The plants likely get stuck to cold-weather gear that travelers had used in other frigid climes prior to arriving to Antarctica.
For instance, Arctic species such as chickweed and yellow bog sedge have been found in Antarctica, according to the study, published March 5 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Based on the nature of these foreign species and the present climate of Antarctica, the areas at highest risk are the Antarctic Peninsula coast and surrounding islands, the study said.
According to climate projections for 2100 from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), invaders may also take root in the coastal, ice-free areas to the west of the Amery Ice Shelf and, to a lesser extent, in the Ross Sea region. What's more, rising temperatures along the Antarctic coast will likely aid these intruders' survival.
Even so, “it should not be imagined that Antarctica will suddenly be covered in flowering plants and weeds,” Chown said. “Much of it is still a very harsh place, and plants do not grow on ice, which still dominates the continent.”
Chown and his team also plan to present their work to the Committee for Environment Protection of the Antarctic Treaty.
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“The results revealed more than 2,600 seeds and other detachable plant structures, or propagules, had hitched a ride to Antarctica on these visitors.” They have the answer, where is global warming in all this?
In addition, once invasive species and seeds have been brought into the Antarctic, they will have more chance to grow in a longer and milder growing season.
I recall an article about 7ft killer penguins that lived in prehistoric Peru. I don't recall that having a GW mention.
As RedBaron points out, Antarctia is pretty inhospitable for plants (and everything else for that matter), but as the temperature rises then the overwhelming probability of any plant that tries to grow there dying is reduced slightly.
“Current global model studies project that the Antarctic ice sheet will remain too cold for widespread surface melting and is expected to gain in mass due to increased snowfall.”
BAS Press Release no.4/2005 23 Feb 2005
”The retreat of Antarctic ice shelves is not new according to research
published in the journal Geology by scientists from Universities of Durham, Edinburgh and British Antarctic Survey (BAS). A study of George VI Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula is the first to show
that this currently ‘healthy’ ice shelf experienced an extensive retreat about 9500 years ago, more than anything seen in recent years. The retreat coincided with a shift in ocean currents that occurred after a long period of warmth.“
Holocene Climate Changes Recorded in an East Antarctica Ice Core. NATO Advanced Research Series I, Volume 41, 263-279.
”A new history of oxygen isotopic ratios (18O) and atmospheric dust concentrations from central East Antarctica suggests that the high inland plateau has been dominated by a cooling trend for the last 4000 years. Superimposed upon this isotopically-inferred cooling were a number of warmer events, the largest and most persistent of which occurred 3600 yr.B.P, (before present), and lasted several centuries.”
Take away: Antarctica is not warming up.
That's not much of an argument is it.
''The climate is naturally variable and therefore....'' Well what? You appear to be offering up the fact that it was really rather warm in 3600 BP as proof that....well, something.
So are you saying that Antarctica is not warming up? Or that it is and that this is entirely natural? Or both?
Either way, you're completely missing the point. The issue is not whether climates around the world are changing rapidly ( they are), but how much of this is due to human influence.
You're entitled to your opinion about that.
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