over 1,100 species live in Antarctica – but they’re at risk from human activity

It’s hard to survive in bitterly cold Antarctica. More than 1,100 species have found refuge on Antarctica’s ice continent, and they have successfully adapted to their lives on its land and in its waters.

Penguins are the most well known, but Antarctica’s diversity lies in its microbes and species like mosses, lichens and tardigrades (water bears). These animals survive in the few areas of Antarctica that are not covered by ice.

Our New researchProvides a complete inventory of Antarctic species. We believe it will help the 54 nations who are party to the Antarctic Treaty fulfil one of its major conservation goals – the continent-wide protection of Antarctic species.

Despite their toughness these species are under increasing threat from climate change, introduced species, human activities, and other factors. We need rapid and widespread protection for Antarctica’s biodiversity if these species are to survive.

How is it possible for so many species to live in Antarctica

Our inventory revealed 1,142 land-dwelling and lake-dwelling species which are currently known to be found on Antarctic continent. This list is dominated lichens, moses, and invertebrates which have evolved to thrive in extreme conditions.

These species have unique adaptations to live and thrive in this frozen desert. Temperatures below zero are the norm, and water is often frozen solid.

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The incredible ability of Antarctic mosses to freeze and Almost completely dry. They come back to life during the brief periods when it’s warm enough for ice to melt, and take advantage of liquid water to rehydrate and grow.

Tardigrades are known for being masters of survival. They can become very vulnerable to death when they are in a difficult situation. Some people have remained frozen Since over 30 yearsbefore they can recover and resume their normal lives as though nothing had happened.

There are also penguins. Five of the world’s 18 species Antarctica: Live in AntarcticaWith four additional species found on sub-Antarctic Islands, These birds are built to withstand the cold, with thick layers made of insulating fats and feathers to keep them warm.

Isn’t Antarctica already protected?

It’s a common belief that Antarctica is already highly protected. However, this is only true in certain areas.

In 1991, the Antarctic Treaty nations agreed to preserve the unique continent through the Madrid Protocol. This agreement set the foundations for a network of 75 protected areas – those with outstanding environmental, scientific, historic, aesthetic and wilderness value.

This approach helped conservation by restricting entry and limiting the activities of people, thereby protecting biodiversity. These issues includeWildlife disturbance, pollution, and introductions of invasive species.

But there are. still large gapsMany species remain unprotected.

One solution is already outlined in the Madrid Protocol: protect the “type localities” of each species. This is the place where the first specimen of a species was found and described. These specimens are critical for taxonomy as they act as the point-of-reference to check against unknown and ambiguous specimens.

Importantly, any species can be saved by protecting its type locality. This is even if we don’t know much about their distribution and habitat. This is particularly important for Antarctic species as the type locale is often the only known location of that species.

However, no Antarctic protected area has been established to preserve type localities. That’s where our research can help.

What should be done?

The reason there are no protected areas of this kind is because we haven’t had a comprehensive list of Antarctic species and their type localities. That’s why we undertook this research.

Once we had the complete list, we mapped all the type locations across the continent to determine how many of these sites were currently protected.

We found that more than 25% of all species (28%) have their type localities already protected for other purposes, such as scientific interests or wildlife colonies. That’s because they occur in the few and small ice free areas across the continent, where most of the existing protected areas have been created. The remaining 72% of the continent’s type localities are not protected in this way.

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This is a great time to protect these areas. We could protect many more species if we focus on areas with multiple types of localities.

We could expand this network over time. We estimate that another 105 protected areas could be added to cover all type localities.

To ensure that the type localities’ value is considered, we would also need to revise the plans for protected areas.

Longer term, we will need to embrace a systematic conservation framework across Antarctica to ensure the world’s last great wilderness remains full of life.