A snapshot of biodiversity protection in Antarctica. ...

Threats to Antarctic biodiversity are escalating, despite its remoteness and protection under the Antarctic Treaty. Increasing human activity, pollution, biological invasions and the omnipresent impacts of climate change all contribute, and often combine, to exert pressure on Antarctic ecosystems an...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wauchope, Hannah S, Shaw, Justine D, Terauds, Aleks
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2019
Subjects:
Animals
Antarctic Regions
Biodiversity
Birds
Climate Change
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Environmental Pollution
Human Activities
Humans
Invertebrates
Lichens
Plants
Species Specificity
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.59096
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/312000
Description
Summary:Threats to Antarctic biodiversity are escalating, despite its remoteness and protection under the Antarctic Treaty. Increasing human activity, pollution, biological invasions and the omnipresent impacts of climate change all contribute, and often combine, to exert pressure on Antarctic ecosystems and environments. Here we present a continent-wide assessment of terrestrial biodiversity protection in Antarctica. Despite Antarctic Specially Protected Areas covering less than 2% of Antarctica, 44% of species (including seabirds, plants, lichens and invertebrates) are found in one or more protected areas. However, protection is regionally uneven and biased towards easily detectable and charismatic species like seabirds. Systematic processes to prioritize area protection using the best available data will maximize the likelihood of ensuring long-term protection and conservation of Antarctic biodiversity. ...

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