Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems
Antarctica, an isolated and long considered pristine wilderness, is becoming increasingly exposed to the negative effects of ship-borne human activity, and especially the introduction of invasive species. Here, we provide a comprehensive quantitative analysis of ship movements into Antarctic waters...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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National Academy of Sciences
2022
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530612 2023-05-15T13:41:45+02:00 Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems McCarthy, Arlie H. Peck, Lloyd S. Aldridge, David C. 2022-01-18 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/1/McCarthy_2022_PNAS_AAM_combined_with_SI.pdf https://www.pnas.org/content/119/3/e2110303118 en eng National Academy of Sciences https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/1/McCarthy_2022_PNAS_AAM_combined_with_SI.pdf McCarthy, Arlie H. orcid:0000-0001-7423-4342 Peck, Lloyd S. orcid:0000-0003-3479-6791 Aldridge, David C. 2022 Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (3), e2110303118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118 <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118> cc_by_nc_nd_4 CC-BY-NC-ND Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118 2023-02-04T19:52:16Z Antarctica, an isolated and long considered pristine wilderness, is becoming increasingly exposed to the negative effects of ship-borne human activity, and especially the introduction of invasive species. Here, we provide a comprehensive quantitative analysis of ship movements into Antarctic waters and a spatially explicit assessment of introduction risk for nonnative marine species in all Antarctic waters. We show that vessels traverse Antarctica’s isolating natural barriers, connecting it directly via an extensive network of ship activity to all global regions, especially South Atlantic and European ports. Ship visits are more than seven times higher to the Antarctic Peninsula (especially east of Anvers Island) and the South Shetland Islands than elsewhere around Antarctica, together accounting for 88% of visits to Southern Ocean ecoregions. Contrary to expectations, we show that while the five recognized “Antarctic Gateway cities” are important last ports of call, especially for research and tourism vessels, an additional 53 ports had vessels directly departing to Antarctica from 2014 to 2018. We identify ports outside Antarctica where biosecurity interventions could be most effectively implemented and the most vulnerable Antarctic locations where monitoring programs for high-risk invaders should be established. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) Anvers Island ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean The Antarctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
Antarctica, an isolated and long considered pristine wilderness, is becoming increasingly exposed to the negative effects of ship-borne human activity, and especially the introduction of invasive species. Here, we provide a comprehensive quantitative analysis of ship movements into Antarctic waters and a spatially explicit assessment of introduction risk for nonnative marine species in all Antarctic waters. We show that vessels traverse Antarctica’s isolating natural barriers, connecting it directly via an extensive network of ship activity to all global regions, especially South Atlantic and European ports. Ship visits are more than seven times higher to the Antarctic Peninsula (especially east of Anvers Island) and the South Shetland Islands than elsewhere around Antarctica, together accounting for 88% of visits to Southern Ocean ecoregions. Contrary to expectations, we show that while the five recognized “Antarctic Gateway cities” are important last ports of call, especially for research and tourism vessels, an additional 53 ports had vessels directly departing to Antarctica from 2014 to 2018. We identify ports outside Antarctica where biosecurity interventions could be most effectively implemented and the most vulnerable Antarctic locations where monitoring programs for high-risk invaders should be established. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McCarthy, Arlie H. Peck, Lloyd S. Aldridge, David C. |
spellingShingle |
McCarthy, Arlie H. Peck, Lloyd S. Aldridge, David C. Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
author_facet |
McCarthy, Arlie H. Peck, Lloyd S. Aldridge, David C. |
author_sort |
McCarthy, Arlie H. |
title |
Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
title_short |
Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
title_full |
Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
title_fullStr |
Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
title_sort |
ship traffic connects antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/1/McCarthy_2022_PNAS_AAM_combined_with_SI.pdf https://www.pnas.org/content/119/3/e2110303118 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) ENVELOPE(-63.500,-63.500,-64.600,-64.600) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers Anvers Island South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Anvers Anvers Island South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Anvers Island South Shetland Islands Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530612/1/McCarthy_2022_PNAS_AAM_combined_with_SI.pdf McCarthy, Arlie H. orcid:0000-0001-7423-4342 Peck, Lloyd S. orcid:0000-0003-3479-6791 Aldridge, David C. 2022 Ship traffic connects Antarctica’s fragile coasts to worldwide ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (3), e2110303118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118 <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118> |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_nd_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2110303118 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
119 |
container_issue |
3 |
_version_ |
1766157492874641408 |