Responses of Antarctic Tundra Ecosystem to Climate Change and Human Activity

Over the last couple of years the Antarctic Peninsula region has been one of the fastest warming regions on the Earth. Rapidly proceeding deglaciation uncovers new areas for colonisation and formation of Antarctic tundra communities. The most evident dynamics, i.e. changes in both biodiversity and s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Olech Maria
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/igbp.2010.1.issue-17/v10190-010-0004-4/v10190-010-0004-4.xml?format=INT
Description
Summary:Over the last couple of years the Antarctic Peninsula region has been one of the fastest warming regions on the Earth. Rapidly proceeding deglaciation uncovers new areas for colonisation and formation of Antarctic tundra communities. The most evident dynamics, i.e. changes in both biodiversity and structure of tundra communities, are observed in the forefields of retreating glaciers. This paper presents examples of changes in biodiversity and in the direction and rate of succession changes taking place due to climate warming compounded by synanthropization in the maritime Antarctic. Antarctic, climate change, colonisation, tundra ecosystem, biodiversity, alien species