Risk of transporting non-native species into Antarctica
Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are not immune to the threat of biological invasions, and the urgent need for implementation of effective mitigation measures to minimize the risk of these occurring has been highlighted. Although many of the national operators and independent tour operators that tra...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ir.soken.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=3135 http://id.nii.ac.jp/1013/00002995/ |
| Summary: | Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are not immune to the threat of biological invasions, and the urgent need for implementation of effective mitigation measures to minimize the risk of these occurring has been highlighted. Although many of the national operators and independent tour operators that transport personnel and/or cargo into Antarctica have implemented various bio-security procedures in recent years in order to reduce the risk of non-native species introductions, to date no specific bio-security policy or measure has been considered or adopted in the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition (JARE) operation. In this study, risk of transporting non-native species into Antarctica was identified from the various perspectives associated with the activities of the JARE operations.First, a non-native flowering plant found near Syowa Station was examined in order to identify the species as well as to specify the source of introduction. The species of the grass which was once assigned as Poa cf. trivialis L. was determined based upon the morphological characteristics with the additional examination of the molecular systematics. The results of the study indicated the grass found growing near Syowa Station in Antarctica in 1995 to be included in the Svalbard salt marsh grass, Puccinellia svalbardensis Rønning, endemic to Spitzbergen, Svalbard in Arctic. Whereas a particular dispersal pathway of introducing the Arctic plant into Antarctica was not specified, a possibility of introduction of this species in association with the human activities was considered. The limited development of reproductive organs observed in the grass suggested a possibility of the environmental conditions in the continental Antarctica having prohibited the grass from the successful establishment in the region. However, the successful introduction of an endemic Arctic species in the continental Antarctic region, where no higher plants had previously been reported, demonstrated the considerable risk of introducing non-native species from ... |
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