Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms
We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is busier than you probably imagine, with many national programs and tourist operators crisscrossing the globe to get there. And each vessel, each cargo item, and each person could be harbou...
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ftunivwollongong:oai:ro.uow.edu.au:smhpapers1-2834 2023-05-15T13:43:25+02:00 Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms Bergstrom, Dana M Donoghue, Shavawn 2021-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/1800 https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2834&context=smhpapers1 unknown Research Online https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/1800 https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2834&context=smhpapers1 Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B article 2021 ftunivwollongong 2021-12-20T23:24:32Z We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is busier than you probably imagine, with many national programs and tourist operators crisscrossing the globe to get there. And each vessel, each cargo item, and each person could be harbouring non-native species, hitchhiking their way south. This threat to Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem is what our new evaluation, released today, grapples with. We mapped the last five years of planes and ships visiting the continent, illuminating for the first time the extent of travel across the hemispheres and the potential source locations for non-native species, as the map below shows. We found that, luckily, while some have breached Antarctica, they generally have yet to get a stranglehold, leaving the continent still relatively pristine. But Antarctica is getting busier, with new research stations, rebuilding and more tourism activities planned. Our challenge is to keep it pristine under this growing human activity and climate change threat. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica University of Wollongong, Australia: Research Online |
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Open Polar |
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University of Wollongong, Australia: Research Online |
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ftunivwollongong |
language |
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description |
We tend to think Antarctica is isolated and far away – biologically speaking, this is true. But the continent is busier than you probably imagine, with many national programs and tourist operators crisscrossing the globe to get there. And each vessel, each cargo item, and each person could be harbouring non-native species, hitchhiking their way south. This threat to Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem is what our new evaluation, released today, grapples with. We mapped the last five years of planes and ships visiting the continent, illuminating for the first time the extent of travel across the hemispheres and the potential source locations for non-native species, as the map below shows. We found that, luckily, while some have breached Antarctica, they generally have yet to get a stranglehold, leaving the continent still relatively pristine. But Antarctica is getting busier, with new research stations, rebuilding and more tourism activities planned. Our challenge is to keep it pristine under this growing human activity and climate change threat. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bergstrom, Dana M Donoghue, Shavawn |
spellingShingle |
Bergstrom, Dana M Donoghue, Shavawn Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
author_facet |
Bergstrom, Dana M Donoghue, Shavawn |
author_sort |
Bergstrom, Dana M |
title |
Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
title_short |
Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
title_full |
Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
title_fullStr |
Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
title_full_unstemmed |
Invasive species are threatening Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
title_sort |
invasive species are threatening antarctica’s fragile ecosystems as human activity grows and the world warms |
publisher |
Research Online |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/1800 https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2834&context=smhpapers1 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: Part B |
op_relation |
https://ro.uow.edu.au/smhpapers1/1800 https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2834&context=smhpapers1 |
_version_ |
1766188860110274560 |