Antarctica Islands Found to Rival Galapagos in Biodiversity
A team from British Antarctic Survey and University of Hamburg combed the land, sea and shores of the South Orkney Islands, near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, using scuba divers and trawled nets to capture creatures as deep as 1,500 meters.
Animals recorded were then checked with a century of literature and modern databases and the team concluded that there are over 1200 known marine and land species, including sea urchins, free-swimming worms, crustaceans and mollusks, mites and birds. Five were previously unknown to science.
“This is the first time anybody has done an inventory like this in the polar regions,” said Lead author Dr David Barnes from British Antarctic Survey. “It’s part of the Census of Marine Life (COML) ? an international effort to assess and explain the diversity and distribution of marine life in the world’s oceans. If we are to understand how these animals will respond to future change, a starting point like this is really important.”
“We never knew there were so many different species on and around these islands,” said Stefanie Kaiser from University of Hamburg. “This abundance of life was completely unexpected for a location in the polar regions, previously perceived to be poor in biodiversity.”
The research team, consisting of 23 scientists from five research institutes, spent seven weeks on the BAS Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross in 2006.
Posted by Jason McManus.
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