Penguins and seabirds account for 15 per cent of records in the new database. Photo: Chris Wilson
AFTER 16 years, Australian Antarctic scientists have created a database of more than 35,600 records of plant and animal life in ice-free areas of the continent in a boost for future studies.
The records, some more than 200 years old, are now accessible in a central database which covers 1890 species of plants, microbes and animals.
Australian Antarctic Division Program Leader Dr Aleks Terauds says the database will be used for future regional and global studies of ecology, diversity and climate change.
“The species represented in this database occur across all 16 ‘Antarctic conservation regions, which are distinct areas characterised by different climates, landscapes and species,” he says.
“This new Antarctic database can also be integrated into global biodiversity-related studies and it supports (required) conservation actions …”
Dr Terauds said work on the database began in 2008 and expanded as research teams scoured other databases, field research notes and scientific literature as well as checking and validating the location and identity of other records.
TRENDS
- Records were collected from the early 1800s to 2019 with most records collected after 1950, according to the division.
- More than 15 per cent of records were of penguins and seabirds and most (more than 15,000) were of the north-west Antarctic Peninsula with almost 5000 records from East Antarctica.
- Nearly 78 per cent of records were collected within one kilometre of the continental coastline.
Dr Terauds says ice-free areas make up about 0.4% of Antarctica and include coastal oases, cliffs, nunataks (mountain summits or ridges poking through ice) and scree (loose stones).
“The characteristics that make these small ‘islands in the ice’ attractive to the animals, plants and other organisms that live and breed in Antarctica, also makes them attractive to humans and potentially invasive species,” he explains.
“It’s really important that we understand what’s there and use that information to advance scientific understanding, conservation and biosecurity.”
