Antarctica's sensitive environment needs better protection

The sensitive ecosystems of Antarctica are under the great threat from human activity. For many years, this kingdom of ice was isolated from humans but the growing number of different environmental issues have spread their effects all over the world, and Antarctica is sadly no exception.

Climate change remains the biggest issue for Antarctica because polar regions are the most sensitive regions on Earth to global warming but there are other growing environmental concerns in forms of pollution, overfishing, increased tourist activity and invasive species.

Add to this the fear that Antarctica may soon become a potential location for oil, gas and mineral exploitation on the continent and in the surrounding ocean and you'll get an entire mix of different issues, all of which can do serious harm to continent's environment.

The continent is currently being governed by Antarctic Treaty System that was established back in 1962, but the fears remain that with the growing climate change impact and the renowned hunger for natural resources this treaty may soon prove to be inadequate.

The current treaty forbids oil or gas development, but it's possible that this could change in years to come because world's hunger for resources such as oil continues to grow, and oil reserves are running out.

The scientists from Texas A&M University have also warned the world that „Antarctica contains over 90 percent of the fresh water in the world, locked up as solid water in its massive ice sheets.“

Since ice is melting rapidly in large parts of the Antarctica this also leads to global sea level increase and scientists have already expressed fears that sea levels could continue to rise dramatically, threatening many coastal areas all over the globe.

The current protection and conservation efforts will no doubt have to increase because of the rapidly ongoing environmental changes. We must preserve Antarctica for our future generations too.

Ecological problems in Antarctica

Climate change is already having a major impact on Antarctica. Many of Antarctica’s largest glaciers such as Pine Island Glacier, Thwaites glacier and Getz Ice Shelf are retreating rapidly which will in years to come lead to a significant global sea level rise. Ninety-eight percent of Antarctica is covered in ice but West Antarctica is rapidly losing its ice cover.

Climate change is also opening the door for many new invasive species such as king crabs. Hundreds of thousands of king crabs are entering Antarctica because of warmer sea temperatures. Many environmentalists are worried that with so many king crabs in Antarctica the vulnerable ecosystem of Earth's southernmost continent could be wiped out in very short time.

The rising sea temperatures are also becoming big issue by having negative impact on marine creatures adapted to living within a particular temperature range.

Ocean acidification is also growing. The Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification because of a combination that includes ocean mixing patterns and low temperature which enhances the solubility of carbon dioxide in the water.

The pollution issue is also growing in Antarctica region. The major sources of air and water pollution in this area are shipping traffic, wrecks and the transport of invasive alien species on hulls and in ballast tanks. There is also chemical and sewage pollution from research stations and ships, not to mention frequent waste dumping.

Overfishing is another issue that threatens ecosystems in Antarctica. For instance the overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic's marine food chain, has led officials to enact regulations on fishing. Marine food chain is also in danger because of the hunting of top predators such as whales and seals.

Increased tourism in this area has also become a big burden to Antarctica's ecology. More tourists does not only mean more trash and more invasive species but also disturbs breeding bird and seal colonies.

There is also a fear that in years to come Antarctica will become a top area to extract oil once world starts to run out of oil. Antarctic Treaty currently prohibits the extraction of oil but in years to come oil-hungry world may decide to sacrifice environment in order to get more oil.

The main reasons behind penguin decline in Antarctica

Several recent studies have confirmed that a number of penguin species at Antarctica, especially chinstrap and Adelie penguin are declining, and the main reason for this is not enough food, which is yet again connected to climate change.

The penguin's diet mostly consists of Antarctic krill, a little shrimp-like animal. Krills belong to the most abundant species on our planet (there can be sometimes up to 30,000 krills in a cubic-meter of seawater) but their abundance has started to severely reduce for penguins because of not only warmer waters but also because of the increased competition from whales and seals who also have krills on their menu.

Krills play extremely important role in Antarctica's ecosystems, and their abundance is the key in preserving the unique Antarctica's biodiversity.

The before mentioned chinstrap and Adelie penguin have been experiencing a decline in population by up to 50% since the mid 80s.

The main difference between these two penguin species is the fact that Adelie penguins love ice while chinstrap penguin avoid ice. Since both of these penguin population experienced severe decline in last 20-30 years the scientists concluded that the loss of ice cover is not the main reason behind their decline but rather the lack of krill.

This was clearly confirmed by comparing the numbers of these two penguin species in the 19th to mid-20th Centuries (when penguin population was the highest because humans almost extirpated seals, baleen whales and some fish which meant more krill for penguins) and today.

The abundance of krill for penguins is not only reduced because of many competitors but also because of climate change. Warmer waters and less ice cover is altering the adequate physical conditions necessary to sustain large krill populations.

If warming continues there will be less krill, and with it the less penguins in Antarctica.

Humans threatening Antarctic's biodiversity

Antarctica is a very special continent on Earth, the one that has through many thousands of years developed unique ecosystems with species that can be found only here and nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately the current mix of different environmental problems such as climate change, pollution, invasive species and overfishing is threatening the survival of many Antarctic's ecosystems.

Climate change is the biggest threat to life in Antarctica. If humans continue with the excessive carbon emissions this will have extremely negative impact on Antarctica for decades to come, and many unique species to Antarctica will perish from the face of the Earth.

Not only that many species in Antarctica are extremely sensitive to even the slight increase in temperature but climate change is also opening the door for many invasive alien species as well as making ocean around Antarctica more acidic.

Dr. James McClintock of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, United States, has issued the warning about the ocean acidification issue around Antarctica by claiming that "The Southern Ocean is the canary in the coal mine with respect to ocean acidification. This vulnerability is caused by a combination of ocean mixing patterns and low temperature enhancing the solubility of carbon dioxide".

Together with working on international climate deal that would oblige all countries to significant reductions in carbon emissions world leaders also have to make sure to:

1. Reduce the air and water pollution from increased shipping traffic, wrecks and oil spills.
2. Stop the further flow of invasive species to Antarctica.
3. Stop overfishing, and also reduce the hunting of whales and seals because they play extremely important role in marine food chain as one of the top predators.
4. Decrease the number of tourists in this area and make sure that some areas with the most sensitive ecosystems stay out of the tourists reach.
5. Keep the close control on research stations and ships to decrease the levels of pollution.
6. Make sure to prohibit oil and mineral exploration in Antarctica in years to come.

Instead of always being a threat wouldn't be nice if for a change we could be actually doing something to help the survival of unique ecosystems, not only in Antarctica, but also around the globe.

Tourism in Antarctica - Threat to Antarctica's environment

For many years Antarctica was isolated continent with almost no tourists but lately number of tourists in Antarctica is steadily growing with 45,213 in 2008-09 season compared to only 6,700 tourists in the 1992-93 season. More tourists mean more garbage and more invasive species, and these two combined are doing big damage to many sensitive ecosystems in this ice kingdom.

However there is one reason for hope because at the conclusion of a two-week meeting in Baltimore, signatories to the 50-year-old Antarctic Treaty agreed to impose legally binding restrictions on the size of cruise ships that land passengers and the number of people they can bring ashore at any one time. This should limit the number of tourist visits in Antarctica and help protect fragile environment in Antarctica.

However the question "when exactly" is still very much in order because the changes to Antarctic Treaty will become legally binding once each of the 28 nations that have signed this treaty ratifies them. This could sadly take same time, especially knowing the relevance of environmental issues in politics but at least the revisions to this treaty were adopted by consensus and with no opposition.

Ecosystems on Antarctica are among the most sensitive on our planet and Antarctica's wildness is something so beautiful and so unique, beautiful monument of untouched nature. Keeping this continent away from tourists is the only way to preserve this unique wildness in its full beauty.

Polar regions - Rich biodiversity

Many people believe that polar regions are areas with very little life because of extremely cold weather conditions. People usually think about polar bears, penguins, couple of fish species and that's about all. Well the reality is completely different. A marine census couple of days ago documented about 7,500 species in the Antarctic and about 5,500 in the Arctic, including several hundred species that researchers believe could be new to science.

People usually connect rich biodiversity with tropical areas but marine life in polar regions is just as rich and as just as beautiful in Antarctic and Arctic seas. The most interesting fact of this discovery is definitely similarity of life on both poles as many as 235 species were found in both polar seas despite the huge 11000 km between these regions.

Polar regions are full of life with 13,000 different species.

Unfortunately both these regions have not only couple of hundreds of same species but also one gigantic problem - namely global warming that threatens these rich ecosystems. Global warming accompanied with invasion of foreign species that are more and more coming as temperatures increase could cause extinction of many of these species because their "cold sanctity" won't be cold enough in years to come to protect them.

Will this rich biodiversity survive? Difficult to tell, but knowing our lack of responsibility for ecological problems positive scenario looks highly unlikely.

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Antarctica's ecosystems need to be preserved

Antarctica is home of many unique species that are found nowhere else in the world. But global warming and frequent ship traffic are making things very difficult for many marine species, and could even lead them to the brink of extinction. What researchers fear the most are predatory crabs that are poised to return to warming Antarctic waters and disrupt balance in marine ecosystems. As long as water remains too cold for them they do not have chance for survival but Antarctica's "cold safety" is starting to fall apart as for instance temperatures at the sea surface off the western Antarctic Peninsula went up 1°C in the last 50 years.

Antarctica is warming fast. Temperatures at the sea surface off the western Antarctic Peninsula went up 1°C in the last 50 years

Another problem beside global warming is frequent ship traffic that is introducing exotic crab invaders from different parts of the world. When ships dump their ballast water in the Antarctic seas, marine larvae from as far away as the Arctic are injected into the system. Researchers say that populations of predatory king crabs are already living in deeper waters because they are slightly warmer, and if warming trend continues we could really say goodbye forever to many unique species.

Crab invasion is great threat to Antarctica's fauna, and losing many unique species in one of last remaining truly wild places on Earth would really be tragic. Unfortunately without the control of both CO2 emissions as well as ship traffic frequency this scenario looks imminent.

Antarctica - Home of many unknown creatures

Antarctica not only has very specific ecosystems but is also home of many new, previously unknown creatures which were discovered by New Zealand-led scientists after their 50 days exploring of Antarctica. Scientists found new gigantic species such as ellyfish with 12ft-long tentacles, giant sea snails and starfish the size of food platters. This was most comprehensive survey ever of the Ross Sea and it didn't only found these gigantic creatures but also hundreds of unfamiliar organisms and "a lot of new species", according to Don Robertson, a New Zealand marine scientist.

And dr. Hanchet, one of the scientists said "that there were perhaps eight new species among the approximately 90 species of fish caught and that is exciting, and something that will grab the world in terms of fish biology". Scientists also predict this are only some of the marine communities never seen before and there is probably many more new species this cold area hides.

However all marine ecosystems are threatened today with global warming phenomenon and Antarctica just like Arctic is especially vulnerable to global warming due to its cold weather conditions. And while Earth's average temperature grows and ancient ice melts many different marine ecosystems struggle to cope with ever-increasing climate change. And as this research showed there are many more unknown and beautiful creatures that developed living in these harsh conditions.

If climate change caused by global warming continues, we could even be responsible for extinction of many species that we even didn't know about their existence. It is even possible that we already caused extinction of some yet unknown species and that is something we can't fix. But we could be doing much more to fix current climate change and give decent chance for survival of all these species, known and unknown.

Two 60 cm starfish among Antarctica's newly found creatures

Antarctica threatened by predators

Sea temperatures around the Antarctica are warming as we speak due to global warming and this warming could soon create suitable environment to predators, including sharks which could cause complete chaos among existing marine life that exists here for million of years without the threat of predator.

However global warming is warming sea and all it takes is water remaining above freezing for one year for sharks to join in and cause chaos in current marine ecosystems. Scientist predict that if the rate of global warming continues on the same level as it is now, this could even happen in this century.

Sharks aren't the only dangerous predators that could be making their entrance, there are also predatory crabs that could appear even before sharks if current conditions continue.

And so not only Antarctic ice sheet could soon disappear but also almost all life that evolved here in these specific conditions and survived for many millions of years before people decided to put an end to all of this.

The magnitude of global warming is tremendous, it's not only about Africa and Antarctica, it's about our entire planet and the future of many species, including ours isn't complete certainty. All species are linked, each life on Earth plays its unique role and each role is vital to maintain balance of the perfectly organized food chain.

If predators return to Antarctica this will not only cause chaos in ecosystem, but also irreversibly violate the balance in food chain and cause loss of many unique species that live only in this area.

Sharks - Coming soon to Antarctica