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Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: The Vestfold Hills in context

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Abstract

Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems are briefly described, with emphasis on Signy Island in the maritime antarctic region, and the McMurdo oasis, southern Victoria Land, and Vestfold Hills in the continental antarctic region.

As the largest and best known coastal ice-free oasis, the Vestfold Hills contain excellent examples of terrestrial sublithic, epilithic, chasmoendolithic, epiphytic and terricolous algal communities, as well as epilithic, endolithic, and epiphytic lichen communities, and moss communities. Many of the numerous lakes support dense communities of aquatic algae.

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Seppelt, R.D., Broady, P.A. Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems: The Vestfold Hills in context. Hydrobiologia 165, 177–184 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025586

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