Summary
Terrestrial ecosystems throughout much of Antarctica are exhibiting local changes in their environment which are, either directly or indirectly, influencing biological processes. Central to these changes is the present climatic warming being experienced, especially in the more northerly regions, which is causing substantial recession of glaciers and ice fields and creating new surfaces on which biota may become established. Other temporal changes occur as a function of the natural process of colonisation, growth and ecosystem development but which may be strongly influenced by minor variations in climate or other components of the environment. Examples of such environmental, and consequently of biological, changes are presented for one climatically and ecologically sensitive locality, Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands, to illustrate the diversity of changes which may affect the structure and dynamics of Antarctic ecosystems in general. These are discussed in terms of ecological change resulting from long-term climatic trends, short-term climatic (especially summer temperature) fluctuations, plant colonisation and growth, community development, and environmental perturbation. A plea is made for implementing long-term monitoring studies to determine the direction and rate of environmental and ecological changes, with particular regard to assessing the resiliance of ecosystems to and their recovery from these phenomena. The Antarctic environment offers probably the most significant baseline to which global atmospheric changes may be related. The predicted trend in global warming implies disturbing consequences for the future integrity of Antarctica’s, or indeed the world’s, environment and biota. However, it offers ideal opportunities to study the cause-and-effect relationship of ecological change and, from this, to develop a strong management policy for the active use and conservation of the Antarctic biome.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abbott SB, Benninghoff WS (This Vol.) New directions for biology in the study and conservation of Antarctic ecosystems.
Bentley CR (1983) The West Antarctic ice sheet: diagnosis and prognosis. In: Carbon dioxide, science and consensus. Proc Carbon Dioxide Res Conf, US Department of Energy, pp V.3–IV.50
Block W, Burn AJ, Richard KJ (1984) An insect introduction to the maritime Antarctic. Biol J Linn Soc 23:33–39
Budd WF, Mclnnes BJ, Jenssen D, Smith N (1987) Modelling the response of the West Antarctic ice sheet to a climatic warming. In: van der Veen CJ, Oerlemans J (eds) Dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet. D Reidel, Dordrecht, pp 321–358
Clapperton CM, Sugden DE (1988) Holocene glacier fluctuations in South America and Antarctica. Quat Sci Revs 7:185–198
Clapperton CM, Sugden DE, Birnie RV, Hanson JD, Thorn G (1978) Glacier fluctuations in South Georgia and comparison with other island groups in the Scotia Sea. In: van Zinderen Bakker EM (ed) Antarctic glacial history and world palaeoenvironments. AA Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 95–104
Collins NJ (1976) The development of moss-peat banks in relation to changing climate and ice cover on Signy Island in the maritime Antarctic. Bull Br Antarct Surv 43:85–102
Croxall JP, Rootes DM, Price RA (1981) Increases in penguin populations at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Bull Br Antarct Surv 54:47–56
Curl JE (1980) A glacial history of the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Rep Ohio Inst Polar Stud 63:1–129
Edwards JA (1980) An experimental introduction of vascular plants from South Georgia to the maritime Antarctic. Bull Br Antarct Surv 49:73–80
Fenton JHC (1980) The rate of peat accumulation in Antarctic moss banks. J. Ecol 68:211–228
Fenton JHC (1982 a) The formation of vertical edges on Antarctic moss-peat banks. Arct Alp Res 14:21–26
Fenton JHC (1982 b) Vegetation re-exposed after burial by ice and its relationship to changing climate in the South Orkney Islands. Bull Br Antarct Surv 51:247–255
Fenton JHC, Smith RI Lewis (1982) Distribution, composition and general characteristics of the moss banks of the maritime Antarctic. Bull Br Antarct Surv. 51:215–236
Gribbin J, Lamb HH (1978) Climatic change in historical times. In: Gribbin J (ed) Climatic change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 68–82
Harper JL (1977) Population biology of plants. Academic Press, London
Harrington PK (1968) A geophysical survey near the South Orkney Islands. PhD Thesis, University of Birmingham (unpubl)
Hooker TN (1980 a) Factors affecting the growth of Antarctic crustose lichens. Bull Br Antarct Surv 50:1–19
Hooker TN (1980 b) Lobe growth and marginal zonation in crustose lichens. Lichenologist 12:313–323
Hooker TN (1980 c) Growth and production of Cladonia rangiferina and Sphaerophorus globosus on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Bull Br Antarct Surv 50:27–34
Hooker TN (1980 d) Growth and production of Usnea antarctica and U. fasciata on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Bull Br Antarct Surv 50:35–49
Hughes TJ (1983) The stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet: what has happened and what will happen. In: Carbon dioxide, science and consensus. Proc Carbon Dioxide Res Conf, US Department of Energy, pp IV.51–IV.73
Lindsay DC (1973) Estimates of lichen growth rates in the maritime Antarctic. Arct Alp Res 5:341–346
Lorius C, Barkov NI, Jouzel J, Korotkevich YS, Kotlyakov VM, Raynaud D (1988). Antarctic ice core: CO2 and climate change over the last climatic cycle. Eos 69 (26): 681–684
Mercer JH (1978) Glacial development and temperature trends in the Antarctic and in South America. In: van Zinderen Bakker (ed) Antarctic glacial history and world palaeoenvironments. AA Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 73–93
Mitchell JM (1977) Carbon dioxide and future climate. Environ Data Serv, pp 3–9
Nakada M, Lambeck K (1988) The melting history of the late Pleistocene Antarctic ice sheet. Nature 333 (6168):36–40
Smith RI Lewis (1972) Vegetation of the South Orkeny Islands with particular reference to Signy Island. Sci Rep Br Antarct Surv 68:1–124
Smith RI Lewis (1988) Destruction of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems by a rapidly increasing fur seal population. Biol Conserv 45:55–72
Smith RI Lewis Bryophyte propagule banks: Case study of an Antarctic fellfield soil. In: Walton DWH, Miles J (eds) Primary succession on land. Blackwell, Oxford (in press)
Smith RI Lewis, Coupar AM (1986) The colonization potential of bryophyte propagules in Antarctic fellfield soils. Comm Nat Fr Res Ant 58:189–204
Stuiver M, Becker B (1986) High-precision decadal calibration of the radiocarbon time scale AD 1950–2500 B.C. Radiocarbon 28 (2B): 863–910
Stuiver M, Denton GH, Hughes TJ, Fastook JL (1981) History of the marine ice sheet in West Antarctica during the last glaciation: a working hypothesis. In: Denton GH, Hughes TJ (eds) The last great ice sheets. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp 319–282
Sudgen DE, Clapperton CM (1977) The maximum ice extent on island groups in the Scotia Sea, Antarctica. Quat Res 7:268–282
World Meteorological Organization (1988) WMO/TD No. 225. World climate programme. Developing policies for responding to climatic change. A summary of the discussions and recommendations of the workshops held in Villach 28 September—2 October 1987 and Bellagio 9–13 November 1987 under the auspices of the Beijer Institut, Stockholm (WMO/WCIP1), Geneva, World Meteorological Organization
Wynn-Williams DD (1988) Television image analysis of microbial communities in Antarctic fellfields. Polarforschung 58 (2/3): 239–249
Wynn-Williams DD Microbial colonisation processes in Antarctic fellfield soils — an experimental overview. Proc 11th Symp Polar Biol, Tokyo (in press)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Smith, R.I.L. (1990). Signy Island as a Paradigm of Biological and Environmental Change in Antarctic Terrestrial Ecosystems. In: Kerry, K.R., Hempel, G. (eds) Antarctic Ecosystems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84074-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-84074-6_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-84076-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-84074-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive