This archive report was first published on 27 November 2019.
Antarctica's unique biodiversity is under threat from climate change, which is expected to make it easier for invasive species to establish themselves on the continent.
According to a report published on November 27, 2019, in the journal Science Advances, climate change will reduce the barrier to invasive species entering Antarctica, making it less stressful for them to establish themselves.
"Climate change both reduces the barrier to getting in, so it makes it less stressful... and it reduces the problems of establishing," said Peter Convey, a British Antarctic Survey expert who co-authored the research.
Convey noted that Antarctica is home to species that can gather in greater densities than those seen in temperate or tropical climates, such as microscopic arthropods known as Collembola, which can number a million per square meter.
However, thousands of researchers and 50,000 tourists who visit the continent every year risk upsetting this balance by bringing plant and insect life with them.
One type of grass, Poa annua, has already managed to establish itself on some islands, while humans have brought with them two species of fly.
At the current rate of warming, the area of ice-free land in the Antarctic peninsula is set to rise by 300 percent in the next century, providing invasive species with more land to colonize.
With more land and water available due to melting ice, life is likely to explode and competition for resources between species will intensify, leading to conflicts between native and invasive species.
The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 provides for the protection of the continent's environment, but the authors of the report warn that other human activities, such as historical marine exploitation and land use change, are likely to have far greater immediate impacts on Antarctic ecosystems than climate change itself.
