The Life of an Antarctic Archipelago

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Life on this planet always surprises us. Animals turn out to be smarter than humans expect. Biological interrelationships turn out to be more intricate and more finely tuned than we had predicted.

The latest example is a biological survey in and around the South Orkney Islands — a clutch of islands halfway between the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula — that shows greater biodiversity than scientists had expected. It included familiar species, like chinstrap penguins, as well as less familiar ones, like aquatic worms and soft corals. Scientists also discovered five new species of sea mosses and minute crustaceans related to wood lice.

It is a welcome reminder that the perceived biological “poverty” of the polar regions derives from the fact that it’s easier to count species on land than in the ocean. Once you look beneath the waves — the team of scientists aboard a British Antarctic Survey research vessel spent seven weeks doing so — it becomes clear how rich these regions are. The vast majority of the species recorded — 821 out of 1,224 — live on the ocean floor.

One of the more striking conclusions is that the South Orkney Islands, and other polar islands like them, may be the last regions on the globe where biodiversity has changed relatively little over the past century. This survey provides a base-line estimate of polar life before the increasing effects of climate change are felt. It is part of the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year project.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/opinion/04thu3.html?th&emc=th