Areas of Antarctica that are permanently without ice could increase by up to 25 per cent by the end of the century because of climate change.

A study by Australian scientists has found "ice-free areas" will increase up to 17,267 square kilometres by the year 2,100 under a worst-case climate change scenario.

About 68,000 square kilometres — or less than 1 per cent — of the white continent is currently ice free, but that land is home to 99 per cent of Antarctica's terrestrial plants and animals.

They include penguins, seals and seabirds, but also unique species of lichen, moss, fungi and small invertebrates.

Any expansion of ice-free areas could have serious implications for biodiversity, according to Aleks Terauds, a lead researcher with the Australian Antarctic Division.

"It could mean things that have been isolated for a long time suddenly have the opportunity to mingle, so dispersal may increase and things might start to interact with each other that don't normally do so," he said.

"That might cause unusual competition to happen — the changes are uncertain but profound."

Those changes could also result in increased homogenisation, as expanding ice-free areas join together and introduced species move in.

"The expansion of the ice-free areas creates more habitat and this creates more potential habitat for non-native species, for example, for things that don't live in Antarctica to arrive there and to colonise," Dr Terauds said.

"That's also got quite important implications for the native biodiversity, including again the competition that might even lead to the extinction of some of these species."

Antarctic Peninsula may become 'rocky and green'

Scientists predict the Antarctic Peninsula will be the hardest hit by ice melt.

Lead researcher and PhD candidate with CSIRO and the University of Queensland Jasmine Lee said it was the region already most affected by climate change.

"We picture Antarctica as this mass of white glaciers with a couple of penguins there but on the peninsula especially, it might become more rocky and green [in the future]," she said.

"A recent study has found that the moss on the peninsula has been growing quite rapidly with the increase in temperatures, so we might see more greenery as well as more ice-free habitat."

Scientists say biodiversity needs to be protected in the face of rising temperatures. ( Flickr: US Embassy New Zealand )

The scientists said reducing global carbon emissions would help arrest the rate of ice melt in Antarctica.

But they are also using their findings to call for increased biosecurity on the continent and better conservation of Antarctic species.

"The biodiversity of Antarctica is just so unique, so vulnerable, so different to anywhere else in the world, and so well protected," Dr Terauds said.

"On that basis alone, it's worth conserving and protecting and ensuring that you manage it in the best possible way."

'One of Earth's last great wildernesses'

It is the first time scientists have looked at the effect of climate change on Antarctic biodiversity.

Until now much of the research has focused on how melting ice will contribute to global sea level rises.

But the scientists behind this study said the continent's unique biodiversity needed to be protected in the face of rising temperatures.

"It's one of … Earth's last great wildernesses," Ms Lee said.

"I think a lot of people would be quite sad to think that not only are we having climate change impacts on our doorsteps but also in areas that we think of as quite pristine, and safe.

"Antarctica really is a global resource as well both to the scientific community and worldwide."

The study was published today in the journal Nature.