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Experts map Antarctica's liveliest regions

Antarctic hotspots From bacteria living inside rocks to lush green moss beds, Antarctica is home to an abundance of biodiversity that needs protecting, say Australian researchers.

Approximately 46,000 square kilometres, or 1 per cent, of Antarctica is free of the ice, says Dr Aleks Terauds from the Australian Antarctic Division . In the past, these ice free areas were thought of as polar deserts, but in more recent years scientists have realised they contain a great diversity of life.

Terauds and colleagues recently conducted the most comprehensive analysis to date of the biodiversity in these ice-free regions. They identified 15 biologically distinct areas that they say need to be protected to prevent vulnerable biodiversity being lost.

They presented their findings at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Hobart this week, and published them in the current issue of the journal Diversity and Distributions.

"What we did was to analyse 38,000 records to get all the biodiversity information we could find for terrestrial Antarctica," Terauds says. "It encapsulates all the life in these ice-free areas, from the microbes in the soil all the way up to the lichen."

Moss, lichen and water bears

The 15 distinct regions that this process identified range from the tiny sub-Antarctic South Orkney Islands to the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, which cover an area of almost 20,000 square kilometres. Each is home to a distinct assemblage of living things adapted to withstand the continent's harsh climate.

"On the Antarctic peninsula, for example, lichens and mosses grow on exposed rocks and gravel, while in the dry valleys, there are microbes living within the fabric of the rocks themselves," Terauds says. "It's one of the driest places in the world, but there's just enough water there to keep these organisms alive."

And around Australia's Casey Station in East Antarctica, there are mossy areas sometimes called the 'Daintree of the Antarctic' because of the rich biodiversity they contain. Living close to the ground within the mosses are remarkable creatures such as microscopic eight-legged tardigrades, or 'water bears', and springtails, whose tail-like appendages can fling them into the air, away from danger.

"We're talking about literally a green carpet, interspersed with yellow and darker areas," says Terauds. "It looks lush. It's pretty amazing to see such greenery in Antarctic."

Protecting diversity

Terauds and his colleagues hope the new information will help protect the different unique ecosystems by limiting the accidental transfer of plants and animals between the different regions.

"We already have some good processes in place to prevent people bringing alien species into Antarctica by cleaning their boots and so on," he says. "Because we know there are biologically distinct areas in Antarctica we need to start thinking about putting similar mechanisms in place when moving from one area to another."

"Because the sort of travel between areas in Antarctica has only increased in the past few years, this is really timely," Terauds says. "There is a real willingness to make sure biodiversity is maintained in terrestrial Antarctica."

The scientists also argue that the 15 biogeographic regions they identified form a very good framework for assessing the network of protected areas that have been established in the Antarctic.

"Four of the 15 areas we identified don't have any protected regions within them," says Terauds. "It would make sense to have protected areas within each of these regions."