Invasive plant species introduced by visitors and scientists
Antarctica is no longer one of the “most pristine environments on earth.” Visitors are introducing invasive plant species alien to Antarctica at a much higher level, says a study published today (March 6) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is based on a continent-wide risk assessment undertaken there.
Of all the regions in Antarctica, it is in the Antarctic Peninsula, the Ross Sea region and several landing places in East Antarctica where alien plant seed introduction has been the highest.
‘Primary causes'
Introduction of species not normally found in a region is one of the “primary causes of biodiversity change globally,” says the study.
The seeds were introduced by visitors — scientists and tourists. Though nearly 33,000 tourists visited the ice continent every year as against 7,000 scientists, the latter carried more seeds, the study found.
In all, the visitors introduced about 9.5 seeds per person during the International Polar Year's first season (2007-2008).
Apparently, tourists brought in 31,732 plant species seeds, while scientists carried 38,897 during the study period, say the authors.
In all, 2,686 seeds were collected from people landing on the ice continent. The scientists traced 88 per cent of the seeds to the family level and 43 per cent to the species level.
What makes the study all the more important is the fact that the authors have traced the origin of the seeds to the sub-Antarctic or Arctic regions.
The numbers are staggering — 49 to 61 per cent of seeds are “capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered” in Antarctica.
The introduction of such high numbers became possible as people who landed on the continent had travelled to other cold regions like the alpine, the cold temperate and Polar regions a year prior to their Antarctica visit.
This article has been corrected for a grammatical error
Keywords: Antarctica, biodiversity in Antarctica, hostile ecology
Nature will have its way! We cant destroy it! We are just destroying the resources for our survival!
Ultimately, with all our brains and abilities and feelings and science
and satellites and skyscrapers and tanks and nukes, we will be forced
out of existence and cockroaches, rats and even smaller organisms will
inherit the earth. We will leave as legacy a large number of extinct
species and huge swathes of barren land.
It is only natural that as man has access to these areas he carries
with him seeds. This is not good or bad it just is what it is. The
planet will be just fine, it has survived and thrived and will
continue to do so over time.
The naysayers that tell us that man is destroying the planet have an
agenda and in most cases it is grant/government money. Of course we
should all be responsible, take care of the planet and actively seek a
clean environment but don't believe for a second what people are
attempting to push on mankind!
It is only human ego to believe we can do anything of harm to a
planet. No amount of polution, mining, drilling, killing endagered
species, launching space junk... you name it. The planet will keep
spinning, the orbit will not change, the climate will rise and fall as
it has for millenia, new life will come and go including our precious
human race. We are not the first, nor the last, intelligent species to
walk on this planet, but we are the only ones that think we can make a
radical change.
All of this talk about disrutping the balance is a farse. I wonder if
anyone who reads this article would condem the first people to walk
the land bridge between china and alaska to populate the americas for
carrying seeds. Oh no! someone brought coffee beans from south america
to europe and now the whole world has suffered a great disaster.
Change is the only constant in the universe. so in five million years
who will care about the “most pristine environment on earth.” Get over
it.
I feel extreme anguish when i hear such things. We,h umans,have left no stones unturned to make sure that we destroy out mother Nature. In our lust,selfishness and stupidity we have already made things tough for us.The global temperature is rising persistently and things don't seem to go in a positive direction from here on.
Antarctica's purity is,perhaps, the last thing we can admire on this planet but thanks to us,we will never let our mother nature thrive.
It's a terrible fact reviled here. The introduction of seeds that are
alien to Antarctica region would spoil the natural environment and it
will make threats for scientists working on environmental studies.
@S.Suchindranath Aiyer: Spot on. Aren't humans part of nature too!
This is terrible. I saw the BBC program on this. The quantum of solace that I derive is from the fact that like birds distributing seeds, we too are just creatures. And the harm we wreak on nature is also nature(???) and whether we (Homo-not-so-sapiens- after-all) survive the processes of nature change or not, Gaia will change and survive.
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