Describe the functioning of the ecosystem( animals, plant, biophysical interactions).
• Vegetation on the continent is composed of mosses, lichen, and alga
• Penguins, whales and seals live in and around Antarctica, as do fish and krill
• The male Emperor penguin is the only warm-blooded animal to remain on the continent through the freezing winter while nesting on the egg laid by its mate
• Supports only a primitive indigenous population of cold-adapted plants and animals
• The surrounding seas are as rich in life as the land is barren
• Native land fauna is wholly invertebrate
• Antarctic microfauna includes heliozoans, rotifers, tardigrades, nematodes and ciliate protozoans
• Terrestrial macro fauna consists entirely of arthropods, many species being parasitic on birds and seals
• Only two species of penguin live along the Antarctic coastline, emperor and Adelie
• Most birds leave the continent each autumn and follow the secondary coastline as the ice pack builds northward
Explain why this ecosystem needs protection( refer to linkages, biodiversity, location and / or extent).
- The Antarctic Peninsula is particularly sensitive to small rises in the annual average temperature, this has increased by nearly 3 ° C in the region in the last 50 years, this is about 10 times faster than the average in the rest of the world. This makes it an excellent study area.
- Rising temperatures cause ice shelves to break up- as they are floating already this will not affect sea levels, it may cause the glaciers behind them to speed up their flow-rate considerably. These glaciers will add to sea-level rise if they melt.
- The break-up of the Larsen B ice shelf in early 2002. This event has been attributed to the effects of global warming. That it occurred is beyond dispute and that it is a result of the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula where it is situated is also beyond dispute. What remains unclear is whether or not this is a taste of things to come and an indicator of an Antarctic-wide phenomena or simply a localized result of the localized warming of the Antarctic Peninsula region alone.
- Such disintegration in such a short time period is therefore an extremely significant event. What now remains of the Larsen B is about 40 % of what was there in 1995. It had been breaking up at what was considered to be a rapid rate anyway before this major event. The break-up is thought to be a consequence of higher temperatures and large amounts of summer melt-water running down crevasses in the ice shelf so speeding the disintegration process.
- The depletion of the ozone hole has caused an overall cooling trend on the Antarctic continent this has masked the effects of warming temperatures at a local level, particularly on the larger part of East Antarctica and areas away from the peninsula region.