1
|
Lee JR, Shaw JD, Ropert-Coudert Y, Terauds A, Chown SL. Conservation features of the terrestrial Antarctic Peninsula. AMBIO 2024; 53:1037-1049. [PMID: 38589654 PMCID: PMC11101391 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-024-02009-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Conserving landscapes used by multiple stakeholder groups requires understanding of what each stakeholder values. Here we employed a semi-structured, participatory approach to identify features of value in the terrestrial Antarctic Peninsula related to biodiversity, science and tourism. Stakeholders identified 115 features, ranging from Adélie penguin colonies to sites suitable for snowshoeing tourists. We split the features into seven broad categories: science, tourism, historic, biodiversity, geographic, habitat, and intrinsic features, finding that the biodiversity category contained the most features of any one category, while science stakeholders identified the most features of any stakeholder group. Stakeholders have overlapping interests in some features, particularly for seals and seabirds, indicating that thoughtful consideration of their inclusion in future management is required. Acknowledging the importance of tourism and other social features in Antarctica and ensuring their integration into conservation planning and assessment will increase the likelihood of implementing successful environmental management strategies into the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jasmine R Lee
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia.
- British Antarctic Survey, NERC, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia.
| | - Justine D Shaw
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia
| | - Yan Ropert-Coudert
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372, La Rochelle Université - CNRS, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Aleks Terauds
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia
- Integrated Digital East Antarctic Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, the Environment, Energy and Water, Kingston, TAS, 7050, Australia
| | - Steven L Chown
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Giovannini I, Manfrin C, Greco S, Vincenzi J, Altiero T, Guidetti R, Giulianini P, Rebecchi L. Increasing temperature-driven changes in life history traits and gene expression of an Antarctic tardigrade species. Front Physiol 2023; 14:1258932. [PMID: 37766751 PMCID: PMC10520964 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2023.1258932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The Antarctic region has been experiencing some of the planet's strongest climatic changes, including an expected increase of the land temperature. The potential effects of this warming trend will lead ecosystems to a risk of losing biodiversity. Antarctic mosses and lichens host different microbial groups, micro-arthropods and meiofaunal organisms (e.g., tardigrades, rotifers). The eutardigrade Acutuncus antarcticus is considered a model animal to study the effect of increasing temperature due to global warming on Antarctic terrestrial communities. In this study, life history traits and fitness of this species are analyzed by rearing specimens at two different and increasing temperatures (5°C vs. 15°C). Moreover, the first transcriptome analysis on A. antarcticus is performed, exposing adult animals to a gradual increase of temperature (5°C, 10°C, 15°C, and 20°C) to find differentially expressed genes under short- (1 day) and long-term (15 days) heat stress. Acutuncus antarcticus specimens reared at 5°C live longer (maximum life span: 686 days), reach sexual maturity later, lay more eggs (which hatch in longer time and in lower percentage) compared with animals reared at 15°C. The fitness decreases in animals belonging to the second generation at both rearing temperatures. The short-term heat exposure leads to significant changes at transcriptomic level, with 67 differentially expressed genes. Of these, 23 upregulated genes suggest alterations of mitochondrial activity and oxido-reductive processes, and two intrinsically disordered protein genes confirm their role to cope with heat stress. The long-term exposure induces alterations limited to 14 genes, and only one annotated gene is upregulated in response to both heat stresses. The decline in transcriptomic response after a long-term exposure indicates that the changes observed in the short-term are likely due to an acclimation response. Therefore, A. antarcticus could be able to cope with increasing temperature over time, including the future conditions imposed by global climate change.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Giovannini
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Chiara Manfrin
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Samuele Greco
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Joel Vincenzi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Tiziana Altiero
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
- Department of Education and Humanities, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy
| | - Roberto Guidetti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | - Piero Giulianini
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Lorena Rebecchi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Mkala EM, Mutinda ES, Wanga VO, Oulo MA, Oluoch WA, nzei J, Waswa EN, Odago W, Nanjala C, Mwachala G, Hu GW, Wang QF. Modeling impacts of climate change on the potential distribution of three endemic Aloe species critically endangered in East Africa. ECOL INFORM 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
|
4
|
Mkala EM, Mutinda ES, Wanga VO, Oulo MA, Oluoch WA, nzei J, Waswa EN, Odago W, Nanjala C, Mwachala G, Hu GW, Wang QF. Modeling impacts of climate change on the potential distribution of three endemic Aloe species critically endangered in East Africa. ECOL INFORM 2022; 71:101765. [DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2023]
|
5
|
Strugnell JM, McGregor HV, Wilson NG, Meredith KT, Chown SL, Lau SCY, Robinson SA, Saunders KM. Emerging biological archives can reveal ecological and climatic change in Antarctica. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:6483-6508. [PMID: 35900301 PMCID: PMC9826052 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change is causing observable changes in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean including increased air and ocean temperatures, glacial melt leading to sea-level rise and a reduction in salinity, and changes to freshwater water availability on land. These changes impact local Antarctic ecosystems and the Earth's climate system. The Antarctic has experienced significant past environmental change, including cycles of glaciation over the Quaternary Period (the past ~2.6 million years). Understanding Antarctica's paleoecosystems, and the corresponding paleoenvironments and climates that have shaped them, provides insight into present day ecosystem change, and importantly, helps constrain model projections of future change. Biological archives such as extant moss beds and peat profiles, biological proxies in lake and marine sediments, vertebrate animal colonies, and extant terrestrial and benthic marine invertebrates, complement other Antarctic paleoclimate archives by recording the nature and rate of past ecological change, the paleoenvironmental drivers of that change, and constrain current ecosystem and climate models. These archives provide invaluable information about terrestrial ice-free areas, a key location for Antarctic biodiversity, and the continental margin which is important for understanding ice sheet dynamics. Recent significant advances in analytical techniques (e.g., genomics, biogeochemical analyses) have led to new applications and greater power in elucidating the environmental records contained within biological archives. Paleoecological and paleoclimate discoveries derived from biological archives, and integration with existing data from other paleoclimate data sources, will significantly expand our understanding of past, present, and future ecological change, alongside climate change, in a unique, globally significant region.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jan M. Strugnell
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversityTownsvilleQueenslandAustralia
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental FutureJames Cook UniversityTownsvilleQueenslandAustralia
| | - Helen V. McGregor
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life SciencesUniversity of WollongongWollongongNew South WalesAustralia
| | - Nerida G. Wilson
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental FutureWestern Australian MuseumWestern AustraliaAustralia
- Research and CollectionsWestern Australian MuseumWestern AustraliaAustralia
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of Western AustraliaCrawleyWestern AustraliaAustralia
| | - Karina T. Meredith
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental FutureAustralian Nuclear Science and Technology OrganisationLucas HeightsNew South WalesAustralia
| | - Steven L. Chown
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological SciencesMonash UniversityMelbourneVictoriaAustralia
| | - Sally C. Y. Lau
- Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture and College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversityTownsvilleQueenslandAustralia
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental FutureJames Cook UniversityTownsvilleQueenslandAustralia
| | - Sharon A. Robinson
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life SciencesUniversity of WollongongWollongongNew South WalesAustralia
| | - Krystyna M. Saunders
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life SciencesUniversity of WollongongWollongongNew South WalesAustralia
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental FutureAustralian Nuclear Science and Technology OrganisationLucas HeightsNew South WalesAustralia
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesUniversity of TasmaniaHobartTasmaniaAustralia
| |
Collapse
|