Antarctic Safari

The Biosphere

Antarctic Fauna
Adelie Penguin
Fur Seal
Killer Whale
Brown Skua
Toothfish
Terrestrial Ecosystem
Ancient glacial deposits and weathering create the soils that make up this
desert pavement. There is no sign of organic matter yet between the spaces
of small rocks, microbes are protected from wind scouring
Primary producers of the food chain
Moss Lichen
Algae Blue-Green Algae
Loads of moss cover here !
Moss
Algae & Moss are most abundant in
the moist or saturated soils found
closer to the coast and around ponds
and lakes.
The most abundant producer is
Blue-Green algae, also known as Cyano-bacteria or Nostock.

Sampling
What lives in the soil and under rocks?
Biological activity is limited to just the top 10-12cm , with soil
being permanently frozen at 30cm depth (permafrost)
Animals that live under the rocks !
Springtail

Mite
These animals seem to be restricted to areas with high
soil moisture and/or access to water.
Springtail
Gomphiocephalus hodgsoni
(actual size 1.3mm),
collected from the nzTABS
study site (77
o
S)
University of Waikato

Feeds on algae, lichens &
microbes


Mite
Stereotydeus mollis
(actual size 0.7mm)

Feed on algae, lichens &
microbes.
Animals that live in the soil
Nematode worm outnumber any
other animal in the ecosystem. 1kg of soil
might produce 800 4000 worms!
Tardigrade - also known as waterbears
or moss piglets. They live in water and are
found in moss and lichens where they feed
on plant cells. They feed on algae.
Rotifer - eats detritus, dead bacteria and algae. They live
in the water and can be found swimming in-between soil
particles
Nematodes
Carbon appears to be more
important than moisture in
defining good habitats for
nematodes in the Dry Valleys of
Antarctica
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_microorganism#cite_note-baskin-5)


In most ecosystems the top
predator is a large carnivore
but in the Dry Valleys it is a
nematode worm! Being an
omnivore it consumes algae
and bacteria.

Click the link below to find out
about the Nematode named
Rambo.

http://www.aaaspolicyfellowships.org
/sci-fly/thin-skin-nematodes

Pitfall Traps
This is Gemma. As part of her MSc she
is studying the behaviour of
springtails. She has set some traps to
collect the wee beasties.
Lichen Activity
This is Rolf. He has invented a device to
measure the photosynthetic activity of
lichens. Data is transmitted to his office
in Germany so that he knows when they
are photosynthesising!
Lichens growing in rocks!
A Lichen layer is green in
colour
In the winter strong winds blast
sand at the rocks. This means that
in some places lichens and
mosses rarely grow rocks.

Here we can see that Some
lichens are actually found living
inside rocks!

The transparent crystals let
sunlight through and the rocks
warm up during the daytime. At
night they may occasionally get a
little water in the form of dew.

A lichen is two organisms living together,
in a symbiotic relationship - each being
dependent on the other. Lichen is mainly
a fungus species along with cyano-
bacteria.

Scientists from the Universities of Waikato and Canterbury and from around the
world bring together experience in all areas of terrestrial Antarctic biology.

The aim of the research is to record the diversity of life living in the Dry Valleys.
But most importantly it is exploring how the biological (organisms), physical
(climate) and chemical (soil chemistry) environments interact with each other to
control species diversity. Basically put, why do species live where they do, when
they do?

The research is used to creating a scientific model which will help us to predict
the effects of climate change and other global, regional and local impacts.

GO TO nzTABS to find out more:
http://nztabs.ictar.aq/index.php