A rare look at the potentially harmful effects of climate change on terrestrial species in Antarctica
Nature Much research has been dedicated to studying the effects of climate change and global warming on the Antarctic ice sheet and sea levels; but t he same can't be said about the ice-free parts of the region, which cover l ess than 1% of the continent. Australian researchers modelled the potential effect of climate change under two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate-forcing scenarios. Their findings suggest that under the more radical of the two scenarios, the ice-free areas in the Antarctic can expand by as much as 25% by the end of the 21st century. Such a drastic increase in surface area can bring about a homogenization of the biome, the extinction of less- competitive species and the spread of invasive species. Though the expansion of habitat space can be viewed as a positive outcome, r esearchers say that sticking to the protocol that aims to reduce global temperature increases will help maintain the current biodiversity