Fixed-point and probabilistic sampling designs were compared to investigate which design best detected known contamination gradients in the marine ecosystem adjacent to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. The fixed-point sampling design included transects along historical contamination and physical disturbance gradients. The probabilistic sampling design used randomly selected hexagons spaced at 50 m intervals. In both designs, 15 stations were sampled over a small area (~1 km2) that extended from Winter Quarters Bay to Cape Armitage. Sediment quality triad components (sediment chemical contaminants, sediment toxicity, and a benthic index of biotic integrity) were measured to indicate chemical, toxicological, and biological effects. There were higher correlations between sediment quality triad components for the fixed-point sampling design than for the probabilistic design. The fixed-point design was better at detecting the intensity of alteration because disturbance of the marine ecosystem at McMurdo Station is localized within a small area. Based on these results, a limited fixed-point design with nine stations detected no significant change in macrofaunal community structure over a four year period from 2000–2004. However, the macrofaunal assemblages present in the contaminated portions of Winter Quarters Bay are indicative of a disturbed benthic community that has been subject to organic enrichment and toxic chemical exposure.

Shelf and slope cryptofauna were sampled at the most northerly shelf environments within the Southern Ocean, Shag Rocks. The area is remarkably rich, with seven phyla, 10 classes, 40 families and 81 species on 0.36 m2 of shelf boulders. A large proportion of genera and species found had not been seen there before, some were new to science and species accumulation curves did not approach an asymptote. Current estimates of benthic diversity are clearly still too low if even well studied locations and depths reveal so much novelty with such little sample effort. Proportions of new species were higher in slope samples showing how little we know of this important depth. Significantly, life was just as rich and, surprisingly, abundant on boulders from continental slope depths. Clearly there are places where the continental slope around Antarctica harbours a wealth of species with potential to resupply the shelf if life was ‘bulldozed’ off it by past ice shelf expansions during glacial maxima. Some species on boulders from 1500 m also occur as shallow as the Antarctic intertidal zone. That this rich fauna was ‘Antarctic’ in character shows the extremes, e.g. sea temperature (> 4°C in summer), that they can adapt to given long enough time periods.

Studies of the recovery of the fauna following the 1967–70 eruptions at Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, have made it one of the best-studied marine sites of the Southern Ocean for biodiversity. Using SCUBA we surveyed the mega- and macro-epifauna of its subtidal zones in the entrance (Neptune's Bellows), immediately inside the caldera (Whaler's Bay) and well within the caldera (Fumarole Bay). Richness declined from 10 phyla, 13 classes and 35 species at Neptune's Bellows to three phyla, four classes and five species in Whaler's Bay and just two phyla, classes and species at Fumarole Bay. Amongst the 35 species we found at Neptune's Bellows, 14 were previously unrecorded from Deception Island. Despite many ship visits and amongst the warmest sea temperatures in the Southern Ocean, the Non Indigenous Species (NIS) algae were not found in our survey. Deception Island has been recolonized considerably since the recent eruptions, but many taxa are still very poorly represented and the colonizers present are mainly those with planktotrophic larvae. Examination of the literature revealed that to date 163 named marine species have been found within the caldera as well as at least 50 more morphospecies, which are yet to be identified. Species accumulation has consistently increased across eight recent samples reported and the number of species reported there is likely to reach 300 when taxa such as the nematodes are identified to species level. This represents a first meaningful total species estimate for an Antarctic marine area and, as the site is comparatively impoverished, indicates how rich the surrounding Antarctic shelf must be.

An unusually dense collection of some 150 dead crabeater seals (Family Phocidae), in various stages of decay, occurs in the Brandy Bay hinterland, north-western James Ross Island, northern Antarctic Peninsula. Throughout the past 100 years, the presence of shelf ice (no longer present today) and sea ice in Prince Gustav Channel, between James Ross Island and the Antarctic Peninsula, has prevented seals from readily accessing the western side of James Ross Island. However, open water pools, some over one kilometre in diameter, remain accessible throughout the winter months, allowing seals to haul out onto the ice. It is likely that some of these seals may become disorientated as they wander away from the pools and instead head toward Brandy Bay and onto low-lying and snow-covered Abernethy Flats, easily mistaken for sea ice in early winter, where they perish. The large number of variably-decayed animals present suggests that this has probably happened on numerous occasions. However, some of the dead seals also probably perished during a documented mass dying event of crabeater seals in Prince Gustav Channel caused by an unidentified epidemic, possibly phocine distemper virus (PDV), during the spring of 1955.

Rock weathering plays an important role in soil development. A better understanding of how different temperature and moisture regimes impact on the rates of rock breakdown can thus contribute to our knowledge of how rates of soil production might be affected by changes in climate. Laboratory simulations using two temperature cycles determined from field data and three moisture levels were carried out on samples of granite from three locations along the Victoria Land coast. Estimates of weathering rate from these experiments were of the same order of magnitude as some other more field based studies undertaken in similar environments. However, actual values for samples from the three locations varied depending on the specific characteristics of the rock, especially grain size, porosity and extent of micro-cracking. Moisture availability was found to be an important factor in determining weight loss in the samples from Gneiss Point but not in those from Terra Nova Bay or Teall Island with the moderate level of moisture application having the greatest impact. Spring/autumn temperature cycles had a different effect on the breakdown of the rock samples compared to summer cycles but the magnitude of the effect was dependent on moisture level and rock characteristics, especially quartz content and the ability to absorb heat and moisture. The samples of rock from Terra Nova Bay and Gneiss Point where no moisture had been applied had significantly higher rates of breakdown under spring/autumn cycles than summer ones. However, this effect was reversed in the Gneiss Point samples after moisture was added. A future climate scenario using the weathering rates found in this research where there was, for example, a 10% increase in summer temperature cycles and a corresponding decrease in spring/autumn cycles predicted that a reduction in weathering would occur in conditions of little or no precipitation at Terra Nova Bay and Gneiss Point but there would be limited effect under higher levels of moisture.

Seven community complexes have been described across sub-Antarctic Marion Island, amongst these fellfield that comprise low plant cover dominated by Azorella selago Hook. f. Azorella is considered a keystone species since it forms nutrient rich environments for microarthropod communities and epiphytic plants. Two distinct growth forms typify Azorella, namely discrete cushions and continuous mats. Whether these continuous mats normally consist of a single large cushion individual, or whether several individual plants merge, interdigitating to form a continuous area, remains unclear. As such, it is important to obtain some measure of Azorella growth dynamics before embarking on phylogeographic studies. Previous genetic studies indicated that several microarthropod species are significantly substructured across Marion Island, but it remains unclear whether similar subdivisions characterize Azorella. We used chloroplast sequence data (trnH-psbA) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) to investigate these questions. No sequence variation characterized the trnH-psbA region in Azorella across Marion Island. In contrast, the AFLP results indicated that an A. selago mat comprises multiple individuals. We argue that mats can be formed through at least two processes namely fragmentation, where parts of the cushion plant die off creating open areas for the establishment of different individuals and/or high density of interdigitating individuals merging to form the mat. Fragment data further indicated significant substructure for Azorella across Marion Island (FST = 0.101, P = 0.01) and we attribute this to past vicariance.

We present two 10Be exposure ages from erratic boulders at Cape Adare, northern Victoria Land. The exposure ages obtained suggest that Cape Adare was covered by ice during the last glacial period, and the younger age points to deglaciation around 16.2 ka. Comparison of our younger 10Be exposure age with published radiocarbon dates for Adélie penguin occupation at Cape Adare suggests that the onset of penguin colonization (at 2–3 kyr before present) lagged behind the deglaciation by at least 11.5 kyr. These observations indicate that penguin colonization did not occur until several thousand years after ice free ground became available.

Palaeostress inferred from brittle mesostructures in Seymour (Marambio) Island indicates a Cenozoic to Recent origin for an extensional stress field, with only local compressional stress states. Minimum horizontal stress (σ3) orientations are scattered about two main NE–SW and NW–SE modes suggesting that two stress sources have been responsible for the dominant minimum horizontal stress directions in the north-western Weddell Sea. Extensional structures within a broad-scale compressional stress field can be linked to both the decrease in relative stress magnitudes from active margins to intraplate regions and the rifting processes that occurred in the northern Weddell Sea. Stress states with NW–SE trending σ3 are compatible with back-arc extension along the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. We interpret this as due to the opening of the Larsen Basin during upper Cretaceous to Eocene and to the spreading, from Pliocene to present, of the Bransfield Basin (western Antarctic Peninsula), both due to former Phoenix Plate subduction under the Antarctic Plate. NE–SW σ3 orientations could be expressions of continental fragmentation of the northern Antarctic Peninsula controlling eastwards drifting of the South Orkney microcontinent and other submerged continental blocks of the southern Scotia Sea.

The Bransfield Strait, located between the South Shetland Islands and the north-western end of the Antarctic Peninsula, is a back-arc basin transitional between rifting and spreading. We compiled a geomorphological structural map of the Bransfield Basin combining published data and the interpretation of bathymetric images. Several analogue experiments reproducing the interaction between the Scotia, Antarctic, and Phoenix plates were carried out. The fault configuration observed in the geomorphological structural map was well reproduced by one of these analogue models. The results suggest the establishment of a transpressional regime to the west of the southern segment of the Shackleton Fracture Zone and a transtensional regime to the south-west of the South Scotia Ridge by at least c. 7 Ma. A probable mechanism for the opening of the Bransfield Basin requires two processes: 1) Significant transtensional effects in the Bransfield Basin caused by the configuration and drift vector of the Scotia Plate after the activity of the West Scotia Ridge ceased at c. 7 Ma. 2) Roll-back of the Phoenix Plate under the South Shetland Islands after cessation of spreading activity of the Phoenix Ridge at 3.3 ± 0.2 Ma, causing the north-westward migration of the South Shetland Trench.

We present the first study from the Bransfield Basin that extends through the Holocene, recording the variable climate history back to the decoupling of the ice sheet from the continental shelf ~10 650 calendar years before present (cal yr bp). Detailed sediment analysis reveals three stratigraphic units in PC-61 concomitant with three sedimentary environments, similar to sedimentary facies reported elsewhere: 1) subglacial, 2) glacial proximal/sub-ice shelf, and 3) open marine. These interpretations are based on a variety of sedimentological criteria, supported by ten AMS radiocarbon dates and detailed diatom analysis. We note two significant volcanic ash layers (tephra) at 3870 and 5500 cal yr bp from nearby Deception Island. Based on diatom assemblage analysis, we identify five separate climate regimes, highlighting a significantly shorter Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum than reported by other studies (6800–5900 cal yr bp). This period is marked by the highest Eucampia antarctica var. antarctica and Fragilariopsis curta abundance, total diatom abundance, sediment accumulation rates, and low magnetic susceptibility. We also identify a less pronounced Neoglacial period relative to other studies, which includes an increase of Cocconeis/Rhizosolenia spp. assemblage related to unstable surface water conditions. Such observations probably reflect important regional variations in atmospheric or ocean circulation patterns.

Penguins (Aves: Sphenisciformes) are interesting to both neontologists and palaeontologists (e.g. Davis & Renner 2003). The fossil record of these extremely specialized inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere extends back to the Palaeocene epoch (Slack et al. 2006). Extinct penguins are known from localities within the range of their modern-day relatives (Fordyce & Jones 1990), and the oldest diverse assemblage comes from the Eocene La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, the only such locality south of the Antarctic Convergence (Myrcha et al. 2002, Jadwiszczak 2006a). Several collections amounting to over three thousand bones (mainly isolated skeletal elements) have been acquired since 1901 from that formation, and 15 penguin species have been erected so far (Jadwiszczak 2006a, table 1, Tambussi et al. 2006). Only ten of them (grouped into six genera) appear to be taxonomically distinct, and their type specimens are tarsometatarsi (Simpson 1971, Myrcha et al. 2002, Jadwiszczak 2006a, 2006b, p. 296). Individuals from six species belonging to four genera most probably were not larger than those of Aptenodytes forsteri G.R. Gray, 1844, the heaviest and tallest extant penguin (Jadwiszczak 2001, table 3). Interestingly, representatives of all ten species may have co-existed in the West Antarctic during the Late Eocene epoch, just prior to the final break-up of Gondwana (Jadwiszczak 2006a). Presented here is an intriguing partial tarsometatarsus of a small-sized penguin from the Late Eocene of Antarctic Peninsula, probably representing a new genus and species.

Cryptosporidium is considered to be one of the indicators of environmental contamination and water quality (Garcia 2001, Fayer 2004, Ramirez & Sreevatsan 2006). At the present time the presence of this parasite has been recorded on all the continents, including Antarctica (Fredes et al. 2007a).

In their recent review article “Paradigm lost, or is top-down forcing no longer significant in the Antarctic marine ecosystem?” Ainley et al. (2007) questioned why Southern Ocean marine ecologists apparently have shifted to a central paradigm where bottom-up forcing by physics and climate change has become the single most important driver of food web dynamics in the Southern Ocean. Ainley et al. (2007) suggest that top-down forcing (forcing by biotic processes) is no longer considered in the interpretation of ecological research results aimed at understanding ecosystem processes of the Southern Ocean. Based on two examples from the literature they suggest that population trends could better be explained by including species interactions in the modelling rather than by changes in climate related physical processes alone. Nicol et al. (2007) questioned the paradigm shift proposed by Ainley et al. (2007) and made a broad review of the ecological research conducted in the Southern Ocean ecosystems. They concluded that there has been considerable research effort into ecosystem interactions over the last 25 years in the Southern Ocean, and that there seems little evidence that there has been an almost complete shift in paradigms; rather both bottom-up and top-down processes are recognized to govern ecosystems functioning.

The remote South Sandwich arc is an archipelago of small volcanic islands and seamounts entirely surrounded by deep water and about 600 km away from the closest island, South Georgia. As some of the youngest islands (< 5 m.y.) in the Southern Ocean they are ideal for studying colonization processes of the seabed by benthic fauna, but are rarely investigated because of remoteness and extreme weather. The current study attempted to quantify the richness and abundance of the epibenthic macrofauna around the Southern Thule group by taking five epibenthic sledge samples along a depth transect including three shelf (one at 300 m and two at 500 m) and two slope stations (1000 and 1500 m). Our aim was to investigate higher taxon richness and community composition in an isolated Antarctic locality, since recent volcanic eruptions between 1964 and 1997. We examined patterns across all epibenthic macrofauna at phylum and class levels, and investigated trends in some model groups of crustaceans to order and family level. We found that abundance was highest in the shallowest sample and decreased with depth. Shelf samples (300 and 500 m) were dominated by molluscs and malacostracans while at the deeper stations (1000 and 1500 m) nematodes were the most abundant taxon. Surprisingly, the shallow shelf was dominated by animals with restricted dispersal abilities, such as direct developing brooders (malacostracans) or those with lecithotrophic larvae (bivalves of the genus Yoldiella, most bryozoan species). Despite Southern Thule's geological youth, recent eruptions, and its remoteness the shallow shelf was rich in higher taxa (phyla/classes) as well as orders and families of our model groups. Future work at higher taxonomic resolution (species level) should greatly increase understanding of how life has reached and established on these young and highly disturbed seabeds.

Williams et al. (2006) reported asterozoans preserved in Late Miocene volcanic tuffs of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group. The material, from the north-west of James Ross Island at 64°01.9′S 58°20.07′W, was sourced from the newly named Asterozoan Buttress locality, and represented reconnaissance collecting. The volcaniclastic sediments in which the fossils are found are fine- to medium-grained volcanic sandstones with planar, laterally continuous beds 0.5–8 cm thick containing decimetre-scale ripple cross-lamination. In the absence of part and counterpart rock slabs, Williams et al. (2006) hypothesised that the fossils represented the external moulds of starfish or brittlestars pinioned by rapid sedimentation of volcanic tuffs. They noted that these tuffs represented a potential untapped source of fossil material for interpreting Neogene marine shelf environments on the northern Antarctic Peninsula. New fossil material collected at Asterozoan Buttress in February 2007 (by Anna Nelson) includes part and counterpart rock slabs, and demonstrates that the asterozoans are resting traces of animals, referable to the ichnogenus Asteriacites, and not external moulds of entombed animals (Fig. 1a & d). We reinterpret the ‘detached’ arm and ‘current-entrainment’ specimens of Williams et al. (2006, fig. 5c & d) as representing a possible scull mark and movement of the asterozoan across the sediment surface respectively (see Bell 2004, text-fig. 11 for comparison).

We present 21Ne exposure ages of erosional glaciogenic rock surfaces on nunataks in northern Victoria Land, Antarctica: i) in the Prince Albert Mountains and ii) near Mesa Range. These nunataks are located directly at the margin of the polar plateau and therefore provide an immediate record of ice volume changes of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, not biased by ice shelf grounding or narrow valley sections downstream the outlet glaciers. The sampling locations overlook the present ice surface by less than 200 m, but were last covered by ice 3.5 Ma bp (minimum age, not corrected for erosion). This strongly indicates that the ice sheet has not been substantially thicker than today since at least the early Pliocene, which supports the hypothesis of a stable East Antarctic Ice Sheet. First absolute ages are reported for the alpine topography above the erosive trimline that typically marks the upper limit of glacial activity in northern Victoria Land. Unexpectedly low nuclide concentrations suggest that erosion rates on the alpine topography are considerably higher due to the steep slopes than those affecting flat erosional surfaces carrying Antarctic tors.

Cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al measurements from bedrock exposures in East Antarctica provide indications of how long the rock surface has been free from glacial cover. Samples from the crests of Zakharoff Ridge and Mount Harding, two typical nunataks in the Grove Mountains, show minimum 10Be ages of 2.00 ± 0.22 and 2.30 ± 0.26 Ma, respectively. These ages suggest that the crests were above the ice sheet at least since the Plio–Pleistocene boundary. Adopting a ‘reasonable’ erosion rate of 5–10 cm Ma-1 increases the exposure ages of these two samples to extend into the mid-Pliocene. The bedrock exposure ages steadily decrease with decreasing elevation on the two nunataks, which indicates ~200 m decrease of the ice sheet in the Grove Mountains since mid-Pliocene time. Seven higher elevation samples exhibit a simple exposure history, which indicates that the ice sheet in the Grove Mountains decreased only ~100 m over a period as long as 1–2 Ma. This suggests that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) was relatively stable during the Pliocene warm interval. Five lower elevation samples suggest a complex exposure history, and indicate that the maximum subsequent increase of the EAIS was only 100 m higher than the present ice surface. Considering the uncertainties, their total initial exposure and subsequent burial time could be later than mid-Pliocene, which may not conflict with the stable mid-Pliocene scenario.

Seven independent clone libraries were constructed to study the biodiversity of the bacterioplankton in the surface waters around Southern Thule, South Sandwich Islands, in order to identify the species present, to determine the sample effort required to estimate the total diversity, and to determine whether the surface waters around Southern Thule represented a highly specialized local anomaly or a subset of the marine meta-community. In total, 672 clones generated 629 useable sequences. These 629 clones matched 278 different sequences deposited in the 16S rDNA sequence databases. The majority of the clones were related to marine microorganisms, many of which had been previously detected in permanently cold Arctic and Antarctic marine environments. Each clone library generated an average of 35.8 new sequence matches. 346 clones covered two-thirds of the total estimated diversity, while 438 clones covered three-quarters of the total estimated diversity. Above this number, the coverage tended to stabilize and a relatively large number of additional clones were required to improve coverage significantly, increasing at the rate of about one new sequence match per 100 new clones. Comparing the different clone libraries, eight matches occurred in each of the seven libraries, whilst fifty-five occurred in only one, suggesting that there might be a relatively small number of common dominant ubiquitous species, with a much larger underlying diversity or ‘seed bank’ from which this dominant diversity is drawn. This study suggests that the dominant bacterioplankton in the surface waters around Southern Thule represent a subset of the marine meta-community, whilst sub-dominant diversity appears to be a highly specialized local anomaly.

A new basal actinopterygian fish, Donnrosenia schaefferi gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Aztec Siltstone of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Donnrosenia gen. nov. is characterized by the large parietals which are of almost equivalent size to the frontals, very small intertemporals, a small accessory operculum situated dorsally to the prominent anterodorsal process of the suboperculum, a deep dentary with anterior flexure, porous ornamentation on the clavicle, an elongate body form with macromeric squamation, an absence of paired fringing fulcra on the fins, and pectoral lepidotrichia which are unsegmented for much of their length. A phylogenetic analysis based on dermal skeletal features of Devonian actinopterygians indicates that Donnrosenia gen. nov. is the sister taxon to Howqualepis from the Middle Devonian of Victoria, Australia, and is embedded within a possible clade containing the actinopterygians from the Gogo Formation, Western Australia. This supports the concept of an endemic radiation of East Gondwanan actinopterygians, and reinforces the already strong biogeographical similarities between the Middle Devonian palaeofaunas of Australia and Antarctica.

The Antarctic gastropod Dickdellia labioflecta (Dell, 1990) (originally described as Laevilittorina (Corneolittorina) labioflecta) is an obligate parasite of pycnogonids, which exploits their body fluids through the cuticular gland holes (Lehmann et al. 2007) and lays its eggs on the pycnogonid's legs where embryos complete their life cycle (Hedgpeth 1964, Sirenko 2000, Lehmann et al. 2007). The ecology of D. labioflecta appears to be unique, as no other examples of such a specialized parasitic behaviour on pycnogonids are known. This life-style and the related anatomical specializations (gut and digestive gland morphology), prompted the erection of a new genus, Dickdellia Warén & Hain, 1996 provisionally included in the family Zerotulidae (Warén & Hain 1996). Although information is quite scant, to date, two pycnogonid host species are known for Dickdellia: Colossendeis megalonyx megalonyx Fry & Hedgpeth, 1969 (Lehmann et al. 2007) and Nymphon isabellae Turpaeva, 2000 (Sirenko 2000).