We measured the hydrogen and oxygen isotope composition (δ2H and δ18O) of precipitation and stream water from the Soft Plume River at multiple spatiotemporal scales on sub-Antarctic Marion Island, Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. Monthly precipitation δ2H and δ18O values ranged from -43.7‰ to -14.7‰ and from -7.0‰ to -3.3‰ (n=13), respectively. Stream water values ranged from -48.0‰ to -25.4‰ for δ2H and from -7.6‰ to -4.0‰ for δ18O (n=92). The monthly precipitation data yielded a local meteoric water line with the equation δ2H=8.4δ18O+11.4. There was no clear seasonality in isotope composition present in precipitation and stream water. Along the stream, no significant difference was observed between sites. However, δ2H and δ18O values were lower and more variable at the highest site. This is probably the result of the ‘amount effect’, where more precipitation fell at a higher elevation compared with a downstream site in the catchment. The findings illustrate spatiotemporal patterns in precipitation and stream water isotopes and provide insight into mechanisms affecting their composition on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.

We report the breeding success of four species of burrow-nesting petrels at sub-Antarctic Marion Island where house mice Mus musculus are the sole introduced mammal. Feral cats Felis catus were present on Marion for four decades from 1949, killing millions of seabirds and greatly reducing petrel populations. Cats were eradicated by 1991, but petrel populations have shown only marginal recoveries. We hypothesize that mice are suppressing their recovery through depredation of petrel eggs and chicks. Breeding success for winter breeders (grey petrels Procellaria cinerea (34±21%) and great-winged petrels Pterodroma macroptera (52±7%)) were lower than for summer breeders (blue petrels Halobaena caerulea (61±6%) and white-chinned petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis (59±6%)) and among winter breeders most chick fatalities were of small chicks up to 14 days old. We assessed the extent of mouse predation by monitoring the inside of 55 burrow chambers with video surveillance cameras (4024 film days from 2012–16) and recorded fatal attacks on grey (3/18 nests filmed, 17%) and great-winged petrel chicks (1/19, 5%). Our results show that burrow-nesting petrels are at risk from mouse predation, providing further motivation for the eradication of mice from Marion Island.

Mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data from two Antarctic ameronothroid mites, Halozetes belgicae and Alaskozetes antarcticus, were used to address three key questions important for understanding both the evolution of biodiversity and its future conservation in the Antarctic Peninsula Region: i) Do populations of mites across the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc constitute distinct genetic lineages? ii) What implications does the spatial genetic structure in these species have for current understanding of the region’s glacial history? iii) What are the conservation implications of these findings? Our results indicate that both mite species have been present in the Antarctic since at least the Pliocene. At the regional scale, both species are comprised of a number of divergent, but sympatric, lineages that are genetically as distinct as some species within the genera Halozetes and Alaskozetes. At the local scale, complex structure suggests limited and stochastic post-Holocene dispersal. For both species, considerable spatial genetic structure exists across the region, similar to that found in other terrestrial invertebrates. These results support the implementation of stringent biosecurity measures for moving between the Scotia Arc islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, and throughout the latter, to conserve both evolutionary history and future evolutionary trajectories.

Over the last decade, the Antarctic continent has been the object of intensive scientific programmes. However, the emphasis of these studies rarely focuses on the Antarctic as a source of potential elements such as mercury. The release of mercury to the environment is known to occur at Deception Island, associated with volcanic activity. In this study, a 3D hydrodynamic model was used to assess the role of water circulation on the dispersion of released mercury. Sea level variation and tidal circulation data were obtained. Residence time was calculated using two different approaches. Internal tide generation in summer and winter were recognized and the barotropic tidal components obtained. Lagrangian tracers were used to depict particle circulation (simulating particulate mercury) in a three month summer simulation for barotropic and baroclinic conditions. The results show that particles accumulate in the northern and western parts of the bay. It is acknowledged that the results of the 3D model are associated with a non-negligible uncertainty, which can only be reduced with an ongoing commitment to monitoring. The findings of this study indicate that mercury accumulation is occurring in Port Foster (Deception Island), which is a potential threat to the local ecosystem.

Fast ice plays important physical and ecological roles: as a barrier to wind, waves and radiation, as both barrier and safe resting place for air-breathing animals, and as substrate for microbial communities. While sea ice has been monitored for decades using satellite imagery, high-resolution imagery sufficient to distinguish fast ice from mobile pack ice extends only back to c. 2000. Fast ice trends may differ from previously identified changes in regional sea ice distributions. To investigate effects of climate and human activities on fast ice dynamics in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, the sea and fast ice seasonal events (1978–2015), ice thicknesses and temperatures (1986–2014), wind velocities (1973–2015) and dates that an icebreaker annually opens a channel to McMurdo Station (1956–2015) are reported. A significant relationship exists between sea ice concentration and fast ice extent in the Sound. While fast/sea ice retreat dates have not changed, fast/sea ice reaches a minimum later and begins to advance earlier, in partial agreement with changes in Ross Sea regional pack ice dynamics. Fast ice minimum extent within McMurdo Sound is significantly correlated with icebreaker arrival date as well as wind velocity. The potential impacts of changes in fast ice climatology on the local marine ecosystem are discussed.