The distribution of euphausiid larvae along the coast of Terre Adélie, Antarctica, was assessed using oblique tows of a double-framed bongo net at 38 stations during summer 2004. Larvae of Euphausia crystallorophias and Thysanoessa macrura were observed. For E. crystallorophias larvae, the calyptopis I stage was dominant along the coast, while the most commonly observed stage of T. macrura was the furcilia. The distribution of E. crystallorophias larvae were correlated with abiotic factors, including depth and sea surface salinity, whereas those of T. macrura larvae were correlated with biotic factors, especially chlorophyll a and nitrate. Developmental stages of both species increased in age from west to east in the survey area, with younger developmental stages (metanauplius and calyptopis I) in the western part of the region and older stages (calyptopis II and III and furcilia I to VI) in the eastern part near the Mertz Glacier Tongue (MGT). It is suggested that these patterns could be linked with the water circulation and wind: near the MGT gyres could concentrate all developmental stages of both species near the coast, while katabatic winds near Dumont d'Urville will promote larval advection seawards, with younger stages near the coast and older stages further offshore.

We investigated intraspecific geographic variation in buoyancy by obtaining percentage buoyancy (%B) measurements for the Antarctic notothenioid species Pleuragramma antarcticum, Trematomus hansoni, T. bernacchii and Gymnodraco acuticeps from both McMurdo Sound in East Antarctica and the South Shetland Islands in West Antarctica. Mean percentage buoyancies in these species ranged from 0.22–0.52% in the neutrally buoyant P. antarcticum to 3.34–3.67% in the benthic T. bernacchii. Dispersion (1 standard deviation) of percentage buoyancy (%B) values around the mean was ± 0.2–0.5 %B units for the entire sample. Although intraspecific differences in mean percentage buoyancy were statistically significant (P < 0.05) in P. antarcticum and T. hansoni, we consider these differences as normal variation without substantive biological significance. The dispersion in buoyancy measurements during adult life reflects the density of the fish and this may be influenced, in both the short- and long-term, by gut contents, nutritional condition, and reproductive state. Mitigation of the effects of these variables is not biologically realistic because they constitute normal aspects of the daily and yearly life cycles. The results of our measurements of buoyancy are consistent with what is known about the ecology of these four species and this is considered in the discussion.

The capacity of the polar flora to adapt is of increasing concern given current and predicted environmental change in these regions. Previous genetic studies of Antarctic mosses have been of limited value due to a lack of variation in the markers or non-specificity of the methods used. We examined the power of five microsatellite loci developed for the cosmopolitan moss Ceratodon purpureus to detect genetically distinct clones and infer the distribution of clones within and among populations from the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Our microsatellite data suggest that the extraordinarily high levels of variation reported in RAPD studies were artificially elevated by the presence of contaminants. We found surprisingly little contribution of asexual reproduction to the genetic structure of the Windmill Islands populations, but more loci are required to determine the distribution of individual clones within and among populations. It is apparent that Antarctic populations of C. purpureus possess less genetic diversity than temperate populations, and thus have less capacity for adaptive change in response to environmental variation, but more markers are needed to resolve the total genetic diversity in Antarctic C. purpureus and other mosses.

Cribroelphidium webbi sp. nov. is the only adequately described sub-Recent elphidiid foraminifer from Antarctica. In Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetland Islands), it is found at several locations within inner fiord setting at water depths between 33 and 165 m, but most commonly shallower than 100 m. In outer basins this foraminifer is absent. In the cores analysed, C. webbi sp. nov. is present in well-constrained sub-Recent horizons that are clearly related to climate warming and deglaciation. These horizons represent a diachronous facies marker rather than a single stratigraphic layer. Cribroelphidium webbi sp. nov. shows clear association with retreating tidewater glaciers, therefore it is an important sensitive glacier-proximal indicator. It appears that it shares similar ecologic affinities with Cribroelphidium excavatum clavatum, which is widely distributed throughout the Arctic.

During CHINARE-22 (December 2005–March 2006), we investigated six penguin colonies in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, and collected several penguin ornithogenic sediment cores, samples of fresh guano and modern penguin bone and feather. We selected seven penguin bones and feathers and six sediments from the longest sediment core and performed AMS14C dating. The results indicate that penguins occupied the Vestfold Hills as early as 8500 calibrated years before present (cal. yr bp), following local deglaciation and the formation of the ice free area. This is the first report on the Holocene history of penguins in the Vestfold Hills. As in other areas of Antarctica, penguins occupied this area as soon as local ice retreated and the ice free area formed, and they are very sensitive to climatic and environmental changes. This work provides the foundation for understanding the history of penguins occupation in Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica.

One of the major issues in (palaeo-) climatology is the response of Antarctic ice sheets to global climate changes. Antarctic ice volume has varied in the past but the extent and timing of these fluctuations are not well known. In this study, we address the question of amplitude and timing of past Antarctic ice level changes by surface exposure dating using in situ produced cosmogenic nuclides (10Be and 21Ne). The study area lies in the Ricker Hills, a nunatak at the boundary of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet in southern Victoria Land. By determining exposure ages of erratic boulders from glacial drifts we directly date East Antarctic Ice Sheet variations. Erosion-corrected neon and beryllium exposure ages indicate that a major ice advance reaching elevations of about 500 m above present ice levels occurred between 1.125 and 1.375 million years before present. Subsequent ice fluctuations were of lesser extent but timing is difficult as all erratic boulders from related deposits show complex exposure histories. Sample-specific erosion rates were on the order of 20–45 cm Ma-1 for a quartzite and 10–65 cm Ma-1 for a sandstone boulder and imply that the modern cold, arid climate has persisted since at least the early Pleistocene.

Nearshore marine benthic algal communities along the western Antarctic Peninsula harbour extremely high densities of amphipods that probably play important roles in nutrient and energy flow. This study extends our evaluation of the importance of amphipods in the nearshore Antarctic Peninsular benthic communities and focuses on sponge associations. We found a mean density of 542 amphipods per litre (L) sponge for twelve species of ecologically dominant sponges. The highest mean density (1295 amphipods per L sponge) occurred with Dendrilla membranosa Pallas. The amphipod community associated with the 12 sponges was diverse (38 species), with mean species richness values ranging from two to eight species. Mean Shannon diversity indices (H’) ranged from 0.52 to 1.49. Amphipods did not appear to have obligate host relationships. Qualitative gut content analyses indicated that 12 of the 38 amphipod species were found with sponge spicules in their guts. However, only one of the amphipods, Echiniphimedia hodgsoni Walker, had considerable amounts of spicules in the gut. Organic lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts of the twelve sponges were presented in alginate food disks to a sympatric omnivorous amphipod in feeding bioassays and extracts of only two sponges deterred feeding.

Antarctic calcified macroorganisms are particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification because many are weakly calcified, the dissolution rates of calcium carbonate are inversely related to temperature, and high latitude seas are predicted to become undersaturated in aragonite by the year 2100. We examined the post-mortem dissolution rates of aragonitic and calcitic shells from four species of Antarctic benthic marine invertebrates (two bivalves, one limpet, one brachiopod) and the thallus of a limpet shell-encrusting coralline alga exposed to acidified pH (7.4) or non-acidified pH (8.2) seawater at a constant temperature of 4°C. Within a period of only 14–35 days, shells of all four species held in pH 7.4 seawater had suffered significant dissolution. Despite calcite being 35% less soluble in seawater than aragonite, there was surprisingly, no consistent pattern of calcitic shells having slower dissolution rates than aragonitic shells. Outer surfaces of shells held in pH 7.4 seawater exhibited deterioration by day 35, and by day 56 there was exposure of aragonitic or calcitic prisms within the shell architecture of three of the macroinvertebrate species. Dissolution of coralline algae was confirmed by differences in weight loss in limpet shells with and without coralline algae. By day 56, thalli of the coralline alga held in pH 7.4 displayed a loss of definition of the conceptacle pores and cracking was evident at the zone of interface with limpet shells. Experimental studies are needed to evaluate whether there are adequate compensatory mechanisms in these and other calcified Antarctic benthic macroorganisms to cope with anticipated ocean acidification. In their absence, these organisms, and the communities they comprise, are likely to be among the first to experience the cascading impacts of ocean acidification.

Western Wright Valley, from Wright Upper Glacier to the western end of the Dais, can be divided into three broad geomorphic regions: the elevated Labyrinth, the narrow Dais which is connected to the Labyrinth, and the North and South forks which are bifurcated by the Dais. Soil associations of Typic Haplorthels/Haploturbels with ice-cemented permafrost at < 70cm are most common in each of these geomorphic regions. Amongst the Haplo Great Groups are patches of Salic and Typic Anhyorthels with ice-cemented permafrost at > 70 cm. They are developed in situ in strongly weathered drift with very low surface boulder frequency and occur on the upper erosion surface of the Labyrinth and on the Dais. Typic Anhyorthels also occur at lower elevation on sinuous and patchy Wright Upper III drift within the forks. Salic Aquorthels exist only in the South Fork marginal to Don Juan Pond, whereas Salic Haplorthels occur in low areas of both South and North forks where any water table is> 50 cm. Most soils within the study area have an alkaline pH dominated by Na+ and Cl- ions. The low salt accumulation within Haplorthels/Haploturbels may be due to limited depth of soil development and possibly leaching.

Admiralty Bay on the King George Island hosts the Brazilian, Polish and Peruvian research stations as well as the American and Ecuadorian field stations. Human activities in this region require the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, thereby placing the region at risk of hydrocarbon contamination. Hydrocarbon monitoring was conducted on water and sediment samples from the bay over 15 years. Fluorescence spectroscopy was used for the analysis of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in seawater samples and gas chromatography with flame ionization and/or mass spectrometric detection was used to analyse individual n-alkanes and PAHs in sediment samples. The results revealed that most sites contaminated by these compounds are around the Brazilian and Polish research stations due to the intense human activities, mainly during the summer. Moreover, the sediments revealed the presence of hydrocarbons from different sources, suggesting a mixture of the direct input of oil or derivatives and derived from hydrocarbon combustion. A decrease in PAH concentrations occurred following improvement of the sewage treatment facilities at the Brazilian research station, indicating that the contribution from human waste may be significant.

Well-preserved vertebrate microremains are abundant in the residues from a calcareous grey siltstone in the karawaka biozone (?late Givetian) of the Aztec Siltstone at Mount Crean, Lashly Mountains, Antarctica. Acanthodians are represented by scales of acritolepid Pechoralepis juozasi sp. nov., climatiid Nostolepis sp. cf. N. gaujensis Valiukevičius, diplacanthid Milesacanthus antarctica Young & Burrow, and an undetermined acanthodiform. The acanthodian assemblage resembles those from early Frasnian carbonates of central Iran. Chondrichthyan elements in the fauna include rare teeth of Aztecodus harmsenae Long & Young and Antarctilamna prisca Young, ctenacanthoid-type scales and branchial denticles which are possibly from Antarctilamna, and scales of an indeterminate chondrichthyan. An isolated set of acanthodid acanthodiform jaws from the uppermost ‘phyllolepid’ biozone of the Aztec Siltstone at Mount Ritchie, Warren Range, Antarctica is also described.

The diet of post-breeding Antarctic shags Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis was investigated at four colonies at the Danco Coast, Antarctic Peninsula, by the analysis of 399 pellets (regurgitated casts) collected during February and March 1998 and 2000. Overall, demersal-benthic fish were the most frequent and important prey at all the colonies sampled, followed by octopods and gastropods. Amongst the fish, Notothenia coriiceps and Gobionotothen gibberifrons were the main prey in all of the sampling sites in both seasons. The composition of the diet of post-breeding shags differed from that observed in the previous breeding season. Post-breeders preyed on the same fish species consumed by breeders, although in different proportions and on larger specimens. The information provided here differs from that reported for post-breeding individuals belonging to other shag species and also for post-breeding Antarctic shags. Our results, as well as the differences with previous studies, are discussed in relation to differences in prey availability among localities and to the use of alternative foraging grounds at the end of the breeding period.

Two contrasting high nutrient/low chlorophyll regions having different conditions that control phytoplankton production, and separated by an area of blooming, are found during summer in the vicinity of the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica). Low chlorophyll conditions occur either in Fe-rich, deeply mixed and high salinity Weddell Sea shelf waters, or the Fe-poor, shoaled and low salinity Drake Passage Antarctic Circumpolar Current waters, while phytoplankton blooms are located between in mid salinity water. Contrasting phytoplankton communities were found to populate these different biogeochemical provinces. In data from six field seasons (1999–2007), nanoplankton (2–20 μm) were found to be dominant in the phytoplankton populations from light-controlled coastal waters, including blooms, with most chlorophyll found in the 2–5 μm size class. In contrast, the adjacent and presumably Fe-controlled Drake Passage waters were dominated by the microplankton (> 20 μm) size class. The asymmetrical distribution of phytoplankton size classes across the salinity gradient, when analysed independently of total chlorophyll concentration, supports the hypothesis that the different food web grazing dynamics are dependent upon biogeochemical provinces.

The West Antarctic Peninsula region is an important source of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in the Southern Ocean. From 1980–2004 abundance and concentration of phytoplankton and zooplankton, krill reproductive and recruitment success and seasonal sea ice extent here were significantly correlated with the atmospheric Southern Oscillation Index and exhibited three- to five-year frequencies characteristic of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. This linkage was associated with movements of the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front and Boundary, a changing influence of Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Weddell Sea waters, and eastward versus westward flow and mixing processes that are consistent with forcing by the Antarctic Dipole high-latitude climate mode. Identification of hydrographic processes underlying ecosystem variability presented here were derived primarily from multi-disciplinary data collected during 1990–2004, a period with relatively stable year-to-year sea ice conditions. These results differ from the overwhelming importance of seasonal sea ice development previously established using 1980–1996 data, a period marked by a major decrease in sea ice from the Antarctic Peninsula region in the late 1980s. These newer results reveal the more subtle consequences of ENSO variability on biological responses. They highlight the necessity of internally consistent long-term multidisciplinary datasets for understanding ecosystem variability and ultimately for establishing well-founded ecosystem management. Furthermore, natural environmental variability associated with interannual- and decadal-scale changes in ENSO forcing must be considered when assessing impacts of climate warming in the Antarctic Peninsula–Weddell Sea region.

New reference gravity values are provided for gravity base stations at McMurdo Station and Scott Base. The new values are obtained by a relative survey including the Hut Point base station (an International Satellite Triangulation station; 77.8448°S, 166.6418°E; 982975.65 mGal) located 110 m north of Scott’s 1901 Discovery Hut at McMurdo Station. This site is the only remaining station tied by previous surveys to the now defunct SATGRAV base Station located in the former Building 57, which was, in turn, measured by an absolute meter in 1995. New values are 982970.41 mGal for the THIEL-1 Station (77.8490°S, 166.6794°E) at McMurdo Station, 982973.40 mGal for the MMD-N Station (77.8491°S, 166.7567°E) at Scott Base, and 982977.83 mGal for the newly established SBG-1 Station (77.8499°S, 166.7667°E) under the flagpole at Scott Base. Our difference values are very consistent with previous surveys, including Nakagawa’s value for MMD-N at Scott Base, which is within 0.2 mGal of our new value.

Research in extremely delicate environments must be sensitive to the need to minimize impacts caused simply through the presence of research personnel. This study investigates the effectiveness of current advice relating to travel on foot over Antarctic vegetation-free soils. These are based on the concentration of impacts through the creation of properly signed and identified paths. In order to address these impacts, we quantified three factors - resistance to compression, bulk density and free-living terrestrial arthropod abundance - in areas of human activity over five summer field seasons at the Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands). Studies included instances of both experimentally controlled use and natural non-controlled situations. The data demonstrate that a minimum human presence is sufficient to alter both physical and biological characteristics of Byers Peninsula soils, although at the lowest levels of human activity this difference was not significant in comparison with adjacent undisturbed control areas. On the other hand, a limited resilience of physical properties was observed in Antarctic soils, thus it is crucial not to exceed the soil's natural recovery capability.

Zircon and apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology was applied to the James Ross Basin sedimentary rocks from James Ross and Seymour islands. The probable sources of these sediments were generated in Carboniferous to Early Paleogene times (∼315 to 60 Ma). The total depths of individual James Ross Basin formations are discussed. The AFT data were modelled, and the thermal history model was reconstructed for samples from Seymour Island. The first stage after a period of total thermal annealing (when the samples were above 120°C) involved Late Triassic cooling (∼230 to 200 Ma) and is followed by a period of steady cooling through the whole apatite partial annealing zone (PAZ, 60–120°C) to minimum temperature in Paleocene/Early Eocene. The next stage was the maximum burial of sedimentary rocks in the Eocene (∼35 Ma, 1.1–1.8 km) and the final cooling and uplift of Seymour Island sedimentary rocks at ∼35 to 20 Ma.

Dry permafrost on Earth is unique to the Antarctic and is found in the upper elevations of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Despite its widespread presence in the Dry Valleys, the factors that control the distribution of dry permafrost and the ice-cemented ground below it are poorly understood. Here I show, by a combination of theoretical analysis and field observations, that the recurrence of snow can explain the depth of dry permafrost and the location of ice-cemented ground in Antarctica. For data from Linnaeus Terrace at 1600–1650 m elevation in Upper Wright Valley a recurrence intervals of about two years explains the presence of ground ice at 25 cm depth, under 12.5 cm of dry permafrost. Snow recurrence periods longer than 10 years would create only dry permafrost at this site. The snow gradient in University Valley resulting from the windblown snow from the polar plateau creates a corresponding gradient in the depth to ice-cemented ground. On the floor of Beacon Valley, the presence of dry permafrost without underlying ice-cemented ground indicates snow recurrence intervals of more than 10 years and implies that the ancient massive ice in this valley is not stable. Snow recurrence may also set the depth to ground ice on Mars.

Although the impacts of biological invasions are widely appreciated, a bias exists in research effort to post dispersal processes because of the difficulties of measuring propagule pressure. Here we quantify the propagule pressure associated with the construction of a research station in Antarctica. Based on quantitative assessment of different classes of cargo, we predict that over 5000 seeds will be entrained during the period of building the station. Seeds from 34 taxa were identified, including known invasive species.