Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Louise Emmerson, Colin Southwell
Summary: While seabirds are known for their ability to survive in harsh conditions, their capacity to adapt may be challenged by ecosystem changes. This study examines the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the decline of a large Adelie penguin metapopulation. The results suggest that the decline was triggered by environmental changes and exacerbated by feedback processes, highlighting the importance of considering both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in population models.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Jiangping Zhu, Aihong Xie, Xiang Qin, Shimeng Wang, Bing Xu, Yicheng Wang
Summary: This study investigates the future Antarctic temperature extremes and finds that global warming has accelerated the frequency and intensity of these extremes in different regions and seasons.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED METEOROLOGY AND CLIMATOLOGY
(2023)
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Layal Liverpool
Summary: Although the polar region is demilitarized, the ongoing conflict is endangering important climate data collected at Ukraine's research station.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Fernanda Casagrande, Leticia Stachelski, Ronald Buss de Souza
Summary: This paper evaluates the ability of 11 climate models to simulate the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice. The results show that all models can accurately capture the seasonal variation, although there are significant biases in certain sea areas compared to observations. The latest model version (CMIP6) exhibits some improvements over the previous version (CMIP5). All models predict significant sea ice loss in the future due to CO2 forcing. Despite advancements, the models still struggle to accurately represent regional sea ice changes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2023)
News Item
Multidisciplinary Sciences
McKenzie Prillaman
Summary: An Antarctic sample, dating between three million and five million years old, has been extracted by international ice-drilling teams in a race to extend Earth's climate record.
Article
Plant Sciences
Willem H. H. van de Poll, Talia Abi Nassif
Summary: The photophysiological characteristics of three species of Southern Ocean phytoplankton were studied during 7 weeks of darkness and subsequent recovery. Different species showed varying levels of decline in photosynthetic fitness during darkness, with Phaeocystis antarctica experiencing the strongest decline. The diatom C. simplex showed the strongest capacity for photosynthesis and growth during darkness. The maintenance of photosynthetic fitness during darkness was temperature dependent, with higher temperatures leading to a stronger decline.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Stef Bokhorst, Peter Convey, Angelica Casanova-Katny, Rien Aerts
Summary: This study shows the germination and growth of non-native plant species in Antarctic soil under warming scenarios. The results suggest that the potential establishment of non-native species in Antarctica may be greater than previously suggested by species distribution modelling approaches.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Forestry
Andreas Gruber, Walter Oberhuber, Gerhard Wieser
Summary: The margin of the life-form tree in high elevation or latitude areas is determined by low temperature, with trees defined as upright woody species taller than 2-3m. The global temperature limit of the life-form tree occurs when the mean soil temperature in the growing season declines to 6.7 +/- 0.8 degrees C. However, disturbance and human land use can lead to the absence of trees at the climatic treeline.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Dennis L. Hartmann
Summary: Since 1980, the tropical Pacific has been anomalously cold, potentially associated with the Antarctic ozone hole.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Dariel Lopez, Carolina Sanhueza, Haroldo Salvo-Garrido, Luisa Bascunan-Godoy, Leon A. Bravo
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of diurnal and nocturnal warming on the freezing resistance of Antarctic vascular plants. The results showed that nocturnal warming weakened the freezing resistance of Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis, leading to reduced expression of dehydrin-like peptides and decreased sucrose content in both species. Therefore, while both species still have some freezing resistance during summer freezing events, C. quitensis may reach its freezing vulnerability limits in the near future if warming in the Antarctic Peninsula continues.
Article
Plant Sciences
Maria Elena Solarte, Yisela Solarte Erazo, Elizabeth Ramirez Cupacan, Camila Enriquez Paz, Luz Marina Melgarejo, Eloisa Lasso, Jaume Flexas, Javier Gulias
Summary: Global warming and changes in land use are major threats to high mountain species. This study evaluated the photosynthetic responses of common paramo species to warming and land use changes. The results showed that the species were not stressed by passive warming, but exhibited stronger photosynthetic response in recovering areas during the dry and warm months. The history of paramo use influenced the species' response to warming, and disturbed soil conditions could lead to a narrower range of physiological response to warming.
Article
Geography, Physical
Brooke Medley, Thomas A. Neumann, H. Jay Zwally, Benjamin E. Smith, C. Max Stevens
Summary: This study presents simulations of firn processes and calibrates a dry-snow densification scheme. The results show that seasonal volume changes associated with firn air content are larger than those associated with mass fluxes, but comparable in average over multiple years. The Greenland Ice Sheet has lost a significant amount of its firn air content, while the Antarctic Ice Sheet retains almost all of the meltwater.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
G. Tarca, M. Guglielmin, P. Convey, M. R. Worland, N. Cannone
Summary: Snow cover changes, monitored on Signy Island in maritime Antarctica between 2009 and 2017, showed high spatial and temporal variability, with mean annual snow depth influenced by air temperature and the Southern Oscillation Index. Small-scale spatial variability in snow accumulation was found to be influenced by microtopography, wind direction, and land cover type.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
A. Baranov, R. Tenzer, A. Morelli
Summary: This study utilizes seismic data and subglacial bedrock relief to construct a new three-layer model of the crystalline crust in Antarctica, revealing significant variations in seismic velocities between different crustal blocks. East and West Antarctica exhibit pronounced differences in terms of crustal velocity structures.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pang-Chi Hsu, Zhen Fu, Hiroyuki Murakami, June-Yi Lee, Changhyun Yoo, Nathaniel C. Johnson, Chueh-Hsin Chang, Yu Liu
Summary: This study reveals that part of the summer cooling trend in East Antarctica is forced by decadal changes in the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), which modifies atmospheric circulations leading to a net cooling trend in East Antarctica. The findings emphasize that changes in intraseasonal tropical climate patterns can have significant implications for climate change in Antarctica.
Article
Ecology
Liesbeth van den Brink, Rafaella Canessa, Harald Neidhardt, Timo Knuever, Rodrigo S. Rios, Alfredo Saldana, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Yvonne Oelmann, Maaike Y. Bader, Katja Tielboerger
Summary: Litter decomposition rates are influenced by climate, decomposer organisms, and litter quality. The hypothesis of a home-field advantage, where decomposer communities are locally adapted to accelerate decomposition of local litter, remains controversial and lacks support across different climates. The decomposition process is primarily influenced by litter quality and the overall ability of decomposer communities, rather than the origin or location of the litter.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jose Ortiz, Carolina Hernandez-Fuentes, Patricia L. Saez, Nestor Fernandez Del Saz, Lohengrin A. Cavieres
Summary: There are two main types of leaves in vascular plant species: compound and simple. Compound leaves have higher productivity due to their larger projected area, while simple leaves have higher stress tolerance during drought due to their ability to pack more mass tissue in a smaller projected area. However, compound leaves have more efficient convective cooling, which helps alleviate water loss in drought periods. In Central Chile, both simple and compound leaf species coexist, but the impact of severe droughts on their photosynthetic traits has not been studied. This study found that compound leaf species had higher net photosynthesis (A(N)) and mesophyll conductance (g(m)) under well-watered conditions. However, both leaf types were negatively affected by drought, despite compound leaves having lower foliar temperature. This suggests that the matorral species in Central Chile will be severely impacted in terms of A(N) by the ongoing megadrought in the region.
Correction
Plant Sciences
Jose Ortiz, Carolina Hernandez-Fuentes, Patricia L. Saez, Nestor Fernandez Del Saz, Lohengrin A. Cavieres
Article
Plant Sciences
Loreto Morales, Angela Sierra-Almeida, Mary T. Kalin Arroyo
Summary: This study assessed the importance of freezing avoidance mechanisms in alpine species from the central Chilean Andes. The findings showed that while some species have structural ice barriers, only a few can effectively protect flowers from freezing damage. Thermal decoupling was not observed in any of the studied species, regardless of their inflorescence morphology. Therefore, structural ice barriers and inflorescence morphology are insufficient to protect flowers from damage caused by night freezing events.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jorge Gago, Miquel Nadal, Maria Jose Clemente-Moreno, Carlos Maria Figueroa, David Barbosa Medeiros, Neus Cubo-Ribas, Lohengrin Alexis Cavieres, Javier Gulias, Alisdair Robert Fernie, Jaume Flexas, Leon Aloys Bravo
Summary: Deschampsia antarctica is a native vascular plant in Antarctica, and the availability of nutrients in the soil affects its photosynthetic and stress tolerance mechanisms. Plants growing on low-nutrient availability soils have more limiting photosynthetic and stress tolerance performances, while plants in nutrient-rich soils show vigorous growth without appreciable levels of stress.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Paulina Pradel, Leon A. Bravo, Carolina Merino, Nicole Trefault, Rodrigo Rodriguez, Heike Knicker, Claudia Jara, Giovanni Larama, Francisco Matus
Summary: The impacts of rapid warming on soil organic matter decomposition in King George Island, Maritime Antarctic, remain unclear. Most vegetation cover is dominated by mosses, which contribute carbohydrates and C-alkyl but lack lignin for aromatic compounds and humus formation. The response of Antarctic microbial respiration to substrate and temperature increase is not yet understood.
PERMAFROST AND PERIGLACIAL PROCESSES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
C. Hernandez-Fuentes, J. Galmes, L. A. Bravo, L. A. Cavieres
Summary: The study analyzed the intrinsic traits of Phacelia secunda populations from different elevations in the Chilean Andes and their acclimation of photosynthesis to warmer temperatures. The results showed that plants from higher elevations had slightly lower CO2 assimilation rates but increased diffusive components of photosynthesis compared to plants from lower elevations. Moreover, plants from high elevations had lower photosynthetic acclimation to warmer temperatures, indicating higher susceptibility to global warming.
Article
Plant Sciences
Dariel Lopez, Carolina Sanhueza, Haroldo Salvo-Garrido, Luisa Bascunan-Godoy, Leon A. Bravo
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of diurnal and nocturnal warming on the freezing resistance of Antarctic vascular plants. The results showed that nocturnal warming weakened the freezing resistance of Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis, leading to reduced expression of dehydrin-like peptides and decreased sucrose content in both species. Therefore, while both species still have some freezing resistance during summer freezing events, C. quitensis may reach its freezing vulnerability limits in the near future if warming in the Antarctic Peninsula continues.
Review
Plant Sciences
Humberto A. Gajardo, Olman Gomez-Espinoza, Pedro Boscariol Ferreira, Helaine Carrer, Leon A. Bravo
Summary: Worldwide food security is threatened by climate change, as major staple crops are not adapted to harsh climatic and soil conditions. Traditional breeding and molecular techniques have been used to maintain crop yield, but additional strategies are needed to meet future food demand. CRISPR/Cas technology and its variants have emerged as alternatives for genetically modifying crops to withstand abiotic stress. This review summarizes current advancements in CRISPR/Cas applications for addressing hostile soil conditions and explores the potential of extreme plants for developing new molecular mechanisms for stress tolerance in crops.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rafael A. Garcia, Eduardo Fuentes-Lillo, Lohengrin Cavieres, Ana J. Cobar-Carranza, Kimberley T. Davis, Matias Naour, Martin A. Nunez, Bruce D. Maxwell, Jonas J. Lembrechts, Anibal Pauchard
Summary: Pinus contorta is an invasive tree species with significant impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. It has invaded Araucaria araucana forest and Patagonian steppe ecosystems in southern Chile, leading to changes in microenvironmental conditions and reduced native plant diversity.
Article
Ecology
Richard Michalet, Gianalberto Losapio, Zaal Kikvidze, Rob W. Brooker, Bradley J. Butterfield, Ragan M. Callaway, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Christopher J. Lortie, Francisco Pugnaire, Christian Schob
Summary: Plant interactions in extreme environments can be studied using paired and random sampling methods, but these methods may be affected by habitat-sharing effects. This study compared the results of the two methods in different levels of environmental heterogeneity and stress. The findings showed that the paired and random sampling methods provided similar results in homogeneous spaces, but the pairwise method yielded higher facilitation estimates than the random method in decreasing abundance gradients. The spatial associations between beneficiary and nurse species varied with increasing stress levels, and there were no differences in results between the two methods at different stress levels in some sites. However, weakly significant differences were found in the Italian site, which were unlikely due to habitat-sharing effects. Overall, the paired sampling method is important in understanding plant interactions in spatially conspicuous environments.
POPULATION ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dariel Lopez, Giovanni Larama, Patricia L. Saez, Leon A. Bravo
Summary: Warming in the Antarctic Peninsula is rapidly increasing and expected to become more imbalanced. It has already affected the growth and reproduction of Antarctic plants, leading to decreased freezing tolerance. Limited evidence exists about the effects of diurnal and nocturnal warming on freezing tolerance-related gene expression in D. antarctica.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Francisca P. Diaz, Thomas Dussarrat, Gabriela Carrasco-Puga, Sophie Colombie, Sylvain Prigent, Guillaume Decros, Stephane Bernillon, Cedric Cassan, Amelie Flandin, Pablo C. Guerrero, Yves Gibon, Dominique Rolin, Lohengrin A. Cavieres, Pierre Petriacq, Claudio Latorre, Rodrigo A. Gutierrez
Summary: The study reveals the important role of Maihueniopsis camachoi in Atacama plant communities, driving local biodiversity and impacting the molecular phenotypes of nursed species through interactions.