Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/137850
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Location, location, location: survival of Antarctic biota requires the best real estate. |
Author: | Stevens, M.I. Mackintosh, A.N. |
Citation: | Biology Letters, 2023; 19(3):20220590-20220590 |
Publisher: | The Royal Society |
Issue Date: | 2023 |
ISSN: | 1744-9561 1744-957X |
Statement of Responsibility: | Mark I. Stevens, and Andrew N. Mackintosh |
Abstract: | The origin of terrestrial biota in Antarctica has been debated since the discovery of springtails on the first historic voyages to the southern continent more than 120 years ago. A plausible explanation for the long-term persistence of life requiring ice-free land on continental Antarctica has, however, remained elusive. The default glacial eradication scenario has dominated because hypotheses to date have failed to provide a mechanism for their widespread survival on the continent, particularly through the Last Glacial Maximum when geological evidence demonstrates that the ice sheet was more extensive than present. Here, we provide support for the alternative nunatak refuge hypothesis-that ice-free terrain with sufficient relief above the ice sheet provided refuges and was a source for terrestrial biota found today. This hypothesis is supported here by an increased understanding from the combination of biological and geological evidence, and we outline a mechanism for these refuges during successive glacial maxima that also provides a source for coastal species. Our cross-disciplinary approach provides future directions to further test this hypothesis that will lead to new insights into the evolution of Antarctic landscapes and how they have shaped the biota through a changing climate. |
Keywords: | cosmogenic dating glacial refuge ice sheet ice-free nunatak springtails |
Rights: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
DOI: | 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0590 |
Grant ID: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR200100005 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2022.0590 |
Appears in Collections: | Earth and Environmental Sciences publications |
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hdl_137850.pdf | Published version | 838.64 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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