The Antarctica is a continent that surrounds the South Pole And that by definition all areas that are south of parallel 6. It is the highest on the planet with an average height of 2,000 meters above sea level.
Houses around 80% of the fresh water on earth And it is the continent with the lowest moisture and temperature averages. The highest point is the Venson massif, which rises 4,892 meters above sea level. And according to scientists we know almost nothing about this huge and mysterious place.
Antarctica: victim of climate change
The magazine Science Publishes an international study in which Antonio Quesada (Autonomous University of Madrid) participates Analyze our degree of knowledge about the biodiversity of AntarcticaThe characterization of both progress in research and still existing lagoons, so that the great strangers are identified to resolve about their ecology and evolution.
The results show that, although it is much known About the biology of marine vertebrate animals that are reproduced on the coast, such as penguins and sealsThere is still a great ignorance about much of the diversity and functioning of the terrestrial ecosystems of the icy continent. Researchers emphasize the need to invest more in taxonomic studies in cryptic groups, monitoring the populations, regional samples in less researched areas and the characterization of functional characteristics and physiological reactions.
According to the study, led by the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) and the Global Research Institute of the Rey Juan Carlos University (IICG-URJC), it is also necessary Standardization of methods and integration and accessibility of data.
«This study allowed us for the first time have a complete vision at the level of ecological knowledge of AntarcticaDetermining the pattern to export these types of studies to Europe and other areas with a lot of complexity, ”says Luis R. Pertierra, leader of this study. “This is, to know what we know and what not, as a basis for identifying what we still need to know.”
“The Antarctica is one of the few areas of the planet that are practically unspoiltWith environmental characteristics that form a unique biodiversity house, “explains the assumption of the MNCN researcher of the rivers. “Research in the icy continent started only two centuries ago and the study revealed important discoveries about the evolution and functioning of life in such isolated places and with such extreme weather conditions,” says the researcher.
Ecology and evolution of Antarctica
“In addition, These are ecosystems that perform important functions, As a climbing regulations and therefore it is the key to understand how they are influenced by the effects of global change, “says Leopoldo García Sancho Sancho in the Complutense University of Madrid. This study confirms that more than 2,000 types of fauna, microbiota and terrestrial flora have already been described for an apparently inert system and surrounded by ice, but in Antarctica there are much more to discover.
This is added The difficulty in gaining access to tens of thousands of microorganisms (such as bacteria and viruses) that are predictably under the ice. As a result, what we know about the characteristics of these organisms are much scarce and very variable between different groups.
“We are at a critical point where it is necessary to stop and analyze what we know and what we should discover about this fascinating continent to aim the following research efforts,” says Pertierra. That is why scientists from different parts of the world have gathered in this work to analyze Lagunes in the knowledge of Antarctic biodiversity.
Among the authors is Andrés Barbosa, an excellent member of the Scientific Committee for Research in Antarctica (scar) and whoever He was coordinator of Spanish research on this continent, Unfortunately, two years ago who devotes this study.
This international group of researchers has collected and analyzed the information in the most important global databases on biodiversity; «Great repositories such as GBIF, which draw up spatial event data, or Genbank, which brings genetic information together, They allow us so much to investigate the distribution of biodiversityHow you can identify gaps in our knowledge about her, “says Cristina Ronquillo, co -author of the study that works in the MNCN.
The analysis of these massage data shows that the animal (nearly 400 species) is taken over Large measurement of twenty vertebrates, with a minority knowledgeBut grow, in invertebrate animals. “It is remarkable that this systematized knowledge is primarily aimed at describing the climatic tolerances of the species,” says Miguel Ángel Olalla Tárraga, a researcher at the IICG URJC.
This is probably because “we have an urgent question for information about these tolerances for Understand species reactions at temperature rise«, Such as Pablo Escribano comments, also from the URJC. Instead, we hardly know the structure of trophic networks in Antarctica -Ecosystems. “In principle, our knowledge is limited to an estimated idea of who eats,” says Pertierra.
Humanity must protect this continent
There is also a lot of information about the functional characteristics of most species, making it difficult to mechanisms with which they can adjust their physiology to extreme circumstances. In the case of the flora we have a broad concept of its distribution, better and better thanks to satellite measurements that identify vegetation places on high -resolution images. But again, this knowledge is not covered by progress in other disciplines.
“For example, we hardly know anything about your evolutionary relationships, or the nature of its interactions,” says Pertierra. The ignorance of Antarctica about micro -organisms is much greater. «Recent studies on operation and Nutrient flows in microorganism communitiesLike their movement from some areas towards others, we give us instructions on how microscopic life develops in such an extreme climate, ”adds Antonio Quesada, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
At work it emphasizes that this imbalance in the knowledge of the biology of so many groups of organisms prevents insight into how ecological processes develop in Antarctica, something that is important Be able to lead maintenance measures for climate change «The analysis of the knowledge lagins on biodiversity enables us to identify the most important research needs in the coming years.
In the case of Antarctica it is necessary to invest in taxonomic research, to monitor populations, identify model types, standardize the study methods that we use and to integrate the data that we obtain. These are some of the measures that we propose to resolve The strangers we have about this important and fascinating area«, Joaquín Hortal, also a MNCN researcher concludes.