The importance of understanding annual and shorter-term temperature patterns and variation in the surface levels of polar soils for terrestrial biota

Ground temperatures in the top few centimetres of the soil profile are key in many biological processes yet remain very poorly documented, especially in the polar regions or over longer timescales. They can vary greatly seasonally and at various spatial scales across the often highly complex and heterogeneous polar landscapes. It is challenging and often impossible to extrapolate soil profile temperatures from meteorological air temperature records. Furthermore, despite the justifiably considerable profile given to contemporary large-scale climate change trends, with the exception of some sites on Greenland, few biological microclimate datasets exist that are of sufficient duration to allow robust linkage and comparison with these large-scale trends. However, it is also clear that the responses of the soil-associated biota of the polar regions to projected climate change cannot be adequately understood without improved knowledge of how landscape heterogeneity affects ground and sub-surface biological microclimates, and of descriptions of these microclimates and their patterns and trends at biologically relevant physical and temporal scales. To stimulate research and discussion in this field, we provide an overview of multi-annual temperature records from 20 High Arctic (Svalbard) and maritime Antarctic (Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc) sites. We highlight important features in the datasets that are likely to have influence on biology in polar terrestrial ecosystems, including (a) summer ground and sub-surface temperatures vary much more than air temperatures; (b) winter ground temperatures are generally uncoupled from air temperatures; (c) the ground thawing period may be considerably shorter than that of positive air temperatures; (d) ground and air freeze–thaw patterns differ seasonally between Arctic and Antarctic; (e) rates of ground temperature change are generally low; (f) accumulated thermal sum in the ground usually greatly exceeds air cumulative degree days. The primary purpose of this article is to highlight the utility and biological relevance of such data, and to this end the full datasets are provided here to enable further analyses by the research community, and incorporation in future wider comparative studies

Trends and patterns in publication of Antarctic science

The paper will analyze over 50 years of science publications by British Antarctic Survey to establish the pattern of annual publications, changes in disciplinary output and how these might be related to changing fashions in science and management objectives within the UK. To set the British output in a global context an analysis of ISI Web of Science for publications identified by search terms 'Antarctic*', 'subantarctic*' and 'southern ocean' was undertaken. Comparisons between countries show major differences in total output, mean citation numbers and the calculated Hirsch-index. Subject rankings and percentage output comparisons demonstrate the differences between British Antarctic science and the general trends for all Antarctic countries. Examination of the papers with over 400 citations shows the predominance of ozone as a subject, the USA as the major research country and, for these papers, a surprising lack of international authorship

Science for profit. What are the ethical implications of bioprospecting in the Arctic and Antarctica?

The value of chemical compounds and their genetic sources in species from the polar regions is becoming widely recognised as a resource not yet fully exploited. Bioprospecting is a growing activity in the Arctic, where the states concerned are signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity, providing a national framework for ownership, management and control of the activities. In the Antarctic, no such framework exists, and with increasing interest in both microbes and marine species there are concerns that uncontrolled exploitation will damage biodiversity, inhibit scientific research and data exchange, and (through disputes) undermine the authority of the Antarctic Treaty. Papers in this Theme Section highlight the ethical problems of commercialisation of science in the Antarctic for both governments and individuals, and discuss the concept of exclusive reward in a global common, leading finally to a suggestion that a new legal instrument is needed to manage Antarctic bioprospecting for the future. © Inter-Research 2010

Climate change effects on organic matter decomposition rates in ecosystems from the Maritime Antarctic and Falkland Islands

Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems have poorly developed soils and currently experience one of the greatest rates of climate warming on the globe. We investigated the responsiveness of organic matter decomposition in Maritime Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems to climate change, using two study sites in the Antarctic Peninsula region (Anchorage Island, 67 degrees S; Signy Island, 61 degrees S), and contrasted the responses found with those at the cool temperate Falkland Islands (52 degrees S). Our approach consisted of two complementary methods: (1) Laboratory measurements of decomposition at different temperatures (2, 6 and 10 degrees C) of plant material and soil organic matter from all three locations. (2) Field measurements at all three locations on the decomposition of soil organic matter, plant material and cellulose, both under natural conditions and under experimental warming (about 0.8 degrees C) achieved using open top chambers. Higher temperatures led to higher organic matter breakdown in the laboratory studies, indicating that decomposition in Maritime Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems is likely to increase with increasing soil temperatures. However, both laboratory and field studies showed that decomposition was more strongly influenced by local substratum characteristics (especially soil N availability) and plant functional type composition than by large-scale temperature differences. The very small responsiveness of organic matter decomposition in the field (experimental temperature increase < 1 degrees C) compared with the laboratory (experimental increases of 4 or 8 degrees C) shows that substantial warming is required before significant effects can be detected