Delivering 21st century Antarctic and Southern Ocean science

The Antarctic Roadmap Challenges (ARC) project identified critical requirements to deliver high priority Antarctic research in the 21st century. The ARC project addressed the challenges of enabling technologies, facilitating access, providing logistics and infrastructure, and capitalizing on international co-operation. Technological requirements include: i) innovative automated in situ observing systems, sensors and interoperable platforms (including power demands), ii) realistic and holistic numerical models, iii) enhanced remote sensing and sensors, iv) expanded sample collection and retrieval technologies, and v) greater cyber-infrastructure to process ‘big data’ collection, transmission and analyses while promoting data accessibility. These technologies must be widely available, performance and reliability must be improved and technologies used elsewhere must be applied to the Antarctic. Considerable Antarctic research is field-based, making access to vital geographical targets essential. Future research will require continent- and ocean-wide environmentally responsible access to coastal and interior Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Year-round access is indispensable. The cost of future Antarctic science is great but there are opportunities for all to participate commensurate with national resources, expertise and interests. The scope of future Antarctic research will necessitate enhanced and inventive interdisciplinary and international collaborations. The full promise of Antarctic science will only be realized if nations act together

Sustained Antarctic Research: A 21st Century Imperative

The view from the south is, more than ever, dominated by ominous signs of change. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are intrinsic to the Earth system, and their evolution is intertwined with and influences the course of the Anthropocene. In turn, changes in the Antarctic affect and presage humanity's future. Growing understanding is countering popular beliefs that Antarctica is pristine, stable, isolated, and reliably frozen. An aspirational roadmap for Antarctic science has facilitated research since 2014. A renewed commitment to gathering further knowledge will quicken the pace of understanding of Earth systems and beyond. Progress is already evident, such as addressing uncertainties in the causes and pace of ice loss and global sea-level rise. However, much remains to be learned. As an iconic global “commons,” the rapidity of Antarctic change will provoke further political action. Antarctic research is more vital than ever to a sustainable future for this One Earth

A roadmap for Antarctic and Southern Ocean science for the next two decades and beyond

Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore, the international Antarctic community came together to ‘scan the horizon’ to identify the highest priority scientific questions that researchers should aspire to answer in the next two decades and beyond. Wide consultation was a fundamental principle for the development of a collective, international view of the most important future directions in Antarctic science. From the many possibilities, the horizon scan identified 80 key scientific questions through structured debate, discussion, revision and voting. Questions were clustered into seven topics: i)Antarctic atmosphere and global connections, ii) Southern Ocean and sea ice in a warming world, iii) ice sheet and sea level, iv) the dynamic Earth, v) life on the precipice, vi) near-Earth space and beyond, and vii) human presence in Antarctica. Answering the questions identified by the horizon scan will require innovative experimental designs, novel applications of technology, invention of next-generation field and laboratory approaches, and expanded observing systems and networks. Unbiased, non-contaminating procedures will be required to retrieve the requisite air, biota, sediment, rock, ice and water samples. Sustained year-round access toAntarctica and the Southern Ocean will be essential to increase winter-time measurements. Improved models are needed that represent Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the Earth System, and provide predictions at spatial and temporal resolutions useful for decision making. A co-ordinated portfolio of cross-disciplinary science, based on new models of international collaboration, will be essential as no scientist, programme or nation can realize these aspirations alone.Tinker Foundation, Antarctica New Zealand, The New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), the Alfred Wegner Institut, Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar und Meeresforschung (Germany), and the British Antarctic Survey (UK).http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ANShb201

Broadening the duty in relation to Environmental Impact Assessment across the legal instruments applying in Antarctica

An intensifying and ever widening range of human activity occurs in the area south of the Antarctic Convergence. Amongst its various consequences it is reasonable to see increasing environmental pressures. Whilst not all activity occurring here is subject to particular international legal instruments, most is. A cluster of Antarctic-specific instruments, comprising the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, 1972 Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals (CCAS), 1980 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Protocol), form what is termed ‘the Antarctic Treaty System’ (ATS) and address a large part of present activity. Whaling and harvesting of Southern blue-fin tuna are regulated under the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) through its International Whaling Commission (IWC), and the 1993 Convention for the Conservation of Southern Blue-fin Tuna (CCSBT) through its Commission respectively, legal instruments that are external to the Antarctic Treaty System. Other high seas activities in the region are subject to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Modern integrated environmental management approaches are largely confined to only two of these six instruments - CCAMLR and the Protocol. The obligation for prior Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), one of the major tools deployed in modern environmental management globally, is confined to the latter. EIA obligations in the Protocol are coupled with the advance notice obligations of Article VII.5.a of the Antarctic Treaty. Although EIA has been applied to national Antarctic programmes and tourism activities, as a matter of state practice this has (drawing on a number of considerations) generally excluded EIA application to any whaling or fishing activities (although there are exceptions in relation to one state). States active in the region, whatever their positions on whaling and the modalities of other marine harvesting, have generally resisted calls to broaden the range of activities subject to EIA. This paper documents the basis for EIA within the Antarctic Treaty System, examines the arguments that have been used to deny its applicability to the wider range of Antarctic activities, enquires into the exceptions, considers the place of EIA in the context of the declaratory positions of Antarctic-active states in relation to ecosystem maintenance and environmental and other use values, and suggests mechanisms whereby some broadening of EIA coverage might be achieved if the political will existed

Conservation biogeography of the Antarctic

Aim: To present a synthesis of past biogeographic analyses and a new approach based on spatially explicit biodiversity information for the Antarctic region to identify biologically distinct areas in need of representation in a protected area network. Location Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic. Methods: We reviewed and summarized published biogeographic studies of the Antarctic. We then developed a biogeographic classification for terrestrial conservation planning in Antarctica by combining the most comprehensive source of Antarctic biodiversity data available with three spatial frameworks: (1) a 200-km grid, (2) a set of areas based on physical parameters known as the environmental domains of Antarctica and (3) expert-defined bioregions. We used these frameworks, or combinations thereof, together with multivariate techniques to identify biologically distinct areas. Results: Early studies of continental Antarctica typically described broad bioregions, with the Antarctic Peninsula usually identified as biologically distinct from continental Antarctica; later studies suggested a more complex biogeography. Increasing complexity also characterizes the sub-Antarctic and marine realms, with differences among studies often attributable to the focal taxa. Using the most comprehensive terrestrial data available and by combining the groups formed by the environmental domains and expert-defined bioregions, we were able to identify 15 biologically distinct, ice-free, Antarctic Conservation Biogeographic Regions (ACBRs), encompassing the continent and close lying islands. Main conclusions: Ice-free terrestrial Antarctica comprises several distinct bioregions that are not fully represented in the current Antarctic Specially Protected Area network. Biosecurity measures between these ACBRs should also be developed to prevent biotic homogenization in the region

Complete atrioventricular canal in a dog

Boron (B) has many beneficial functions in biological, metabolic and physiological processes for plants and animals. It plays a vital role in maintaining animal health and preventing nutritional disorders. Boron deficiency has been correlated with low immune function and high incidence of osteoporosis which increases mortality risk. Extraordinary boron level causes cell damage and toxicity in human and different animal species. In the past few years, attention has been paid to clear the pleiotropic effects of boron including activating of immune response, antioxidant detoxification activities, affecting bone metabolism, enhancing animal performance and modulating various body systems. Furthermore, the role of boron as anti-heat stress agent has been identified in plants and suggested in animals. Liver metabolism also shows significant alterations in dairy cows in response to the dietary supplementation of boron. Likewise, adding boron to animal feed enhances bone density, wound healing and embryonic development. Additionally, boron has a potential impact on the metabolism of numerous minerals and enzymes. In view of the information about boron benefits, high or low level boron merits the concern. As well, researches are required to do more in-depth investigations on boron influences, and to adjust its requirements in different animal specie

A roadmap for Antarctic and Southern Ocean science for the next two decades and beyond

Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore, the international Antarctic community came together to ‘scan the horizon’ to identify the highest priority scientific questions that researchers should aspire to answer in the next two decades and beyond. Wide consultation was a fundamental principle for the development of a collective, international view of the most important future directions in Antarctic science. From the many possibilities, the horizon scan identified 80 key scientific questions through structured debate, discussion, revision and voting. Questions were clustered into seven topics: i) Antarctic atmosphere and global connections, ii) Southern Ocean and sea ice in a warming world, iii) ice sheet and sea level, iv) the dynamic Earth, v) life on the precipice, vi) near-Earth space and beyond, and vii) human presence in Antarctica. Answering the questions identified by the horizon scan will require innovative experimental designs, novel applications of technology, invention of next-generation field and laboratory approaches, and expanded observing systems and networks. Unbiased, non-contaminating procedures will be required to retrieve the requisite air, biota, sediment, rock, ice and water samples. Sustained year-round access to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean will be essential to increase winter-time measurements. Improved models are needed that represent Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the Earth System, and provide predictions at spatial and temporal resolutions useful for decision making. A co-ordinated portfolio of cross-disciplinary science, based on new models of international collaboration, will be essential as no scientist, programme or nation can realize these aspirations alone