Biological soil crusts are associations of lichens, mosses, algae, cyanobacteria, microfungi and bacteria in different proportions forming a thin veneer within the top centimetres of soil surfaces. They occur in all biomes, but particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, even in the most extreme climates. They carry out crucial ecosystem functions, such as soil stabilization, influencing water and nutrient cycles, and contribute to the formation of microniches for heterotrophic life. In continental Antarctica especially, these roles are essential because no higher plants provide such ecosystem services. We provide a detailed description of biological soil crusts from Garwood Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys region (78°S) and Diamond Hill (80°S) in the Darwin Mountains region. The coverage was low at 3.3% and 0.8% of the soil surface. At Garwood Valley the crusts were composed of green algal lichens, cyanobacteria, several species of green algae and the moss Hennediella heimii (Hedw.) R.H. Zander. Diamond Hill crusts appear to be unique in not having any species of cyanobacteria. Major parts are embedded in the soil, and their thickness correlates with higher chlorophyll contents, higher soil organic carbon and nitrogen, which are fundamental components of this species poor cold desert zone.

Meltwater ponds are important biodiversity elements in continental Antarctica. Many occupy closed basins and are vulnerable to changes in the balance between water accrual, through melting of ice and snow, and water loss by ablation and evaporation. We use a two-decade long record of ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf to assess temporal variability in key limnological variables. Ponds underwent many-fold change in biologically conservative variables, such as conductivity, and changes were similar in ponds from different catchments but of comparable area. In contrast, biologically active variables (pH, inorganic nutrients and planktonic/benthic biomass) are buffered by in-pond processes and show consistency between years and no coherence across catchments. Coherent behaviour across catchments implies an overarching, climatic effect. However, we could identify no signature of summer air temperature or irradiance in pond dynamics, although winter snow deposition may leave a legacy of low conductivity to the following summer. While ponds are clearly affected by climate, our data show that ecosystem responses are complex and highlight the need for system-appropriate, long-term observation if directional environmental change is to be separated from inherent variability in systems that respond to multiple climatic variables and which have significant biological buffering capacity.

This article reviews the adequacy of data and models currently being used to estimate the present and future population sizes of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni Norman) in the Ross Sea regional ecosystem. The current tagging programme is unlikely to provide an accurate picture of total population size, and estimates of both the pre-exploitation spawning stock biomass and the ratio of current to pre-exploitation biomass are unreliable. Many parameters necessary for estimating future population growth or decline have not been measured, and the current objective of a 50% reduction in biomass relative to unexploited biomass may easily fail to prevent a much larger reduction from taking place. The need to guess values of important parameters makes it impossible to set bounds on the potential errors of population forecasts. Current scientific knowledge is far from what is needed to predict the likely effects of food-web responses to harvesting of toothfish in the Ross Sea, or to predict the feedback effects of those food-web changes on toothfish populations.

Small changes in the availability of liquid water can have profound effects on the water levels, aqueous chemistry and biogeochemical dynamics of the closed-basin, perennially ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. We have compiled the published and unpublished data on dissolved gas, tritium and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for Lake Fryxell and Lake Hoare to determine the effects of a high meltwater year (2001–02 summer) on the lakes. The dissolved gas, tritium and CFC data indicate that the pulse of freshwater that flowed onto the surfaces of the lakes did not mix extensively with the upper water column. At the bottom of Lake Hoare, the measurable CFC and lower dissolved gas values suggest that the recent meltwater may have mixed with bottom waters. The probable mechanism for this transportation is weak density currents with c. 0.1–1.5% surface water being transported downwards in Lake Hoare. This deep water input, while not constant, may have a significant effect on the chemistry of the bottom waters in Lake Hoare over time. In Lake Fryxell, the tritium and CFC data indicate that the recent meltwater did not significantly affect the bottom water chemistry; therefore, weak density currents may not be present in Lake Fryxell.

We review the lithic microbial ecosystems of the McMurdo Dry Valleys as the main form of terrestrial colonization in this region, and assess the role of environmental controls such as temperature, solar radiation, water availability, wind, nutrient availability, salinity and the physicochemical properties of the colonized rock. Epilithic communities, especially those dominated by lichens, are able to withstand extreme environmental conditions but subsurface endolithic microhabitats provide more tolerant conditions. Endolithic microbial communities can be grouped into two main classes: eukaryotic communities (dominated by lichenized fungi and algae) and prokaryotic communities (dominated by cyanobacteria). Heterotrophic bacteria and non-lichenized algae and fungi (mainly black fungi) are also components of these communities. These lithobiontic microorganisms generally have effective mechanisms against freezing temperatures and desiccation. Extracellular polymeric substances play an important role not only in protecting microbial cells but also in community organization and in mitigating microenvironmental conditions. Antarctic lithobiontic communities are comprised of microbial consortia within which multiple interactions between the different biological and abiotic components are essential for microbial survival, whilst fossils and biomarkers provide evidence of earlier successful microbial life in Antarctic deserts. Finally, the uniqueness of the present lithobiont assemblages suggests they are the outcome of geographical isolation during the evolution of the continent and not merely the descendants of a subset of globally distributed taxa that have adapted to the extreme environmental conditions.

In order to continuously monitor the phytoplankton growth in Antarctic coastal waters, an online mooring system was deployed in Great Wall Bay (unofficial name), King George Island, and both chlorophyll a (chl a) concentrations and environmental variables were monitored in a period between December 2010 and March 2011. Water temperatures showed a significant increasing trend (0.27–2.52°C), whereas the salinities displayed a decreasing trend (34.19–33.86). In general, phytoplankton biomass accumulated from mid-December and two significant blooms developed in January (3.18 μg l-1 and 4.75 μg l-1) and were then maintained at a relatively high level, with a transient bloom in late February (4.93 μg l-1). Sea-ice meltwater and terrestrial freshwater input caused by the increase of temperature played an important role in inducing phytoplankton blooms in early summer. The variation and stratification of temperature and salinity signals in different water layers, without total mixing, suggested lateral intrusion of oceanic waters with alternating levels of temperature and salinity and, presumably, phytoplankton as well. Meanwhile, chl a concentrations initially decreased with an increase in irradiance, indicating the shade-adapted characteristic of phytoplankton in early summer, and then gradually adapted to the increasing irradiance. Our results demonstrated the effectiveness and reliability of the online coastal mooring system for the monitoring of Antarctic coastal phytoplankton bloom and environmental conditions.

Site selection for Antarctic research stations is of great importance and is necessary to support Antarctic expeditions. Site selection is affected by both the scientific investigations planned and the expected life of stations following construction. In the site allocation process, an efficient spatial data management system is required to manage various criteria and a robust allocation method is important to handle decision uncertainties. The aim of this study was to build a criteria system and to conduct a site selection process with aid from geographical information systems (GIS) and the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). In considering the natural environment and building conditions, fifteen factors were used as multiple evaluation sub-criteria and grouped into four main criteria: scientific research, environment, logistical support and topography. Comparisons were made between potentially suitable areas and the locations of existing stations and camps to demonstrate fitness-for-use of the allocation results. Finally, the suitability map was applied to identify candidate sites for a new Chinese research station by considering the position of current stations and areas of scientific interest. This model offers a comprehensive methodology for decision-makers in the assessment of potential Antarctic research station sites.

A fem, Elaphoglossum hybridum (Bory) Brack., has been cultured from mineral sediment in cryoconite holes in the ice cap of Signy Island, South Orkney Islands. Its provenance, mode of transport to its Maritime Antarctic destination and the significance of viable exotic propagules as potential colonists are discussed.

Morphological and genetic information was used to determine the species identity and relationships of four species of nematodes from the Victoria Land coast, Antarctica; and between laboratory and field populations of Panagrolaimus davidi Timm. The 18S and D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA were successfully amplified from the four species: Scottnema lindsayae Timm, Plectus murrayi Yeates, Eudorylaimus spp. and Panagrolaimus davidi. The four species from field populations mapped to three different nematode clades, indicating that if they are survivors in, rather than colonizers of, Antarctica they originate from several Gondwanan ancestors. The laboratory culture of P. davidi is shown to be a different species to that of the field samples of P. davidi, which were genetically identical to each other. There are several possible explanations for this observation, which require further investigation.

The thrust of this paper is that James Croll should be more generously lauded for his remarkable contribution to the study of ice ages, glacier flow and the nature of the Antarctic ice sheet. Croll was the first to calculate the link between fluctuations of the Earth’s orbit and glacial/interglacial cycles, and to identify the crucial role of positive feedback processes necessary to transform minor insolation changes into major climatic changes. He studied the mechanisms of glacier flow and explained flow over horizontal land surfaces at a continental scale, including the excavation of rock basins. Croll relied on a quantitatively based deductive approach. One of his most remarkable achievements was his study of the thickness, thermal regime and dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet (1879). This contains important insights, which are relevant today, and yet the paper was published before anyone had landed on the continent!

This study is based on the analysis of the stomach content and the morphology and morphometry of the three pairs of otoliths (sagitta, asteriscus and lapillus) of Lepidonotothen larseni (Lönnberg) collected at the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula during summer, in order to find possible relationships between ontogenetic change of sagittal otolith shape and feeding ecology. Length-weight relationship resulted in a positive allometric growth, with juveniles and adults in good nutritional condition (Le Cren condition index > 1), and with a decreasing trend from noon to late evening of the stomach repletion index. The stomach content consisted of several prey, with copepods and amphipods more frequent and abundant in juveniles, whereas euphausiids were in adults. The morphometric analysis of otoliths enabled us to relate different measurements with fish size, and those contributing mostly to separate juveniles from adults were the otolith and rostrum length and their percentage (R index). Juveniles proportionally showed a shorter and wider sagitta than adults reflected in a major E index because of a rounded shape and a minor R index because of a less developed rostrum. This pattern can be tentatively linked to the different habitat of juveniles and adults of this species, being respectively pelagic and epibenthic, as also evidenced by the ontogenetic change of feeding habits.

Meroplankton community studies in the Antarctic have primarily focused on the coastal waters of both the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea. The New Zealand International Polar Year - Census of Antarctic Marine Life (IPY-CAML) voyage to the Ross Sea during the late summer (February–March) 2008 provided the first meroplankton samples from three regions in the deep, oceanic waters of the Ross Sea (shelf, slope and adjacent offshore Antarctic waters of Admiralty Seamount and Scott Island). We used a combined morphological and molecular approach to identify 36 larval operational taxonomic units based on sequences from three loci (16S, 18S, COI), and exclude early developmental stages of holoplankton. Overall, larval abundance was lower than previous Antarctic studies (5.19 specimens per 100 m3), with larvae most abundant in the first 200 m of the water column and most diverse in the shelf region. Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences in the meroplankton community between regions and depth ranges, but with low similarity within these groupings; differences between water masses were undetectable due to the confounding effect with both region and depth. The influence of nearby benthic populations (e.g. the acorn barnacle Bathylasma corolliforme) and/or locally abundant taxa (e.g. the nudibranch Tergipes antarcticus) was evident in the meroplankton community.

Glacial melt has a great influence on biological communities of the Antarctic Peninsula. Annual changes in heterotrophic flagellates from March 2008–March 2009 and effects of glacial melting on heterotrophic flagellates from December 2008–March 2009 were studied within the coastal zone of King George Island. The maximum abundance and biomass occurred in November and December (950.6–1236.2 individuals ml-1; 0.02–0.035 μg C ml-1), and the minimum in May and June (419.8–456.8 individuals ml-1; 0.018–0.019 μg C ml-1). Forty-five species were identified. The diversity of choanoflagellates, euglenids, bicosoecids, kinetoplastids and incertae sedis flagellates was greatest. Glacial melt between December and April resulted in the freshening of the surface water at the Collins Bay, giving rise to a vertical gradient of salinity (from 26‰ at the surface to 34‰ at the near-bottom layer). The trophic, size and species structure of the heterotrophic flagellates was simplified due to freshening of the surface waters. Eurybiontic and cosmopolitan species were significantly enriched in the freshened surface layer, with prevalence of small-sized mobile bacterio-detritovorous forms. The simplification of structure of the assemblage of heterotrophic flagellates can affect the stability of biological communities.