The rapid encroachment of mosses and other plants in Antarctica is raising serious concerns. British researchers found that over the past 40 years the Antarctic Peninsula—the largest peninsula of continental Antarctica—has seen a staggering 1,000 percent increase in greenery. The trend is happening across the continent, which is becoming more verdant largely because of global warming. The rest of the planet is warming too, but the poles are heating up faster.
A team from the University of Exeter and the University of Herefordshire, working with the British Antarctic Survey, used satellite data to map how warming has changed the landscape. They note that the Antarctic Peninsula stretches about 1,300 kilometers from the northern edge of Antarctica toward South America. In recent years this icy, mountainous region has recorded some of the continent’s highest temperatures. Back in 1986 the peninsula was almost free of vegetation—less than one square kilometer of green. By 2021 that had climbed to 12 square kilometers, roughly the size of 2,000 football fields.
Over the past five years the greening has accelerated, IFLScience reports.
Thomas Roland, an ecologist at the University of Exeter and a co-author of the study, said mosses are the peninsula’s most common plants. “The landscape is still almost entirely covered in snow, ice, and rock, with only a small portion inhabited by plants. But this tiny area has increased dramatically, indicating that even this vast and isolated ‘wilderness’ is being affected by human-induced climate change,” Roland said.
The authors say that as mosses grow and break down they create soil that lets other plants spread across the continent. “That raises the risk of non-native and invasive species arriving, possibly brought by eco-tourists, scientists, or other visitors,” said Olli Bartlett, a geographer at the University of Herefordshire. “Our findings raise serious concerns about the ecological future of the Antarctic Peninsula and the continent as a whole. To protect Antarctica, we must understand these changes and accurately identify their causes,” Roland added. The results were published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
