In Antarctica’s extreme cold, plants blanket small ice-free areas in bursts of green. These include two native species of flowering plants, 116 moss species, and several liverworts and lichens. Until now, however, none had been assessed for their extinction risk in Antarctica.

For the first time, researchers have evaluated the conservation status of an Antarctic moss, Roaldia revoluta, and found it to be regionally endangered.

For Peter Convey, study co-author and a veteran scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, this finding isn’t surprising.

“As a field ecologist who has visited many parts of the Antarctic Peninsula over the last 38 years, and made many general moss collections (even though I am not a specialist bryologist) it is very clear that some of the species in the region are only encountered infrequently, or have geographically very restricted or sporadic distributions,” Convey said. “There are about 116 or so known moss species in Antarctica, and I think if this exercise was to be done more widely across these, I think we would get quite a few similar assessments.”

Roaldia revoluta is a rusty-brown or yellowish moss found both in the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in the colder, mountainous parts of Europe, Patagonia and New Zealand. Globally, the species is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List. In parts of its range, however, it’s in decline: near threatened in Romania; critically endangered in the U.K.; and possibly extinct in the Czech Republic.

To find out how R. revoluta is doing in Antarctica, the researchers consulted herbarium collections of the moss obtained during expeditions. They then generated a map of its distribution and evaluated information on its ecology, habitat availability and potential threats. They concluded there are about 80 mature individuals of R. revoluta in Antarctica, and the species is endangered there.

Convey said the most challenging aspect of the assessment was getting reliable records of the species. “[M]any existing field collections are inevitably not made by specialist moss taxonomists, while any given specialist or collector can only get to a limited number of locations in any one field season.”

More detailed baseline surveys by specialists are needed, Convey said. Mosses form the bulk of Antarctica’s vegetation, and they’re vulnerable to disturbance from research and tourism activities, including trampling, vehicle damage, and research station construction. Once damaged, Antarctic mosses can take decades to recover, he said.

The study found no records of R. revoluta within any Antarctic Specially Protected Areas. “Most of the 74 Antarctic Specially Protected Areas have been designated primarily to protect major colonies of marine birds or mammals, with none designated primarily for protecting the habitat of a plant species,” the authors write.

They add the study provides “the first step towards designating future Antarctic Specially Protected Areas that include the presence of threatened plants.”

Banner image: Mosses blanket ice-free areas of Antarctica. Image courtesy of Peter Convey/British Antarctic Survey.

Credits

Bobbybascomb Editor

Topics

BiodiversityConservationEndangered SpeciesEnvironmentPlantsResearchTourismWildlifeAntarctica

See Topics