What’s new: A recent study reveals that the icy Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica, has experienced a nearly twelve-fold increase in plant cover over the last 35 years. The greening, driven primarily by the spread of mosses, has accelerated notably since 2016, researchers found.
“The landscape is still almost entirely dominated by snow, ice and rock, with only a tiny fraction colonised by plant life,” Thomas Roland, study co-author at the University of Exeter, U.K., said in a statement. “But that tiny fraction has grown dramatically — showing that even this vast and isolated ‘wilderness’ is being affected by anthropogenic climate change.”
What the study says:
- Scientists analyzed satellite images of the Antarctic Peninsula taken between 1986 and 2021. They found that while plant cover was less than 1 square kilometer (0.4 square miles) in 1986, it rose to nearly 12 km2 (4.6 mi2) in 2021.
- The rate of greening on the peninsula is also accelerating. Between 2016 and 2021, plant cover expanded by 0.424 km2 (0.16 mi2) per year, which is 45% higher than the growth rate from 1986-2004, and 37% higher than the rate from 2004-2016.
- The greening has mostly come from the expansion of mosses. These mosses help build up soil in the otherwise soil-poor lands of Antarctica, which can then serve as a foundation for other plants to colonize.
What this means:
Previous studies have found that Antarctica is warming twice as fast as the global average. As the climate continues to warm, authors of the new study predict that the extent of greening will increase. This greening, however, isn’t good news. The increase in plant life, and the consequent soil formation, could potentially create fertile grounds for nonnative and invasive species, threatening the native, highly specialized animals and plants of Antarctica, researchers say.
“The sensitivity of the Antarctic Peninsula’s vegetation to climate change is now clear and, under future anthropogenic warming, we could see fundamental changes to the biology and landscape of this iconic and vulnerable region,” Roland said in the statement.
Carbon dioxide-fueled greening isn’t just threatening Antarctica, the world’s largest desert, but also drylands across the planet, Mongabay previously reported.
Banner image of greening in the Antarctic Peninsula courtesy of Dan Charman.
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