Ecology at the Ends of the Earth

Antarctica will be the main focus of this talk, but I will make some contrasts with the Arctic. Antarctica is the harshest terrestrial environment on the Earth and is often referred to as the highest, driest, oldest  and coldest continent. Coldness is probably not very surprising, but dryness may be – the polar deserts of Antarctica are the Earth’s driest desert.  Yet in this harsh and unforgiving environment, there are active biological community adapted to function and survive.

Most of what we know about the biological communities in Antarctica has only been discovered in the past few decades, and the picture emerging is of a community dominated by micro-organisms and minute plants and animal living specialised lives responding to environmental factors at the limit of those that humans can appreciate.