INVESTIGADORES
CASA Valeria
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Introducing the wetland mosaic concept improves understanding of an Antarctic biodiversity hotspot (ASPA No. 134)
Autor/es:
GABRIELA MATALONI; VALERIA CASA; MARIA VICTORIA QUIROGA; YANINA SICA; MARCELA LIBERTELLI; QUINTANA, RUBÉN D.
Lugar:
Edimburgo
Reunión:
Conferencia; UK Antarctic Science Conference 2021; 2021
Institución organizadora:
SCAR - British Antarctic Survey
Resumen:
Despite its pristine appearance, Antarctica is submitted to the same environmental issues as the rest of the world. In particular, native biodiversity is threatened by the combined effects of climate change, biological invasions, contamination and increasing human footprint, and the growing concern of the Antarctic research community about its protection has prompted the launching of the Ant‐ ICON SCAR Programme. A key constraint for the existence of Antarctic life is freshwater availability. Positive summer temperatures grant plentiful water in some areas, particularly Maritime Antarctica coasts, frequently defining wetlands landscapes. Wetlands are globally recognised as fundamental providers of nature goods and benefits, and their particular ecosystem structure and functioning merited the generation of a paradigm of its own for their study, conservation and management. Still, Antarctic wetlands are poorly surveyed, understood and protected despite the high nature benefits they provide. Cierva Point (Antarctic Peninsula) is located within ASPA No. 134 on account of its exceptional biodiversity, and its topographically complex North face hosts numerous small wetlands. Within the framework of a comprehensive project, during 2017‐2018 we geolocalised 39 wetlands and classified them into six wetland types. Then we analysed the influence of the wetland type, site characterisation (location, topography, influence of penguin colonies) and physical and chemical features on their environmental diversity through two Principal Component Analyses. Though the variables selected explained a high percentage of the variance, the resulting ordinations were different and did not group wetlands of the same type. Rather, distinct combinations of these features render Cierva Point a wetland mosaic spanning a large environmental diversity. This feature, presently expressed as a hotspot of mostly autochtonous taxa, turns Cierva Point highly susceptible to biological invasions and merits inclusion of biodiversity monitoring in the ASPA Management Plan. We recommend that this paradigm be embraced by studies of similar systems.