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Knowledge of the biodiversity of the Thala Hills oasis (Enderby Land, East Antarctica) is very limited. Here, we integrate all information available since 1962, when the Russian ‘Molodyozhnaya’ station was established in the western part of the oasis. The published data on local eukaryote diversity (lichens, embryophytes, metazoans) include records of 90 species. Since 2008, Belarusian Antarctic Expedition researchers have worked in the eastern part of the oasis, accessible from the Belarusian station ‘Vechernyaya Mount'. This research revealed 95 species, including 44 species not recorded in the earlier published literature. The level of available information is uneven across major taxa. Lichens are the better-known group, with 51 species recorded in total, including 13 species recently recorded for the first time in the oasis. New records were also obtained for rotifers. Thala Hills biodiversity is consistent with wider patterns of Antarctic biogeography, with a high proportion of regionally endemic species (especially metazoans), the occurrence of both endemic and bipolar species of lichens and generally low numbers of cosmopolitan species (largely limited to aquatic rotifers, with the caveat that up-to-date taxonomic studies are required). The lack of data on marine macrobenthos, soil nematodes and terrestrial rotifers emphasizes the need for studies focusing on these groups.

Antarctic soils provide an excellent setting to test biogeographical patterns across spatial and environmental scales given their relatively simple communities and the dominance of physical factors that create strong environmental gradients. Additional urgency is given by the fact that their unique terrestrial communities are the subject of conservation efforts in a rapidly changing environment. We investigated relationships of soil community assembly and alpha and beta diversity with climatic and environmental parameters across regional and local scales in Maritime Antarctica. We sampled from a regional gradient of sites that differ in habitat severity, ranging from relatively favourable to harsher physicochemical conditions. At the regional scale, bacterial community characteristics and microarthropod abundance varied along this severity gradient, but most measures of fungal communities did not. Microarthropod and microbial communities differed in which soil and climate parameters were most influential, and the specific parameters that influenced each taxon differed across broad and fine spatial scales. This suggests that conservation efforts will need to focus on a large variety of habitat characteristics to successfully encompass diversity across taxa. Because beta diversity was the result of species turnover, conservation efforts also cannot focus on only the most biodiverse sites to effectively preserve all aspects of biodiversity.

One-year time-lapse images acquired via an autonomous photo imaging device positioned at a depth of 20 m in Tethys Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica) on a rocky bottom colonized by the sponge Mycale (Oxymycale) acerata were analysed. Monthly changes in the abundance and activity of the sea star Odontaster validus and sea urchin Sterechinus neumayeri on the sponge and nearby rocky bottom were compared with respect to environmental variables such as pack-ice presence/absence, temperature, salinity and photosynthetically active radiation. Sea urchins were more abundant on the rocky bottom and sponge during the summer and winter, respectively. Sea stars showed a decrease in the number of individuals on the sponge from January to December. The grazing activity of both species reached its maximum in January–April, when increased sunlight contributed to the phytoplankton bloom. The winter months were critical both for O. validus and S. neumayeri; although the red sea star maintained its pattern of activity on the rocky bottoms in terms of searching for food, the sea urchin reduced its activity. Time-lapse monitoring systems coupled with physicochemical sensors showed potential for revealing species behaviour in polar environments, contributing to the elucidation of future changes in coastal communities facing climate change.

Drawing on qualitative interview data, this article explores past and current Australian Antarctic Program expeditioners' perceptions of the personal qualities of expeditioners alongside their views of Antarctic station culture and expeditioner recruitment procedures. The findings reveal study participants shared similar views about expeditioner personal qualities. However, the findings also suggest that the current demographic similarity of expeditioners (e.g. the overrepresentation of white men) is perhaps much more important for assessing organizational fit than the Program might be selecting for. Participants described the ways in which interpersonal interactions and the social environment can deeply affect an expeditioner's experience of the station culture. Women in this study pointed to the connection between the overrepresentation of men in the expeditioner population and a potential male bias in station culture. These results extend the existing literature on person-culture fit in Antarctica. To conclude, I provide recommendations for diversifying the expeditioner applicant pool in Antarctica that can also be applied to the selection of other workforces in isolated, confined and extreme work environments, including space missions.

Fildes Peninsula, on King George Island, has been greatly influenced by recent rapid climate warming. Lakes are pervasive features of Fildes Peninsula landscapes, some of which are used as water sources for Antarctic stations. We studied seven Fildes Peninsula lakes to explore differences among lakes and between seasons in phytoplankton and bacterioplankton communities. We measured environmental variables, analysed pigments using high-performance liquid chromatography and examined bacterial DNA through high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The main driver structuring microbial communities was the season (i.e. spring vs autumn). Chlorophyceae were the dominant phytoplankton group in all lakes and both seasons. Indicator bacteria for each season were identified, including Flavobacterium, Polaromonas and Oxalobacteraceae as indicators of spring conditions under thick ice, whereas Frankiales and Verrucomicrobia were indicator species of autumn following the ice-free summer. The indicator species for spring are generally observed in oligotrophic conditions, whereas many of the autumn indicators are commonly found in soils. There were lesser between-lake differences in microbial communities in autumn, at the end of the open-water period, than in spring at the end of the ice-covered period. This study will act as the basis for future assessments of changes in aquatic microbial communities.

The western Antarctic Peninsula harbours a diverse benthic marine community where dense canopies of macroalgae can dominate the shallow subtidal zone (0–40 m or greater). In the lower portion of this range (below 25–35 m depending on topography), invertebrates such as sponges and echinoderms can be found in greater abundance due to reduced competition for space from the algal species. Dendrilla antarctica (previously Dendrilla membranosa) is a common demosponge that thrives in both communities and is known for producing diterpene secondary metabolites as a defence against sympatric sea star and amphipod predators. Omnivorous mesograzers such as amphipods inhabit both communities; however, they are in greatest abundance within the macroalgal canopy. Due to the differences between habitats, it was hypothesized that specific amphipod species not susceptible to the defensive metabolites of D. antarctica would take refuge from predators in the chemically defended sponge. Analysis of the metabolome and amphipod communities from sponges in both habitats found correlations of metabolic profile to both abundance and habitat. These studies serve to inform our understanding of the complex ecosystem of the Antarctic benthos that stands to be dramatically altered by the rapidly changing climate in the years to come.

This paper tracks the progress of renewable energy deployment at Antarctic facilities, introducing an interactive database and map specifically created for this purpose. Goals, challenges and lessons learnt from these operations are also reported. The data and assessments presented are based on a literature review of government reports, academic articles, online resources, news outlets and interviews conducted with personnel of Antarctic stations. As of 2021, 29 facilities have incorporated renewables in their energy systems, but only one permanent and four summer stations use renewables to meet more than 50% of their energy needs. Four main goals behind the development of renewable energy systems have been identified: fuel cost savings; reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions footprint in alignment with national decarbonization targets; electricity supply for scientific equipment during the winter months; and the development and/or testing of new technologies. The extreme weather conditions and complex logistics of Antarctica put both solar and wind systems under huge stress, which generates operational, technological and budgetary challenges that are also explored in this work.

Gastropods are an important component of subtidal Antarctic communities including in common association with macroalgae. Nonetheless, limited data exist detailing their abundance and distribution on macroalgal species. This study documents the abundance and species composition of gastropod assemblages on the two largest, blade-forming Antarctic macroalgae, Himantothallus grandifolius and Sarcopeltis antarctica, sampled across two depths (9 and 18 m) at four sites for each species off Anvers Island, Antarctica. Gastropods were also enumerated on Desmarestia anceps, Desmarestia antarctica and Plocamium sp. but were not included in the main analyses because of small sample sizes. There were major differences between the gastropod assemblages on deep vs shallow H. grandifolius and S. antarctica with much higher numbers of individuals and also greater numbers of gastropod species at the greater depth. Differences between the gastropod assemblages on H. grandifolius and S. antarctica across sampling sites were apparent in non-parametric, multivariate analyses, although depth contributed more than site to these differences. Within common sites, assemblages on H. grandifolius were significantly different from those on S. antarctica at 18 m depth but not at 9 m depth, indicating that the host species can be but is not always more important than site in influencing the gastropod assemblages.

We report the first formal record of the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella from a location within the Antarctic Treaty area, with the capture of a live adult male within the Brazilian Comandante Ferraz research station on King George Island, South Shetland Islands. This species is a well-known pest of stored products and is widely recorded in synanthropic situations such as food stores globally. No other adults or immature stages have been observed on the station. While there is no suggestion that P. interpunctella could survive or establish in the natural environment beyond the station, this observation highlights the ever-present threat of unintended anthropogenically assisted transfer of non-Antarctic species into human facilities on the continent, with some such species proving extremely difficult to eradicate if they successfully establish within these facilities.

We present an analysis of the 20 year snowfall dataset in Taylor Valley and the results of a new snow cover monitoring study. Snowfall has been measured at four sites in Taylor Valley from 1995 to 2017. We focus on valley-floor snowfall when wind does not exceed 5 m s-1, and we exclude winter from our analysis due to poor data quality. Snowfall averaged 11 mm water equivalent (w.e.) from 1995 to 2017 across all stations and ranged from 1 to 58 mm w.e. Standard deviations ranged from 3 to 17 mm w.e., highlighting the strong interannual variability of snowfall in Taylor Valley. During spring and autumn there is a spatial gradient in snowfall such that the coast received twice as much snowfall as more central and inland stations. We identified a changepoint in 2007 from increasing snowfall (3 mm w.e. yr-1) to decreasing snowfall (1 mm w.e. yr-1), which coincides with a shift from decreasing temperature to no detectable temperature trend. Daily camera imagery from 2007 to 2017 augments the snowfall measurements. The camera imagery revealed a near tripling of the average number of days with snow cover from 37 days between 2006 and 2012 to 106 days with snow cover between 2012 and 2017.

We report 3 years of data from one meteorological and three smaller stations in University Valley, a high-elevation (1677 m) site in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica with extensive dry permafrost. Mean air temperature was -23.4°C. Summer air temperatures were virtually always < 0°C and were consistent with the altitude lapse rate and empirical relationships between summer temperature, distance from the coast and elevation. The measured frost point (-22.5°C) at the 42 cm deep ice table is equal to the surface frost point and above the atmospheric frost point (-29.6°C), providing direct evidence that surface conditions control ground ice depth. Observed peak surface soil temperatures reach 6°C for ice-cemented ground > 15 cm deep but stay < 0°C when it is shallower. We develop an energy balance model tuned to this rocky and dry environment. We find that differences in peak soil surface temperatures are primarily due to the higher thermal diffusivity of ice-cemented ground compared to dry soil. Sensitivity studies show that expected natural variability is insufficient for melt to form and significant excursions from current conditions are required. The site's ice table meets the criteria for a Special Region on Mars, with 30% of the year > -18°C and water activity > 0.6.

This article is devoted to the assessment of trends of atmospheric air pollution and atmospheric impacts on the environment in the oases of the Thala Hills, Enderby Land, East Antarctica. Estimates of annual emissions of SO2, nitrogen oxides (NOx), inhalable particulate matter with a diameter of ≤ 10 μm (PM10) and CO and their dynamics over 56 years of Thala Hills exploration are given, as well as levels of surface air concentrations of SO2, NOx, PM10 and PM10 atmospheric depositions using air dispersion modelling. It is shown, in particular, that average annual emissions of NOx, PM10 and CO peaked in the early 1990s and have decreased 30.9 times by now. Sulphur dioxide emissions were highest in the late 1960s–late 1970s and decreased 270 times since then. Results of comparisons of modelled air concentrations and depositions with the available data on the measurement of surface air pollutant concentrations and atmospheric depositions are presented. Sources of uncertainties in the estimates of emissions, ground-level concentrations and depositions are described. Proposed approaches can be used to assess the cumulative impacts of ongoing and planned activities on atmospheric air and on other components of the environment through assessing the atmospheric air in the Antarctic Treaty area.

The sophisticated spatial reference tools that exist today greatly facilitate studies of spatial ecology. Historically, however, the lack of such tools meant that spatial data were often imprecise, ambiguous or sometimes inaccurate. This can hinder or confound assessments of whether species distributions have changed in the past over decadal timescales. This is the case for Adélie penguins breeding at the southern limit of their breeding range in East Antarctica. In this short note, we resolve uncertainties in the locations of Adélie penguin breeding sites observed in the first population survey in Prydz Bay in 1981 by examining the original working notes of that work in combination with data from a recent survey in 2009 and a recently published spatial reference and identification system for coastal East Antarctica. By clarifying the historical locations, we conclude that the Adélie penguin breeding distribution has remained unchanged in this region over the past three decades, and we provide a robust baseline for assessing change in the future.

The geology of the Schroeder Hill region near the head of the Shackleton Glacier, central Transantarctic Mountains, consists of Triassic Fremouw Formation and overlying Falla Formation strata intruded by Jurassic Ferrar Dolerite sills. At ‘Alfie’s Elbow', south-east of Schroeder Hill, upper Fremouw strata are overlain by Upper Cenozoic Sirius Group deposits. These upper Fremouw beds differ from all other examined upper Fremouw strata in the Shackleton Glacier region in being carbonaceous. Quartz-pebble conglomerate characterizes the basal Falla beds, emphasizing a change in provenance. Sirius Group beds occur as a stratigraphic succession draped on modern topography and as structureless sand wedged in modern microtopography. Fremouw beds locally are arched with the fold axis approximately parallel to regional normal faulting related to the uplift and formation of the Transantarctic Mountains.

Virus diversity in Antarctic biotopes remains understudied. Here, we describe bacteriophages isolated from terrestrial environments, provide data on their natural bacterial hosts and study phage-host systems. Six bacterial isolates (FCKU 539, FCKU 533, FCKU 534, FCKU 538, FCKU 542 and FCKU 540) were recovered and characterized. Isolated bacteria belonged to Pseudomonas genus (Pseudomonas sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas putida) with optimal cultivation temperatures of 16–28°C. These bacteria and previously described Bacillus subtilis FCKU 537 were used for analysing virus-host interactions. Six lytic phages were isolated and named P. fluorescens Antarctic virus 1 (PFAV1), P. fluorescens Antarctic virus 2 (PFAV2), P. fluorescens Antarctic virus 3 (PFAV3), P. putida Antarctic virus 4 (PPAV4), Pseudomonas sp. Antarctic virus 5 (PSAV5) and B. subtilis Antarctic virus 6 (BSAV6) in relation to their natural hosts. According to electron microscopy data, these phages belonged to Caudovirales order. Cross-inoculation demonstrated high specificity of all Antarctic phages, which infected only their initial hosts at moderate temperatures. PFAV2 and PFAV3 phages also infected laboratory Pseudomonas savastanoi and P. fluorescens isolates. This paper adds new data on the occurrence and diversity of viruses and their respective bacterial hosts in soil biotopes of Antarctica.

The few Antarctic studies to date to have applied metabarcoding in Antarctica have primarily focused on microorganisms. In this study, for the first time, we apply high-throughput sequencing of environmental DNA to investigate the diversity of Embryophyta (Viridiplantae) DNA present in soil samples from two contrasting locations on Deception Island. The first was a relatively undisturbed site within an Antarctic Specially Protected Area at Crater Lake, and the second was a heavily human-impacted site in Whalers Bay. In samples obtained at Crater Lake, 84% of DNA reads represented fungi, 14% represented Chlorophyta and 2% represented Streptophyta, while at Whalers Bay, 79% of reads represented fungi, 20% represented Chlorophyta and < 1% represented Streptophyta, with ~1% of reads being unassigned. Among the Embryophyta we found 16 plant operational taxonomic units from three Divisions, including one Marchantiophyta, eight Bryophyta and seven Magnoliophyta. Sequences of six taxa were detected at both sampling sites, eight only at Whalers Bay and two only at Crater Lake. All of the Magnoliophyta sequences (flowering plants) represent species that are exotic to Antarctica, with most being plausibly linked to human food sources originating from local national research operator and tourism facilities.