Abstract The diet of non-breeding male Antarctic fur seals ( Arctocephalus gazella ) was investigated at four localities in the South Shetland Islands (Deception Island, Potter Peninsula, Duthoit Point and Harmony Point) through analyses of 1254 scats collected from 1995 to 2004. Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ), fish and penguins were the main prey items at the four study locations. Antarctic krill was the main prey by mass at Potter Peninsula and Deception Island, while fish and penguins dominated at Duthoit Point (except in 2000, when the Antarctic krill was the main prey) and Harmony Point, respectively. Among fish, myctophids, mainly Gymnoscopelus nicholsi and Electrona antarctica , contributed most by mass to the diet of the fur seals at all the localities. Pleuragramma antarcticum , formerly an important fish prey species at the South Shetland Islands in the 1980s, and Gobionotothen gibberifrons and Notothenia rossii , both targeted species in the fisheries of the past, were absent or scarcely represented in the diet of the fur seals. The results encourage using the diet of Antarctic fur seals to monitor the distribution/abundance of myctophids and P. antarcticum .
Abstract This review considers the current status, and highlights existing knowledge gaps, on Antarctic terrestrial and freshwater biological responses to climate change. Climate change is considered to be one of the major drivers of future ecosystem change in Antarctica. Understanding the biological responses, and associated shifts in biodiversity patterns, biotic interactions and processes, that are likely to occur under continued climate change is fundamental for predicting its consequences for the functioning of Antarctic ecosystems. However, quantifying changes in species abundance, biodiversity, community composition and biotic interactions, and how these are influenced by variations in a multitude of environmental variables, is challenging. All biological groups in the Antarctic terrestrial and freshwater domains currently show low species richness at higher latitudes, indicating that there should be scope for lower-latitude species to expand their distributions southwards under warming conditions. The northern, ‘trailing edge’ or lower altitudinal limits may also shift southwards or upwards, respectively. However, to date, only one report exists of increased diversity within field experimental warming studies, and none exist from the few available long-term monitoring sites. Similarly, while notable plant-cover expansions have been recorded at some localized sites, no clear large-scale vegetation response has been documented within recognized Antarctic biological regions, while organisms living within the vegetation show highly variable responses. There are still many knowledge gaps on this matter for various biological groups across and within Antarctic regions. While it is frequently posited that the potential for climate change-driven range expansion and biodiversity shifts is substantial, the biological responses reported to date indicate that current levels of climate change have not (yet) resulted in large-scale changes in abundance and biodiversity patterns across Antarctica.
Although polar fungi Pseudogymnoascus spp. are known to produce specialized metabolites (SMs) with wide-ranging potential for the pharmaceuticals industry, there is limited knowledge on the biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) involved. Therefore, this study aims to search for BGCs based on the whole-genome sequences (WGSs) of Antarctic Pseudogymnoascus griseus (strain AKSP4) and Arctic Pseudogymnoascus australis (strain HNDR4) that were sequenced with the Illumina NovaSeq6000 platform and assembled de novo. The genome size produced for P. griseus (strain AKSP4) was 35.6 Mb with 2172 contigs, whereas the genome size produced for P. australis (strain HNDR4) was 32.0 Mb with 586 contigs. Totals of 58 and 51 BGC regions were predicted for P. griseus (strain AKSP4) and P. australis (strain HNDR4), respectively. Four putative regions were found to be similar to those of choline, swainsonine, trichobrasilenol and geodin, which have antibacterial, anticancer and insecticidal activities that are valuable for the biotechnological industry. The BGCs reported here could potentially help narrow down the gene regions to be investigated for the characterized SMs of interest and elucidate their biosynthetic pathways. Furthermore, the WGSs produced provide useful reference genomes for assembling other polar Pseudogymnoascus strains. The present study is the first to report the occurrence of P. australis within the Arctic region. Overall, this study highlights the potential of polar fungi and their genomic information as sources for novel compounds in the biotechnological industry.
Understanding the diverse pathways between science and policy is crucial for assessing the impact of research. In this context, 'research impact' refers to the broader societal benefits of scientific research that extend beyond traditional research evaluation metrics. Metrics of academic and scientific excellence, such as h-indexes or bibliometric analyses, often fail to capture the impact of science on policy. To investigate one aspect of how research can influence policy, and therefore probably have impact, this study analysed ice core publications from the Australian Antarctic Program. A dataset of 266 Australian-authored and/or -funded East Antarctic ice core publications was examined, revealing that 123 were cited in 284 international and Australian (domestic) policy and policy-related documents. To analyse the policy influence of the research, key information was categorized into authoring countries, institutions, research themes and the contextual use of publications by the documents. This categorization highlighted the different uses of information and interpretations of ice core publications by separate forums, with some more active compared to passive uses. The 'Active-Passive' spectrum developed in this study provides a framework for understanding how research is being used, and it underscores the relevance of ice core science to local Australian governance. The results show that domestic uptake of ice core publications by some Australian states demonstrated more 'Active' inclusions in policy to support an area of national interest: water security. The mixed methods piloted in this study can be used to assess scientific publications from national Antarctic programmes with more nuance, thereby offering an improved avenue for measuring research impact.
