Antarctica: “alien” plants threaten the local ecosystem

    Antarctica: “alien” plants threaten the local ecosystem

    Alien plants, foreign to the polar habitat, are seriously endangering the ecosystem of Antarctica. Blame? It belongs to tourists, who unwittingly carrying plant seeds hidden in their clothes risk contaminating the region.

    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    "Alien" plants, foreign to the polar habitat are seriously endangering theecosystem of Antarctica. Blame? It is of the tourists, who are carrying unknowingly plant seeds hidden in their clothes risk contaminating the region.





    When we think of the Antarctic, we are reminded of immense white expanses of ice and snow, where an uncontaminated and unique ecosystem still reigns, studied for years by scientists from all over the world. In reality, the white continent is today in serious danger, because it is threatened by its presence and by reproduction of foreign plants, whose seeds are brought by tourists or researchers visiting these areas.

    To reveal this disturbing scenario is a study led by'University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa, made by a group of scientists from Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Belgium, also published in the journal of the United States Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
    In the two-year period 2007-2008, scholars collected and analyzed several seed samples brought to Antarctica from beyond 1000 visitors and have found the presence of about 2.600 alien plants to the local environment, capable of profoundly modifying the ecosystem of Antarctica by 2100.

    According to the data that emerged from the study, it is estimated that on average, each visiting tourist unintentionally carries a dozen seeds - somehow trapped in the pockets of jackets, in bags and backpacks, in the cuffs of trousers - which take root easily in the less cold seasons.

    If we think that every year they arrive in this region beyond 33.000 tourists, it is easy to understand how the presence of visitors significantly contributes to the increase of plants foreign to the ecosystem: it is no coincidence that in areas where there are usually many tourists, the spread of "clandestine" plants is higher.

    And the situation is worrying because the birth of plants tends to grow progressively, even in the eastern regions, where temperatures are rising.



    "With more than 33.000 tourists and 7000 scientists visiting the continent in 2007-2008, the potential for these seeds to settle in fragile ice-free areas is substantial, '' said Dana Bergstrom, the terrestrial ecologist of the Australian Antarctic Division. it mostly deals with competitive species. The plants and animals of Antarctica are not necessarily competitive, so there is a high risk of losing a precious biodiversity ”.



    But there is more, because "more than half of the people surveyed had visited cold climate areas in the previous year, which makes it even more likely that the seeds they carried could spread in the less cold areas of Antarctica".

    Verdiana Amorosi

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