Antarctic Flora
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Antarctic flora are a distinct community of
vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...
s which evolved millions of years ago on the supercontinent of
Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...
. In 2025, species of Antarctica flora reside on several now separated areas of the Southern Hemisphere, including southern
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
, southernmost
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, and
New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
.
Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...
(1817 – 1911) was the first to notice similarities in the flora and speculated that
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
had served as either a source or a transitional point, and that land masses now separated might formerly have been adjacent. Based on the similarities in their flora,
botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
Ronald D'Oyley Good identified a separate Antarctic Floristic Kingdom that included southern South America, New Zealand, and some southern island groups. In addition, Australia was determined to be its own floristic kingdom because of the influx of tropical Eurasian flora that had mostly supplanted the Antarctic flora and included
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
and New Caledonia in the Paleotropical floristic kingdom.


Origin

Millions of years ago the climate in Antarctica was warmer, and was able to support flora well into the
Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
. This included forests of podocarps and southern beech. Antarctica was also part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, which gradually broke up by
plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...
starting 110 million years ago. The separation of South America from Antarctica 3035 million years ago allowed the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to form, which isolated Antarctica climatically and caused it to become much colder. The Antarctic flora subsequently died out in Antarctica, but is still an important component of the flora of southern Neotropic (South America) and Australasian realms, which were also former parts of Gondwana. Some genera which originated in Antarctic Flora are still recognized as major components of the flora of New Caledonia,
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
,
Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, New Zealand, and southern South America. South America, Madagascar, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica were all part of the supercontinent Gondwana, which started to break up in the early
Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
period (14566 million years ago). India was the first to break away, followed by Africa, and then New Zealand, which started to drift north. By the end of the Cretaceous, South America and Australia were still joined to Antarctica. Paleontologist Gilbert Brenner identified the emergence of a distinct southern Gondwanan flora by the late Cretaceous period in the cooler and humid southern hemisphere regions of Australia, southern South America, southern Africa, Antarctica, and New Zealand; it most resembled the flora of modern-day southern New Zealand. A drier northern Gondwanan flora had developed in northern South America and northern Africa. Africa and India drifted north into the tropical latitudes, became hotter and drier, and ultimately connected with the Eurasian continent. Today, the flora of Africa and India have few remnants of the Antarctic flora. Australia drifted north and became drier as well; the humid Antarctic flora retreated to the east coast and Tasmania, while the rest of Australia became dominated by ''
Acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
,
Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
'', and '' Casuarina'', as well as xeric shrubs and grasses.
Human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...
s arrived in Australia 5060,000 years ago and used fire to reshape the vegetation of the continent; as a result, the Antarctic flora, also known as the ''Rainforest flora'' in Australia, retreated to a few isolated areas composing less than 2% of Australia's land area. The
woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to Herbaceous plant, herbaceous plants that die back to t ...
s of the Antarctic flora include
conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
s in the families Podocarpaceae,
Araucariaceae Araucariaceae is a Family (biology), family of conifers with three living Genus, genera, ''Araucaria'', ''Agathis'', and ''Wollemia''. While the family's native distribution is now largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, except for a few spe ...
and the subfamily Callitroideae of Cupressaceae, and
angiosperm Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit ...
s such as the families
Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...
, Griseliniaceae, Cunoniaceae, Atherospermataceae, and Winteraceae, and genera like southern beech (''
Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guin ...
'') and fuchsia ('' Fuchsia''). Many other families of flowering plants and ferns, including the tree fern '' Dicksonia'', are characteristic of the Antarctic flora.


Flora of Antarctica


Antarctic palaeoflora

A wide variety of plant life has resided in Antarctica throughout its history. Investigations of Upper Cretaceous and Early Tertiary sediments of Antarctica yield a rich assemblage of well-preserved fossil dicotyledonous angiosperm wood which provides evidence for the existence, since the Late Cretaceous, of temperate forests similar in composition to those found in present-day southern South America, New Zealand and Australia. It is suggested a paleobotanical habitat similar to the extant cool temperate Valdivian rainforests. During the colder
Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
(17–2.5 Ma), a low diversity
tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...
ecosystem dominated by angiosperms replaced the rainforests. There are two conifer and at least seven angiosperm morphotypes recorded in the Antarctica palaeoflora. Conifers include '' Cupressinoxylon'', which is the more common, and '' Podocarpoxylon''. The angiosperm component includes two species of '' Nothofagoxylon'', one species of '' Myrceugenelloxylon'' (similar to ''Luma'', in the extant family
Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...
), and one species of '' Weinmannioxylon'' (similar to '' Eucryphia'' in the extant family Cunoniaceae). Two other species are assigned to genera '' Hedycaryoxylon'' ( Monimiaceae) and '' Atherospermoxylon'' ( Atherospermataceae). A fossil water lily, '' Notonuphar'' (similar to '' Nuphar'' in the extant family Nympheaceae), was described from
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
-aged sediments on Seymour Island in 2017.


Present-day flora

Antarctica's extant flora presently consists of around 100
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
es, 25-30
liverwort Liverworts are a group of non-vascular land plants forming the division Marchantiophyta (). They may also be referred to as hepatics. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry ...
s, and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algal species. In addition, there are around 250
lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
s. Species of moss
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to Antarctica include '' Grimmia antarctici'', '' Schistidium antarctici'', and '' Sarconeurum glaciale''. Just two native flowering plants, '' Deschampsia antarctica'' (Antarctic hair grass) and '' Colobanthus quitensis'' (Antarctic pearlwort), are found on the northern and western parts of the
Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martin in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctica. ...
. The continent of Antarctica itself has been too cold and dry to support any other vascular plants for millions of years. The scanty vegetation of Antarctica is a result of the chilling temperature, lack of sunlight, little rainfall, relatively poor soil quality, and a lack of moisture due to the inability of the plants to absorb water in the form of ice. However, with the onset of anthropogenic warming, this "vegetation cover increased from 0.863 kilometers2 in 1986 to 11.947 kilometers2 in 2021, with an accelerated rate of change in recent years (2016–2021: 0.424 kilometers2 per year) relative to the study period (1986–2021: 0.317 km2 per year)." There are also some aquatic moss species, including a few in deep water. One of them, '' Bryum pseudotriquetrum'', grows at water depths of up to 81 m in Radok Lake, and '' Pohlia wilsonii'' grows in freshwater lakes in Schirmacher Oasis.


Introduced plants

In the early 1900s experiments were conducted to see if arctic and alpine species could be grown in Antarctic conditions. The first such experiment was attempted at an Argentine meteorological station in 1905. The botanist Robert Rudmose-Brown sent arctic seeds to be planted at the station, but none of the seeds germinated. When sea kale (''Crambe maritima'') seeds were planted during the ''Terra Nova'' Expedition they sprouted, but did not last long. They were planted in a sheltered area near a stone hut on the south side of Granite Harbor on 10 December 1912. Twelve seeds in total germinated, but only grew one week before dying. The common weedy hybrid annual meadow grass (''Poa annua'') was accidentally introduced to areas the South Sandwich Islands before 1953 and the Antarctic islands by 1981. It was found on Galindez Island, just off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and survived several winters. The well known smooth meadow-grass (''Poa pratensis'') was introduced to Cierva Point on the mainland when Antarctic beech (''Nothofagus antarctica'') and lenga beech (''Nothofagus pumilio'') were transplanted from
Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South America, South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main is ...
to the Argentine station now named Base Primavera. Though the trees died after a few years, the grass was still healthy in 1995, but not spreading. This small population was finally removed in 2015 and in the same year annual meadow grass was limited to just location near Admiralty Bay in the South Shetland Islands. The other smaller populations in the South Shetlands and the Antarctic Peninsula were removed during the 2009/2010 summer. Though the living populations were successfully removed it is possible that seeds are still present in the soil and may reestablish in the future. Despite eradication efforts the population of annual meadow grass continues to persist at Admiralty Bay in 2023.


See also


References


Works cited

* * * * * {{Refend


Further reading

* Cox, C. Barry, Peter D. Moore (1985). ''Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach (4th ed.)''. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.


External links


Plants
Australian Antarctic Division
Plants
British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of list of global issues, global issues, and to provide an active prese ...
, Natural Environment Research Council
The Plants of Antarctica
a blog by Caitlyn Bishop, Oceanwide Expeditions 01 * * * Phytogeography