The method of construction and division of dendrites proposed by Florek et al. (1951) was used for defining of the Antarctic biojjeographic areas. The affinity matrices of Knox and Lowry (1977) resulting from the analysis of the distribution of Antarctic Polychaeta and Amphipoda were taken as a basis for dendrite construction The results of the present analysis are compared with the conclusions of these authors and similarities and differences are discussed on the background of the hitherto published biogeographic divisions of Antarctica.
The distribution and some aspects of the ecology of Euphausia crystallorophias, Euphausia frigida, Euphausia triacantha and Thysanoessa macrura are presented. The investigations in the Polish Sector "A" show that E. triacantha is the northernmost and E. crystallorophias the southernmost species. These two species occurred least frequently. T. macrura was the most numerous and most regularly distributed species in the region under investigations.
Macrozooplankton was collected at 63 stations by means of a Bongo sampler in the layer from the surface to a depth of 200 m. Wet formalin volume of siphonophors, polychaetes, pteropods, copepods, amphipods, euphausiids, chaetognaths, salps, and the remaining animals was determined; the distribution of major species was presented. Low diversity in macrozooplankton composition was observed in the study area. As far as biomass was concerned, salps predominated in the whole area; they occurred in exceptionally large quantities Large amounts of krill were also observed in some areas. Besides salps and krill, other euphausiids had the greatest share in the zooplankton; they were more abundant than copepods. Macrozooplankton biomass without salps and krill was low when compared with the values known from literature.
Different chromosomal forms of Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae), including diploids (2n=26), hypotriploid (2n=36–38) and a genotype with an occasional occurrence of B chromosome (2n=26+0-1B) that originated from southern marginal populations (Argentine Islands region, maritime Antarctic) were studied using molecular cytogenetic, morphometric and biochemical methods. FISH analysis revealed variations in the number of rDNA sites between the diploid and hypotriploid plants. The genome size varied among plants with a different chromosome number and was on average 10.88 pg/2C for diploids and 16.46 pg/2C for hypotriploid. The mean values of leaf length of plants grown in vitro varied within a range of 5.23–9.56 cm. The total phenolic content ranged from 51.10 to 105.40 mg/g, and the total flavonoid content ranged from 1.22 to 4.67 mg/g. The amount of phenolic compounds did not differ significantly between the genotypes, while a variation in the flavonoid content was observed for L59 and DAR12. The diploids did not differ significantly among each other in terms of the number of rDNA loci, but differed slightly in their genome size. The individuals of DAR12 carrying B chromosome were similar to other diploids in terms of their genome size, but statistically differed in leaf length. The hypotriploid had both a greater number of rDNA sites and a larger genome size. No statistical correlations were observed between the genome size and leaf length or genome size and accumulation of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. The results of this study suggest that D. antarctica plants from the southern edge of the range are characterised by the heterogeneity of the studied parameters.
The Antarctic Peninsula region has experienced a recent cooling for about 15 years since the beginning of the 21st century. In Livingston Island, this cooling has been of 0.8°C over the 12-yr period 2004–2016, and of 1.0°C for the summer average temperatures over the same period. In this paper, we analyse whether this observed cooling has implied a significant change in the density of the snowpack covering Hurd and Johnsons glaciers, and whether such a density change has had, by itself, a noticeable impact in the calculated surface mass balance. Our results indicate a decrease in the snow density by 22 kg m-3 over the study period. The density changes are shown to be correlated with the summer temperature changes. We show that this observed decrease in density does not have an appreciable effect on the calculated surface mass balance, as the corresponding changes are below the usual error range of the surface mass balance estimates. This relieves us from the need of detailed and time-consuming snow density measurements at every mass-balance campaign.
It’s difficult to imagine a more curious continent: Antarctica, once very austere and inhospitable, is now becoming greener as a result of climate change.