BRAINCAKEManaging Environmentally Sensitive Ecosystems - Antarctica
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent. It has no permanent human population, and its ecosystems are simple and environmentally sensitive: food chains are short and depend heavily on krill, which are eaten by fish, penguins, seals and whales. Plants (mosses, lichens and two flowering plants) grow very slowly, so damage takes a long time to recover.
Threats:
• climate change: warming and loss of sea ice reduce the algae under the ice that krill feed on
• overfishing of krill and fish such as the Patagonian toothfish, and historically whaling and sealing
• tourism: trampling, disturbance of breeding colonies and pollution
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All 17 lessons in Populations and Sustainability · All OCR A-level Biology topics