Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
Millennium Nucleus of Invasive Salmonids (INVASAL), Concepción, Chile.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jun 3;10(1):9087. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-65571-3.
Parts of Antarctica were amongst the most rapidly changing regions of the planet during the second half of the Twentieth Century. Even so, today, most of Antarctica remains in the grip of continental ice sheets, with only about 0.2% of its overall area being ice-free. The continent's terrestrial fauna consists only of invertebrates, with just two native species of insects, the chironomid midges Parochlus steinenii and Belgica antarctica. We integrate ecophysiological information with the development of new high-resolution climatic layers for Antarctica, to better understand how the distribution of P. steinenii may respond to change over the next century under different IPCC climate change scenarios. We conclude that the species has the potential to expand its distribution to include parts of the west and east coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula and even coastal ice-free areas in parts of continental Antarctica. We propose P. steinenii as an effective native sentinel and indicator species of climate change in the Antarctic.
在 20 世纪后半叶，南极洲的部分地区是地球上变化最快的地区之一。即便如此，今天，南极洲的大部分地区仍被大陆冰盖所控制，只有大约 0.2%的面积没有冰。南极洲的陆地动物群仅由无脊椎动物组成，只有两种本地昆虫物种，即摇蚊 Parochlus steinenii 和 Belgica antarctica。我们将生理生态信息与南极新的高分辨率气候层的开发相结合，以更好地了解在不同的 IPCC 气候变化情景下，P. steinenii 的分布在下个世纪可能会如何变化。我们得出的结论是，该物种有可能扩大其分布范围，包括南极半岛的西海岸和东海岸以及南极洲部分沿海无冰地区。我们提出 P. steinenii 作为南极气候变化的有效原生哨兵和指示物种。
