Antarctic terrestrial micro-invertebrates have persisted through repeated glacial cycles within isolated ice-free refugia. This long history of geographic isolation has driven high levels of endemism and genetic divergence, making Antarctic ecosystems valuable natural laboratories for studying evolutionary and biogeographic patterns. Within ice-free regions, local environmental conditions such as water availability, salinity, and temperature are important fine-scale drivers of species distributions. Consequently, present-day limno-terrestrial communities are thought to reflect both current physiological tolerances and historical patterns of connectivity and dispersal. Broad-scale assessments of biodiversity across East Antarctica remain limited for many micro-invertebrate groups. Addressing this knowledge gap is a key objective of the Biodiversity of East Antarctica: Underwater and Terrestrial (BEAUT) project. Micro-invertebrates communities will be characterized using integrative taxonomy approaches including DNA metabarcoding and traditional morphological identification. Samples have been collected from a diverse range of habitats including soils, lakes, vegetation (moss and lichen), and cryoconite holes. Preliminary findings of this work are discussed from recent field campaigns to the Bunger Hills, Vestfold Hills, and Windmill Islands regions. This work contributes to a growing understanding of biodiversity patterns in East Antarctica and provides an important baseline for assessing ecosystem responses to future environmental change.

Antarctica’s terrestrial biodiversity is concentrated within small ice-free coastal regions, hosting the majority of the continent’s research infrastructure and human activity. At Casey station, East Antarctica, vegetation communities occur in close proximity to operational areas, creating challenges for balancing environmental protection with ongoing station development and modernisation. Accurate, high-resolution spatial information is therefore critical for effective conservation planning and future infrastructure management.

This research investigates the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) imagery and supervised classification techniques to generate land cover mapping for the Casey station area. Using ultra-high-resolution RGB drone imagery (10 mm), classification models are being developed to distinguish between moss, lichen, and non-vegetated surface classes across heterogeneous Antarctic environments. The resulting spatial products aim to improve the delineation of biologically sensitive areas and establish an updated baseline of terrestrial vegetation distribution to inform future infrastructure planning and environmental impact minimisation.

This work highlights the potential of drone-based remote sensing as a scalable approach for fine-scale biodiversity monitoring and environmental management in East Antarctica, with broader applications for conservation planning and decision-making in rapidly changing Antarctic station environments under the environmental protection principles of the Madrid Protocol.

Mosses are among the few prominent photosynthetic organisms in ice-free regions of Antarctica, contributing to primary productivity and buffering local microclimates. However, long-term regional drying in East Antarctica is driving declines in moss health. Although moss-associated microbes are likely to influence local ecosystem resilience, we lack a basic understanding of the structure and function of Antarctic moss microbiomes, and how either vary under increasing environmental stress. Here, we combine metagenomics, co-occurrence network analysis, and microbial cultivation to examine microbiome responses across drying gradients. We analysed 60 moss samples collected along transects spanning healthy, transitional, and moribund moss states at two contrasting sites near Casey Station. Drying was associated with a reorganisation of microbial communities, including a shift toward competitive interactions and the replacement of plant-associated taxa by stress-tolerant bacteria and lichenising fungi. Ecological network changes were accompanied by functional shifts: genes involved in atmospheric trace gas consumption and alternative biomass production pathways increased with moss decline, alongside site-specific decreases in nitrogen cycling. These patterns were further validated via functional assays with bacterial isolates, and suggest a transition from host-associated microbial functioning to competitive persistence and energy acquisition strategies as moss-derived resources become scarce. Our results demonstrate that drying is reshaping Antarctic moss microbiomes, highlighting a previously undescribed response to climate change with implications for ecosystem stability and microbial contributions to Antarctic terrestrial biogeochemical cycling.

Long-term records of Antarctic ecosystems are important to assess ecosystem variability, processes and responses to change, especially as the uniquely adapted flora and fauna of Antarctica face increasing environmental change and human pressure. A review of published long-term monitoring studies was commissioned by the SCAR Antarctic Nearshore and Terrestrial Observing System (ANTOS) Expert Group (Jones et al. 2025). Studies measuring abundance, biodiversity and/or physiology of Antarctic organisms over at least three field seasons were included. This synthesis found that long-term monitoring of Antarctic biota was limited, had inconsistent methodologies, and was strongly biased toward charismatic megafauna (> 60% focused on penguins and marine mammals). Monitoring efforts were concentrated along the West Antarctic Peninsula, with notable gaps across East Antarctica, reflecting the varied accessibility across the continent. By prioritising long-term, coordinated and synchronised biological and environmental monitoring in Antarctica, the Antarctic scientific community has a rare opportunity to build a robust, inclusive and enduring platform for a circum-Antarctic view of environmental change and biodiversity responses. Knowing how these organisms respond to change is vital in understanding community resilience and resistance, predicting regime shifts, and providing essential information for management and policy. 

Jones, S. L., King, D. H., Cummings, V., Robinson, S. A., and Waterman, M. J. (2025) Research bias in long-term monitoring of Antarctic nearshore marine and terrestrial biota. Global Change Biology, 8: e70392. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70392

Area-based and species-specific protection provide complementary benefits for biodiversity conservation. Yet, their application to key Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates has been hindered by biodiversity shortfalls, including the prevalence of cryptic species. Here, we use a biodiversity informatics approach combining a new spatially-explicit occurrence database of Antarctic Collembola, comprising 3,457 records of 22 nominal species, eight of which have cryptic taxa, with a new bioregional ecosystem habitat classification and putative cryptic species information, to assess occurrence- and habitat-based representativeness within the Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) network. We also quantify geographic range metrics for nominal and cryptic taxa following IUCN Red List guidelines. Assessment by occurrence records shows that 68% of nominal species are represented in ASPAs, increasing to all nominal species for a habitat-based assessment. Recognition of 36 species, including cryptic species, increases the proportion of poorly or unrepresented species to 53% based on occurrence records. Despite relatively high proportional representation within the ASPA network, only five ASPA management plans explicitly list Collembola among the biodiversity values to be protected. Most nominal and cryptic species fall within geographic range thresholds for listing as threatened, with most occurring at a single biogeographic location, highlighting the potential case for their listing as Antarctic Specially Protected Species. We argue that this approach may be applicable to other Antarctic groups and poorly known taxa elsewhere facing similar biodiversity shortfalls.

A range of moss species form the primary terrestrial vegetation inhabiting the Antarctic continent. Moss growth is driven by photosynthesis, which is controlled by many environmental quantities, such as light, temperature and water content. Moss photosynthesis is highly responsive to its surroundings, making moss an ideal proxy to indicate critical changes to Antarctic climatic conditions.

Using field and laboratory data for Antarctic moss photosynthesis responses to light, temperature and water content, we have calibrated a predictive mathematical model of these photosynthetic responses, including rigorous quantification of uncertainty in the predictions. Our results demonstrate there are site- and species-specific differences in moss photosynthetic responses. “Windows” of best photosynthetic responses for all three tested abiotic factors – temperature, light and water content – and their combinations, could be determined for all species and locations tested, allowing quantification of what may cause a 50% reduction in photosynthesis.

Together, these results provide critical information about how moss responds to a changing environment. More specifically, they permit us to retrospectively identify what environmental conditions have driven observed or measured changes to the moss, and forecast moss survival, growth and species distribution in response to future climatic changes.

Moss beds are important components of terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica and are increasingly vulnerable to environmental change. While drone hyperspectral imagery offers significant potential for non-destructive vegetation monitoring, research is needed to examine links between hyperspectral signatures, moss health, and underlying physiological characteristics. This study aims to establish links between drone-derived hyperspectral observations, field spectral measurements, and moss physiological conditions. Using hyperspectral imagery collected near Casey Station, East Antarctica, in 2022, a spectral library was developed for healthy, stressed, and moribund moss communities. Approximately 100 ground-truth points were identified for each class, and hyperspectral signatures were extracted to characterise spectral variability. Preliminary spectral analyses indicated that the greatest class separability occurs within the near-infrared region (~ 800–1000 nm), suggesting this wavelength range is particularly sensitive to variations in Antarctic moss health. These findings demonstrate the potential of hyperspectral imagery to differentiate moss health, and identify wavelength regions sensitive to vegetation stress. The drivers of these spectral responses were also investigated using handheld hyperspectral measurements of Australian and Antarctic moss samples, combined with pigment and water-content analyses. By linking drone-derived spectral information with field spectroscopy and physiological measurements, this transdisciplinary research advances future remote monitoring of Antarctic moss health.

Invasive mammals (such as cats and rodents) impact nutrient processes on Southern Ocean Islands. Predation of seabirds interrupts the transfer of marine-derived nutrients to these low-nutrient terrestrial ecosystems. The eradication of invasive mammals and subsequent recovery of seabird populations has implications for nutrient processes through food webs.

I use stable isotope analysis of soil and spider samples from Macquarie Island to investigate change over time since invasive mammal eradication. The isotopic niche widths of the two spider families on the island (Linyphiidae and Toxopidae) were also examined to identify dietary shifts. Soil δ¹⁵N values decreased, likely reflecting internal redistribution of nitrogen within the ecosystem. Spider δ¹⁵N values increased, likely due to indirect effects of invasive mammal removal; i.e enrichment of prey via increased marine-derived nutrients in the ecosystem. Isotopic niche width of Linyphiidae expanded over time while Toxopidae was unchanged. Spider families may be subject to separate bottom-up effects of increased nutrients due to differences in dietary niche.

This study shows that invasive mammal eradication can result in cascading effects throughout terrestrial ecosystems and invertebrate food webs. This work informs post-eradication monitoring on Southern Ocean Islands.