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By developing new methods for non-destructive remote sensing studies using drones, researchers will create maps to show the health of moss beds at key sites across the continent to improve our understanding of how climate change is affecting Antarctica鈥檚 precious plant communities. In addition, the researchers plan to read the signals of climate captured as the mosses grow to improve regional climate data for Antarctica and gain a better understanding of past regional climate change.

鈥淎ntarctica is designated as a preserve for peace and science but is currently experiencing challenges on many fronts including climate change, station development, waste and pollution management as well as rapidly increased tourism,鈥� the project鈥檚 lead Chief Investigator and plant ecophysiologist  said.

鈥淲e recently reported the first evidence that human linked climate changes are causing the drying of East Antarctic ecosystems in the Windmill islands near Australia鈥檚 Casey Station. Anecdotal accounts suggest that similar drying on an even larger scale may be happening in the Vestfold Hills, which is 1400 kilometres west of Casey, but the quantitative assessment is lacking.

鈥淩apid drying, if widespread, is significant given the assumption that warming of the Antarctic coastline will melt ice and increase water availability to such ecosystems. We are worried that melt may actually be occurring in rapid pulses with valuable water lost in runoff. This is especially relevant given the  that occurred on the continent last summer.鈥�

The project has three main objectives, each focused on capturing data about the continent鈥檚 moss beds which can preserve a record of hundreds of years of past climate data in their shoots and are used as surrogates to study changes to ecosystems and climate at remote polar sites.

鈥淲e will use mosses as microclimate proxies to help determine if East Antarctica shows widespread evidence of terrestrial ecosystem drying and contrast this with the expected warmer and wetter conditions observed on the Antarctic peninsula,鈥� Professor Robinson explained.

鈥淭he project will also produce spatially explicit maps of moss bed health at key sites based on novel ultrahigh-resolution remote sensing techniques, to provide an assessment of overall Antarctic terrestrial ecosystem health. We are also aiming to develop hydrological snowmelt models at the appropriate spatial scales to determine the likely resilience of Antarctic moss beds to projected climate change.鈥�

The team involved is highly interdisciplinary, combining plant biologists, a spatial scientist and a quaternary and climate change geoscientist. The UOW Global Challenges ECO Antarctica project led by Dr Melinda Waterman and Professor Robinson contributed to the development of this larger interdisciplinary research initiative.

Working alongside Professor Robinson, who is Executive Director of UOW Global Challenges and has 24 years experience researching the effects of climate change on Antarctic terrestrial communities, is co-Chief Investigator  who leads the  at the University of Tasmania and Partner Investigators Professor from the University of Waikato, New Zealand and from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ().

The project鈥檚 outcomes will develop new uses of technology, as well as data, that should benefit a wide range of organisations and countries.

鈥淲e plan to provide Antarctic Environmental Managers, from Australia and other nations, with new tools and information to assess the health of plant communities enabling appropriate protection and management of biodiversity and satisfying Australian State of the Environment and International Antarctic Treaty obligations,鈥� Professor Robinson said.

The team also intends to share their project results with other Antarctic scientists and environmental managers through the newly established (ANTOS) Expert Group, a sub-group of the .

鈥淥ur methodologies will be shared with colleagues internationally to ensure that the most important areas of Antarctic terrestrial biodiversity are preserved within the Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPA) network. We will also report key findings to the Federal Government for inclusion in the next Australian State of the Environment Report.鈥�

Antarctica, the coldest place on earth, experienced extremely high temperatures this summer. Between January 23 and 26, the highest ever recorded minimum and maximum temperatures were observed at the Casey Research Station and Robinson鈥檚 team described the first recorded heatwave for this part of Antarctica that they have studied for decades.

As a  Professor Robinson explained that Antarctica is not immune to the impact of climate change and that environmental changes can affect different parts of Antarctica in different ways.

鈥淕iven the generally cold conditions of Antarctica, the warmth may have benefited the flora (mosses, lichens and two vascular plants), and microbes and invertebrates, but only where liquid water formed. Areas in the Vestfold Hills away from the flooding became more drought-stressed over the summer. The new project will help us to understand the biodiversity winners and losers as climate change reaches the ends of the earth.鈥�

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