Fast growing plants signal that Antarctica is heating up and witnessing a "major transformation"

A study indicates that the dramatic growth of native plants over the last decade is evidence of accelerated shifts in the vulnerable polar ecosystem.

According to the first study to show that changes in vulnerable polar ecosystems have accelerated in the last decade, Antarctica's two native blooming plants are spreading fast as temperatures rise.

According to experts working on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands, the growth in plants since 2009 has been more than the previous 50 years combined, coinciding with fast rising air temperatures and a decrease in the population of fur seals.

Scientists have been studying populations of Antarctic hairgrass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) on the island since 1960. Hairgrass spread five times quicker between 2009 and 2018 than it did between 1960 and 2009, according to research. According to the analysis, the increase in pearlwort was nearly tenfold.

Despite a significant decrease in 2012, summer warming has climbed from +0.02C to +0.27C each year over the last decade.

"These climatic inputs affect Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems swiftly," stated lead researcher Prof Nicoletta Cannone of the University of Insubria in Como, Italy. "I was expecting an increase in these plants, but not of this size; we are obtaining several evidenses indicating that Antarctica is undergoing a huge transformation." 

According to the research, which provides one of the longest records of changes in vegetation in Antarctica, the primary cause of change is warming summer air. A secondary factor is that the island has less fur seals, which trample on the plants. The cause of the fall in seal numbers is unknown, however it is thought to be related to changes in food availability and sea conditions.

"The study shows that as Antarctica warms in future decades, further increases in populations of these plant species can be expected, leading to a greening of the region, but there may also be increased risks to ecosystems associated with the establishment of alien plant species," said Dr Kevin Newsham, a terrestrial ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey who was not involved in the study.