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Antarctica's wilderness fails to capture continent's biodiversity

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-20, 21:28 authored by Leihy, RI, Coetzee, BWT, Morgan, F, Ben Raymond, Shaw, JD, Terauds, A, Bastmeijer, K, Chown, SL
Recent assessments of Earth’s dwindling wilderness have emphasized that Antarctica is a crucial wilderness in need of protection. Yet human impacts on the continent are widespread, the extent of its wilderness unquantified and the importance thereof for biodiversity conservation unknown. Here we assemble a comprehensive record of human activity (approximately 2.7 million records, spanning 200 years) and use it to quantify the extent of Antarctica’s wilderness and its representation of biodiversity. We show that 99.6% of the continent’s area can still be considered wilderness, but this area captures few biodiversity features. Pristine areas, free from human interference, cover a much smaller area (less than 32% of Antarctica) and are declining as human activity escalates. Urgent expansion of Antarctica’s network of specially protected areas can both reverse this trend and secure the continent’s biodiversity.

History

Publication title

Nature

Volume

583

Issue

7817

Pagination

567-571

ISSN

0028-0836

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

Macmillan Building, 4 Crinan St, London, England, N1 9Xw

Rights statement

Copyright 2020 Nature Research

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Biodiversity in Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments

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