Very little is known about life around Antarctica. Scientists have recorded footage, but real living things are rare. A team of researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany has changed this by revealing 77 species that live on the sea floor beneath the ice sheet.
The results were first discovered in 2018 and were recently published in current biology. Crew members used hot water to drill two holes in the Ekström ice sheet in the Weddell Sea, which contains more species in a given Antarctic spot than previously recorded.
“The discovery of so much life living in these extreme conditions is truly surprising and reminds us how unique and special Antarctic marine life is,” he said. Dr. David Barnes, a marine biologist at the British Antarctic Survey.
This species has been associated with colony-forming invertebrates called bryozoa and worms that sit in one place and feed on organisms that float. The researchers concluded that there must be enough algae under the ice sheet to support this ecosystem. But because of climate change, they’re also clocking time running out to study these ecosystems that would be the first to perish under this ice sheet collapse.
also in the news, Listen to the sound captured by NASA from Jupiter’s moon.
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