Bryophyte species composition over moisture gradients in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica; development of a baseline for monitoring climate change impacts

The vegetation surveys described in this publication are the 1999/2000 baseline data associated with SOE 72 and AAS 1313. Taken from the publication: Extreme environmental conditions prevail on the Antarctic continent and limit plant diversity to cryptogamic communities, dominated by bryophytes and lichens.

Even small abiotic shifts, associated with climate change, are likely to have pronounced impacts on these communities that currently exist at their physiological limit of survival. Changes to moisture availability, due to precipitation shifts or alterations to permanent snow reserves will most likely cause greatest impact. In order to establish a baseline for determining the effect of climate change on continental Antarctic terrestrial communities and to better understand bryophyte species distributions in relation to moisture in a floristically important Antarctic region, this study surveyed finescale bryophyte patterns and turf water and nutrient contents along community gradients in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica.