f
l
3.
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7.
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Jonker, F.C. & Bester, M.N. Seasonal movements and foraging areas of adult southern female elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, from Marion Island.
Antarct. Sci. 10,21-30 (1998).
Kirkman, S.P., Bester, M.N., Hofrneyr, G.J.G., Pistorius, P.A. & Makhado, A.B. Pup growth and maternal attendance patterns in Subantarctic fur seals.
Afr. Zoo!. 37, 13-19 (2002).
Klages, N.T.W. & Bester, M.N. The fish prey of fur seals Arctocephalus spp.
at subantarctic Marion Island. Marine Bioi. 131, 559-566 (1998).
McMahon, C.R., Burton, H.R. & Bester, M.N. A demographic comparison of two southern elephant seal populations. J Anim. Ecol. 72,61-74 (2003).
Keith, M., Bester, M.N., Bartlett, P.A. & Baker, D. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) at Marion Island, Southern Ocean. Afr. Zoo!. 36, 163-175 (2001).
Lombard, A.T., Reyers, B., Schonegevel, L.Y., Cooper, J., Smith-Adao, L.B., Nel, D.C., Froneman, P.W., Ansorge, 1.1., Bester, M.N., Tosh, C.A., Strauss, T., Akkers, T., Gon, 0., Leslie, R.W. & Chown, S.L. Conserving pattern and process in the Southern Ocean: designing a Marine Protected Area for the Prince Edward Islands. Antarct. Sci. 19, 39-54 (2007).
SANAP PI Symposium Final Programme & Abstracts 14
Invasion, climate change and conservation: Antarctic perspectives
Steven L. Chown
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag Xi, Matieland 7602, South Africa Of the five drivers of biodiversity change identified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment1, climate change and biological invasions are most significant for terrestrial systems in the Antarctic, although over-exploitation may have large, indirect effects too because of its considerable significance in marine systems.
Understanding the effects of these drivers on Antarctic biodiversity presupposes a detailed knowledge of spatial variation in diversity at a variety of scales. Whilst knowledge of biodiversity variation in the Antarctic is now better than it has ever been2•3
, much still remains to be done. In particular, the way in which climate change, biological invasions and over-exploitation are likely to interact to change systems needs much more attention. In this talk, an overview of knowledge of biodiversity patterns in the Antarctic is presented, with particular attention being drawn to recent work in the Cape Hallett region and on Marion Island. More specifically, first, the ways in which biodiversity information can affect conservation planning at small4,
and large5•6
spatial scales in the region is discussed. Second, interactions between climate change and biological invasions are illustrated using new information from work on springtails at Marion Island7• Finally, using interactions between caterpillars, mice and albatrosses as a case study, the subtle interactions between marine and terrestrial systems are illustrated8.
I.
2.
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7.
8.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being:
Biodiversity Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington D.C. (2005).
Clarke, A., Johnston, N. M., Murphy, E. J. & Rogers, A. D. Introduction.
Antarctic ecology from genes to ecosystems: the impact of climate change and the importance of scale. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Land. B 362, 5-9 (2007).
Chown, S. L. & Convey, P. Spatial and temporal variability across life's hierarchies in the terrestrial Antarctic. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Land. B, in press (2007).
Sinclair, B. J., Scott, M. B., Klok, C. J., Terblanche, J. S., Marshall, D. J., Reyers, B. & Chown, S. L. Determinants of terrestrial arthropod community composition at Cape Hallett, Antarctica. Antarct. Sci. 18, 303-312 (2006).
Chown, S. L., Rodrigues, A. S. L., Gremmen, N.J. M. & Gaston, K. J. World Heritage status and the conservation of Southern Ocean islands. Conserv. Bioi.
15, 550-557 (2001).
Lombard, A.T., et al. Conserving pattern and process in the Southern Ocean:
designing a marine protected area for the Prince Edward Islands. Antarct. Sci.
19, 39-54 (2007).
Chown, S. L., Slabber, S., McGeoch, M. A., Janion, C. & Leinaas, H. P.
Phenotypic plasticity mediates climate change responses among invasive and indigenous arthropods. Proc. R. Soc. Land. B 274,2531-2537 (2007).
Sinclair, B. J. & Chown, S.L. Caterpillars benefit from thermal ecosystem engineering by Wandering Albatrosses on sub-Antarctic Marion Island.
Biology Letters 2, 51-54 (2006).
SANAP PI Symposium Final Programme & Abstracts 15
