Responses of Antarctic Tundra Ecosystem to Climate Change and Human Activity

Over the last couple of years the Antarctic Peninsula region has been one of the fastest warming regions on the Earth. Rapidly proceeding deglaciation uncovers new areas for colonisation and formation of Antarctic tundra communities. The most evident dynamics, i.e. changes in both biodiversity and structure of tundra communities, are observed in the forefields of retreating glaciers. This paper presents examples of changes in biodiversity and in the direction and rate of succession changes taking place due to climate warming compounded by synanthropization in the maritime Antarctic.