Introduced plants in Antarctica: Potential impacts and conservation issues

Biological invasions in the Antarctic: extent, impacts and implications

“…Long-distance dispersal and subsequent establishment appear to be more problematic than survival alone. The only examples of persistent aliens becoming established in either region are Poa pratensis and P. annua, present respectively in small areas at Cierva Point, northern Antarctic Peninsula, and on King George Island (Smith, 1996). Most known aliens are Diptera, followed by Hemiptera and Coleoptera.…”

Biological invasions in terrestrial Antarctica: what is the current status and can we respond?

“…The first report of a non-native plant to become established in Antarctica was of a now absent 'flowering grass' found near houses on Deception Island in January 1936 by the British Graham Land Expedition (Smith 1996); however, the plant known to have persisted longest in Antarctica is Poa pratensis, which was introduced to Cierva Point over 60 years ago with little range expansion before its removal in January 2015 (Pertierra et al 2013; L. R. Pertierra, pers. obs., 2015).…”

“…Globally, intentional non-native species introductions have occurred for economic, scientific and social reasons, frequently with unforeseen consequences for local environments (Mack et al 2000). However, no terrestrial species introduced to the Antarctic continent intentionally (mainly for scientific research reasons) have been formally identified as invasive (Smith 1996), but intentional introductions to most subAntarctic islands, before the adoption of legislation prohibiting or controlling this activity, have resulted in substantial impacts (see Convey and Lebouvier 2009). Under current legislative systems, unintentional introductions present the greatest threats to sub-Antarctic and Antarctic ecosystems (Frenot et al 2005), with non-native species potentially being introduced associated with visitors' clothing and personal effects Chown et al 2012b;Huiskes et al 2014), cargo Tsujimoto and Imura 2012), building material (Lee and Chown 2009) and fresh foods .…”

“…Effective management response-including non-native species eradications-is therefore of paramount importance for the protection of Antarctic ecosystems, even accepting that the most effective actions would be to prevent introductions occurring in the first place. Several previous studies have provided syntheses of the then-existing state of knowledge relating to the presence of non-native species within Antarctica, some including the sub-Antarctic islands within their 'area of interest' (Smith 1996;Frenot et al 2005Frenot et al , 2008). Smith's (1996) study focused on records of non-native higher plants, while Frenot et al (2005) collated information across all terrestrial vertebrate, invertebrate and plant groups, further recognising the paucity of information available relating to lower plant and microbial groups.…”

“…Several previous studies have provided syntheses of the then-existing state of knowledge relating to the presence of non-native species within Antarctica, some including the sub-Antarctic islands within their 'area of interest' (Smith 1996;Frenot et al 2005Frenot et al , 2008). Smith's (1996) study focused on records of non-native higher plants, while Frenot et al (2005) collated information across all terrestrial vertebrate, invertebrate and plant groups, further recognising the paucity of information available relating to lower plant and microbial groups. Over 95 % of the c. 200 established non-native species included in Frenot et al's (2005) synthesis were present in the sub-Antarctic, with almost all of the remaining species being recorded from the maritime Antarctic.…”