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Antarctic biodiversity
Both of the Polar regions are indicators of global climate change, are extremely sensitive and have the potential to effect substantial global changes. Unlike the Arctic, Antarctica is a solid continent, surrounded by the Southern Ocean, which plays a major role in global currents and water circulation in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Started in May 2007 with a seminar held in Arendal, Norway, Linking Tourism & Conservation (LT&C) aims to highlight Worldwide examples of the best practices in tourism which support the development and management of protected areas, for example the Antarctic, where a great number of plants and animals live under specific environmental conditions which are increasingly threatened by global warming and sea ice melt.

Gentoo Penguin colony at Chilean research station, Antarctic Peninsula Gentoo Penguins are mostly monogamous. Breeding colonies are made up of hundreds of birds and are usually located a couple of kilometers from the sea.

By Peter Prokosch

Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis Papua), Antarctic Peninsula Foraging for food usually takes place within 20km of the Gentoo Penguin breeding site and is done alternately by one of the two parents every day.

By Peter Prokosch

Deschampsia antarctica, one of only 2 flowering plants found in Antarctic Peninsula Less than 1% of Antarctica is available for colonisation by plants. Only two flowering plants are found on the entire continent, which occur on the western Antarctic peninsular - the Antarctic hair grass, Deschampsia Ant...

By Peter Prokosch

Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis Antarcticus), Antarctic Peninsula The small Chinstrap penguin forages near the shore for small crustaceans, krill and fish and they use strong flippers and feet to crawl or jump up steep slopes. Unlike other Penguins here, the Chinstrap Penguin does ...

By Peter Prokosch

Cape Petrels (Daption capense), Antarctic Peninsula The Cape Petrel, also called Cape Pigeon, is one of the most common seabirds of the Southern Ocean and around Antarctica. They have an estimated population of around 2 million. Cape Petrels feed mainly on crustacea, incl...

By Peter Prokosch

Black-Browed Albatross (Thalassarche Melanophrys), Antarctic Peninsula With a wingspan of up to 2.m, the Black-Browed Albatross is an impressive and majestic creature. They have been recorded to fly up to 880km per day and they live for up to 50 years and travel widely, spending much of the...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic shelf-ice berg, Antarctic Peninsula <a href=http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/ice-sheets-schematic-illustration-for-greenland-and-antarctica>Calving</a> is the name for the process of a piece of ice (sometimes kilometers wide) breaking off an ice shelf and b...

By Peter Prokosch

Icebergs, Antarctic Peninsula Huge icebergs are breaking of every year from the huge Antarctic ice sheet, the largest single mass of ice on Earth. About 61% of all fresh water on Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet, an equivalent to 70 m of wate...

By Peter Prokosch

Iceberg contours, Antarctic Peninsula The Weddell Sea in Antarctica , where this iceberg was pictured, is one of the regions driving large-scale ocean circulation, otherwise known as thermohaline circulation. In the Weddell Sea, surface seawater is intensely...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic icebergs Huge icebergs are breaking of every year from the huge Antarctic ice sheet, the largest single mass of ice on Earth. About 61% of all fresh water on Earth is held in the Antarctic ice sheet, an equivalent to 70 m of wate...

By Peter Prokosch

Piece of Shelf-Ice, Antarctic Peninsula Ice shelves are permanent floating sheets of ice that connect to a landmass. Most of the world’s ice shelves hug the coast of Antarctica. Ice from enormous ice sheets slowly oozes into the sea through glaciers and ice...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers and ice caps form in places where snow and ice build-up during the winter is more than the amount of melt during the warmer seasons. This build-up of snow gradually becomes denser and is compressed into ice, whi...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic Peninsula In general, a glacier is formed and maintained by a cycle of snow falling at high altitudes, melt occurring at lower altitudes and or discharge into the sea. Glaciers are particularly susceptible to climate change and a...

By Peter Prokosch

Glacier ice and sea ice, Antarctic Peninsula Unlike the Arctic, which at its centre is an ocean, Antarctica is a landmass that is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. A permanent, massive ice sheet on Antarctica covers 98% of the continent and is containing the major ...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic Peninsula Since the Holocene (the past 10,000 years or the so-called Little Ice Age) there has been a noted overall retreat in glaciers worldwide, but the actual rate of retreat has been accelerating rapidly since 1976. <a href='h...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic Peninsula Since the Holocene (the past 10,000 years or the so-called Little Ice Age,) there has been a noted overall retreat in glaciers Worldwide, but the actual rate of retreat has been accelerating rapidly since 1976. <a href='...

By Peter Prokosch

Penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula The Gentoo Penguin is distinguishable by the bright red beak and has the largest distribution of any penguin. They feed on cod, crustaceans and squid and often hunt in packs. The Gentoo Penguin is classed as near-threate...

By Peter Prokosch

Floating ice sheet, Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica holds nine times the amount of ice as Greenland, the melting of which is an important contribution to current sea-level rise. Melting of the west Antarctic Ice Sheet alone would cause sea levels to rise by an ...

By Peter Prokosch

Whale bones on the beach, Antarctic Peninsula There are 8 species of whale in the Southern Oceans surrounding Antarctica, including the blue whale, humpback whale, minke, orca and sperm whales. All Antarctic whale species migrate southwards to the Southern Oceans to...

By Peter Prokosch

Male Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus Gazella), Antarctic Peninsula Since the 1800's when they were killed for their dense fur to the brink of extinction, the Fur Seal has made a strong comeback, with <a href=http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/2058/0> all populations stable ...

By Peter Prokosch

Antarctic Skua (Catharacta MacCormicki), Antarctic Peninsula The Arctic Skua nests in grasslands near to penguin colonies, and have earned the nickname 'Raptor' for their habit of raiding nests for eggs and young. In their own nests, the Skua will attack any intruders to their...

By Peter Prokosch

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