Antarctica’s wilderness fails to capture continent’s biodiversity

Recent assessments of Earth’s dwindling wilderness have emphasized that Antarctica is a crucial wilderness in need of protection 1 , 2 . Yet human impacts on the continent are widespread 3 – 5 , the extent of its wilderness unquantified 2 and the importance thereof for biodiversity conservation unkn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2020-07, Vol.583 (7817), p.567-571
Main Authors: Leihy, Rachel I., Coetzee, Bernard W. T., Morgan, Fraser, Raymond, Ben, Shaw, Justine D., Terauds, Aleks, Bastmeijer, Kees, Chown, Steven L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/670
631/158/672
704/172/4081
Animals
Antarctic Regions
Biodiversity
Biological diversity
Biological research
Biology, Experimental
Conservation
Conservation of Natural Resources
Environmental protection
History, 19th Century
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Human Activities - history
Human influences
Humanities and Social Sciences
Infrastructure
Land area
multidisciplinary
Natural history
Protocol
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Tourism
Wilderness
Wilderness areas
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Recent assessments of Earth’s dwindling wilderness have emphasized that Antarctica is a crucial wilderness in need of protection 1 , 2 . Yet human impacts on the continent are widespread 3 – 5 , the extent of its wilderness unquantified 2 and the importance thereof for biodiversity conservation unknown. Here we assemble a comprehensive record of human activity (approximately 2.7 million records, spanning 200 years) and use it to quantify the extent of Antarctica’s wilderness and its representation of biodiversity. We show that 99.6% of the continent’s area can still be considered wilderness, but this area captures few biodiversity features. Pristine areas, free from human interference, cover a much smaller area (less than 32% of Antarctica) and are declining as human activity escalates 6 . Urgent expansion of Antarctica’s network of specially protected areas 7 can both reverse this trend and secure the continent’s biodiversity 8 – 10 . Historical records reveal that although 99.6% of Antarctica is defined as wilderness, areas undisturbed by humans comprise less than 32%, largely in regions of low biodiversity.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/s41586-020-2506-3