What effect will predicted climate change have on natural ecosystems?
A number of predictions of future climate change have been made, and further refinements will be made by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre and the Ice, Oceans, Atmosphere and Climate priority program. Research on natural ecosystems in the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean must be conducted in a manner complementary to that conducted elsewhere so that it is possible to more accurately assess the likely consequences of these predicted changes. The program will assess the impacts of environmental change on the marine micro-organisms that play a critical role in sustaining the marine food web, as well as global biogeochemical cycles. A major concern is how environmental change will affect the invasion by alien species especially when exacerbated by increasing human activity in Antarctica.
