A dataset of Antarctic ecosystems in ice-free lands: classification, descriptions, and maps

Anikó B Tóth; Aleks Terauds; Steven L Chown; Kevin A Hughes; Peter Convey; Dominic A Hodgson; Don A Cowan; John Gibson; Rachel I Leihy; Nicholas J Murray; Sharon A Robinson; Justine D Shaw; Jonathan S Stark; Mark I Stevens; John van den Hoff; Jane Wasley; David A Keith

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04424-y

A dataset of Antarctic ecosystems in ice-free lands: classification, descriptions, and maps

Sci Data. 2025 Jan 22;12(1):133. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-04424-y.

Authors

Anikó B Tóth^{1

2}, Aleks Terauds³, Steven L Chown⁴, Kevin A Hughes⁵, Peter Convey^{5

6

7}, Dominic A Hodgson⁵, Don A Cowan⁸, John Gibson³, Rachel I Leihy⁴, Nicholas J Murray⁹, Sharon A Robinson^{10

11}, Justine D Shaw¹², Jonathan S Stark³, Mark I Stevens^{13

14}, John van den Hoff³, Jane Wasley³, David A Keith¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. [email protected].
² UNSW Data Science Hub, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. [email protected].
³ Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania, 7050, Australia.
⁴ Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria, 3800, Australia.
⁵ British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK.
⁶ Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, 2006, South Africa.
⁷ Millennium Institute Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems (BASE), Santiago, Chile.
⁸ Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
⁹ College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, 4811, Australia.
¹⁰ Environmental Futures, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
¹¹ Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia.
¹² Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, 4001, Australia.
¹³ Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, Earth and Biological Sciences, South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia.
¹⁴ School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.
¹⁵ Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. [email protected].

PMID: 39843903
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-04424-y

Abstract

Antarctica, Earth's least understood and most remote continent, is threatened by human disturbances and climate-related changes, underscoring the imperative for biodiversity inventories to inform conservation. Antarctic ecosystems support unique species and genetic diversity, deliver essential ecosystem services and contribute to planetary stability. We present Antarctica's first comprehensive ecosystem classification and map of ice-free lands, which host most of the continent's biodiversity. We used latent variables in factor analyses to partition continental-scale abiotic variation, then biotic variation represented in spatial models, and finally recognised regional-scale variation among biogeographic units. This produced a spatially explicit hierarchical classification with nine Major Environment Units (Tier 1), 33 Habitat Complexes (Tier 2) and 269 Bioregional Ecosystem Types (Tier 3) mapped at 100 m resolution and aligned with 'level 4' of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology. This comprehensive ecosystem inventory provides foundational data to inform protected area designation under the Antarctic Treaty's Environmental Protocol and track risks to Antarctic ecosystems. Its tiered structure and workflow accommodate data scarcity and facilitate updates, promoting robustness as knowledge builds.

Abstract

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