Variation in Antarctic biodiversity across space and time

Understanding the processes that influence biodiversity is critical to the conservation of species and ecosystems. In Antarctica, extreme environmental conditions and isolation structure biodiversity patterns. Climate conditions, including temperature and wind, are important drivers of Antarctic plant species and community distributions, and also influence the evolution on insect flightlessness. Yet, increasingly, human impacts also play a role. Human activity in Antarctica over the last 200 years has been extensive, especially in the areas of the continent with the most biodiversity. As a result, Antarctica’s wilderness value and biodiversity are threatened by expanding human activity in the region.