Holocene reconstruction of terrestrial habitats and dispersal pathways in the Antarctic Peninsula and sub-Antarctic Islands

亚南极和南极的陆地环境对生命构成了极端的挑战。然而，在末次冰期（以及之前的冰期），南极陆地生物面临着更加极端的环境条件，特别是可用的陆地栖息地急剧减少(1)。然而，我们目前对南极洲陆地生物范围的变化和扩散过程的理解，作为整个冰川循环变化的环境条件的结果，仍然不清楚。近年来在BAS、SOGES以及沿南极半岛和斯科舍弧的合作项目中获得的泥炭岩心、单体石和花粉陷阱的组合为推进这一领域提供了独特的机会。该项目将利用它们重建从南乔治亚岛（53S）到亚历山大岛北部（69S）的纬度范围内的植被分布（花粉、孢子）和其他生物指标（例如鸟粪衍生的地球化学）(2)，包含无脊椎动物和微生物群落元素(3)。我们将在短期和长期内分析扩散过程以及主要变化驱动因素（如气候）对这个范例区域陆地上生命的影响，以研究气候变化。特别是，使用苔藓/泥炭芯可以推断夏季发生的生物过程，增加我们重建的生物学相关性。

Terrestrial environments of the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic present extreme challenges for life. However, during the last glacial period (and previous periods), Antarctic terrestrial life faced even more extreme environmental conditions, in particular with a drastic reduction in available terrestrial habitats (1). However, our current understanding of terrestrial biological range changes and dispersal processes in Antarctica as a consequence of changing environmental conditions throughout glacial cycles remains unclear. A combination of peat cores, monoliths, and pollen traps obtained in recent years in BAS, SOGES, and collaborating projects along the length of the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc provide a unique opportunity to advance this field. This project will use them to reconstruct vegetation dispersal and distribution (pollen, spores) and other biological proxies (e.g. guano-derived geochemistry) (2), contained invertebrate and microbial community elements (3)) across the latitudinal range from South Georgia (53S) to northern Alexander Island (69S). We will analyse, over short- and long-term, dispersal processes and the impacts of major drivers of change (e.g. climate) on life on land across this paradigmatic region for studies of climate change. The use of moss/peat cores allows, in particular, inference of biological processes occurring in summer, increasing the biological relevance of our reconstructions.