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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Bryophyte Species Composition Over Moisture Gradients In The Windmill Islands, East Antarctica: Development Of A Baseline For Monitoring Climate Change Impacts, J Wasley, S A. Robinson, J D. Turnbull, D H. King, W Wanek, M Popp Feb 2013

Bryophyte Species Composition Over Moisture Gradients In The Windmill Islands, East Antarctica: Development Of A Baseline For Monitoring Climate Change Impacts, J Wasley, S A. Robinson, J D. Turnbull, D H. King, W Wanek, M Popp

Sharon Robinson

Extreme environmental conditions prevail on the Antarctic continent and limit plant diversity to cryptogamic communities, dominated by bryophytes and lichens. Even small abiotic shifts, associated with climate change, are likely to have pronounced impacts on these communities that currently exist at their physiological limit of survival. Changes to moisture availability, due to precipitation shifts or alterations to permanent snow reserves, will most likely cause greatest impact. In order to establish a baseline for determining the effect of climate change on continental Antarctic terrestrial communities and to better understand bryophyte species distributions in relation to moisture in a floristically important Antarctic …


Radiocarbon Bomb Spike Reveals Biological Effects Of Antarctic Climate Change, Laurence J Clarke, Sharon A. Robinson, Quan Hua, David J. Ayre, David Fink Aug 2012

Radiocarbon Bomb Spike Reveals Biological Effects Of Antarctic Climate Change, Laurence J Clarke, Sharon A. Robinson, Quan Hua, David J. Ayre, David Fink

Sharon Robinson

The Antarctic has experienced major changes in temperature, wind speed and stratospheric ozone levels during thelast 50 years. However, until recently continental Antarctica appeared to be little impacted by climate warming, thusbiological changes were predicted to be relatively slow. Detecting the biological effects of Antarctic climate changehas been hindered by the paucity of long-term data sets, particularly for organisms that have been exposed to thesechanges throughout their lives. We show that radiocarbon signals are preserved along shoots of the dominant Antarcticmoss flora and use these to determine accurate growth rates over a period of several decades, allowing us toexplore the …


Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Remote Sensing For Hyperspatial Terrain Mapping Of Antarctic Moss Beds Based On Structure From Motion (Sfm) Point Clouds, A Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, D Turner Aug 2012

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) Remote Sensing For Hyperspatial Terrain Mapping Of Antarctic Moss Beds Based On Structure From Motion (Sfm) Point Clouds, A Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, D Turner

Sharon Robinson

This study is the first to use an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for mapping moss beds in Antarctica. Mosses can be used as indicators for the regional effects of climate change. Mapping and monitoring their extent and health is therefore important. UAV aerial photography provides ultra-high resolution spatial data for this purpose. The aim of this study is to use Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques to generate a detailed 3D point cloud of the terrain from overlapping UAV photography.


The Instrumental Period, Robert Bindschadler, Eberhard Fahrbach, Jim Fastook, Jaume Forcarda, Josep-Maria Gili, Nancy Bertler, D M. Bergstrom, Mauro Gugliemin, Julian Gutt, Hartmut Hellmer, F Hennion, Roberto Bargagli, Carlo Barbante, Karen Heywood, Dominic Hodgson, David Holland, Sungmin Hong, Angus Atkinson, Rob Arthern, Byron Adams, A H.L Huiskes, Steve Chown, Enrique Isla, Stan Jacobs, Anna Jones, David Bromwich, Claude Boutron, Josifino Comiso, Pete Convey, Alison Cook, Guido Di Prisco, James Bockheim, Mark Stevens, Colin Summerhayes, Phil Trathan, John A. Turner, Kees Van Der Veen, David Vaughan, Mike Meredith, Paul Mayewski, Gareth Marshall, Cinzia Verde, Andrew Lenton, Howard Roscoe, Sharon A. Robinson, Steve Rintoul, Hans-Otto Portner, Sergio Rossi, Ted Scambos, Jon Shanklin, Lloyd Peck, Nicholas Metzl, Andrew Monaghan, David Webb, Christian Wiencke, Covadonga Orejas, Philip Woodworth, Tony Worby, Roger Worland, Kevin K. Newsham, Alberto Naveira-Garabato, Takashi Yamanouchi, Victor Smetacek, Kevin Speer Mar 2012

The Instrumental Period, Robert Bindschadler, Eberhard Fahrbach, Jim Fastook, Jaume Forcarda, Josep-Maria Gili, Nancy Bertler, D M. Bergstrom, Mauro Gugliemin, Julian Gutt, Hartmut Hellmer, F Hennion, Roberto Bargagli, Carlo Barbante, Karen Heywood, Dominic Hodgson, David Holland, Sungmin Hong, Angus Atkinson, Rob Arthern, Byron Adams, A H.L Huiskes, Steve Chown, Enrique Isla, Stan Jacobs, Anna Jones, David Bromwich, Claude Boutron, Josifino Comiso, Pete Convey, Alison Cook, Guido Di Prisco, James Bockheim, Mark Stevens, Colin Summerhayes, Phil Trathan, John A. Turner, Kees Van Der Veen, David Vaughan, Mike Meredith, Paul Mayewski, Gareth Marshall, Cinzia Verde, Andrew Lenton, Howard Roscoe, Sharon A. Robinson, Steve Rintoul, Hans-Otto Portner, Sergio Rossi, Ted Scambos, Jon Shanklin, Lloyd Peck, Nicholas Metzl, Andrew Monaghan, David Webb, Christian Wiencke, Covadonga Orejas, Philip Woodworth, Tony Worby, Roger Worland, Kevin K. Newsham, Alberto Naveira-Garabato, Takashi Yamanouchi, Victor Smetacek, Kevin Speer

Sharon Robinson

The instrumental period began with the first voyages to the Southern Ocean during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries when scientists such as Edmund Halley made observations of quantities such as geomagnetism. During the early voyages information was collected on the meteorological conditions across the Southern Ocean, ocean conditions, the sea ice extent and the terrestrial and marine biology. The continent itself was discovered in 1820, although the collection of data was sporadic through the remainder of the Nineteenth Century and it was not possible to venture into the inhospitable interior of Antarctica. At the start of the Twentieth Century stations …


Using An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) For Ultra-High Resolution Mapping Of Antarctic Moss Beds, Arko Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, Darren Turner Jan 2011

Using An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) For Ultra-High Resolution Mapping Of Antarctic Moss Beds, Arko Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, Darren Turner

Sharon Robinson

This study is the first to use an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for mapping moss beds in Antarctica. Mosses can be used as indicators for the regional effects of climate change. Mapping and monitoring their extent and health is therefore important. UAV aerial photography provides ultra-high resolution spatial data for this purpose. In addition, we collected highly accurate and GPS transects to generate a detailed DEM. We calculated a topographic wetness index based on the DEM and compared it to the UAV photography to evaluate local growing conditions. This preliminary study shows that a UAV is an ideal platform for …


Casey: The Daintree Of Antarctica, Dana Bergstrom, Sharon A. Robinson Jan 2011

Casey: The Daintree Of Antarctica, Dana Bergstrom, Sharon A. Robinson

Sharon Robinson

Antarctica is at the edge of life on the planet. Less than 0.5% of the Antarctic continent is ice-free rock or soil and therefore only tiny pockets of land are available for plants to establish. The Australian Antarctic Territory is home to some of the rarest ecosystems on the planet and the plant life at Casey is as good as it gets - Casey has the most extensive and best developed plant communities in continental Antarctica: it is the 'Daintree' of Antarctica. The largest plants are the mosses and they are like miniature old growth forests, growing incredibly slowly. A …


Aerial ‘Oktokopter’ To Map Antarctic Moss, Arko Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, Dana Bergstrom Jan 2011

Aerial ‘Oktokopter’ To Map Antarctic Moss, Arko Lucieer, Sharon A. Robinson, Dana Bergstrom

Sharon Robinson

Polar regions are experiencing rapid and severe climatic shifts with major changes in temperature, wind speed and UV-B radiation already observed in Antarctica. As climatic records only extend back 50 years, we urgently need new proxies to determine if coastal climate has changed over the past century.


Responses Of Plants In Polar Regions To Uvb Exposure : A Meta-Analysis, K. K. Newsham, Sharon A. Robinson Nov 2009

Responses Of Plants In Polar Regions To Uvb Exposure : A Meta-Analysis, K. K. Newsham, Sharon A. Robinson

Sharon Robinson

We report a meta-analysis of data from 34 field studies into the effects of UV-B radiation on Arctic and Antarctic bryophytes and angiosperms. The studies measured plant responses to decreases in UV-B radiation under screens, natural fluctuations in UV-B irradiance, or increases in UV-B radiation applied from fluorescent UV lamps. Exposure to UV-B radiation was found to increase the concentrations of UV-B absorbing compounds in leaves or thalli by 7% and 25% (expressed on a mass or area basis, respectively). UV-B exposure also reduced aboveground biomass and plant height by 15% and 10%, respectively, and increased DNA damage by 90%. …


Genetic Structure Of East Antarctic Populations Of The Moss Ceratodon Purpureus, L. J. Clarke, D. J. Ayre, Sharon A. Robinson Nov 2009

Genetic Structure Of East Antarctic Populations Of The Moss Ceratodon Purpureus, L. J. Clarke, D. J. Ayre, Sharon A. Robinson

Sharon Robinson

The capacity of the polar flora to adapt is of increasing concern given current and predicted environmental change in these regions. Previous genetic studies of Antarctic mosses have been of limited value due to a lack of variation in the markers or non-specificity of the methods used. We examined the power of five microsatellite loci developed for the cosmopolitan moss Ceratodon purpureus to detect genetically distinct clones and infer the distribution of clones within and among populations from the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Our microsatellite data suggest extraordinarily high levels of variation reported in RAPD studies were artificially elevated by …


Surface Reflectance Properties Of Antarctic Moss And Their Relationship To Plant Species, Pigment Composition And Photosynthetic Function, C. E. Lovelock, Sharon A. Robinson Feb 2009

Surface Reflectance Properties Of Antarctic Moss And Their Relationship To Plant Species, Pigment Composition And Photosynthetic Function, C. E. Lovelock, Sharon A. Robinson

Sharon Robinson

We investigated how surface reflectance properties and pigment concentrations of Antarctic moss varied over species, sites, microtopography, and with water content. We found that species had significantly different surface reflectance properties, particularly in the region of the red edge (approximately 700 nm), but this did not correlate strongly with pigment concentrations. Surface reflectance of moss also varied in the visible region and in the characteristics of the red edge over different sites. Reflectance parameters, such as the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI) and Cold Hard Band (CBH) were useful discriminators of site, microtopographic position and water content. The PRI was correlated …


Understanding The Tolerance Of Antarctic Mosses To Climate Change, Sharon A. Robinson, L J. Clarke Feb 2009

Understanding The Tolerance Of Antarctic Mosses To Climate Change, Sharon A. Robinson, L J. Clarke

Sharon Robinson

Climate change is expected to affect the high latitudes first and most severely, rendering Antarctica one of the most significant baseline environments for the study of global climate change. Despite this, there have been few long-term studies of the response of Antarctic vegetation to climate change. The Windmill Islands region supports some of the most extensive and best developed vegetation on continental Antarctica, with lush, green mossbeds along many of the lakes and melt streams close to Casey station. Over the past 12 years my University of Wollongong colleagues and I have studied the mosses of this region to better …


Uv-B Screening Potential Is Higher In Two Cosmopolitan Moss Species Than In A Co-Occurring Antarctic Endemic Moss – Implications Of Continuing Ozone Depletion, J. L. Dunn, Sharon A. Robinson Feb 2009

Uv-B Screening Potential Is Higher In Two Cosmopolitan Moss Species Than In A Co-Occurring Antarctic Endemic Moss – Implications Of Continuing Ozone Depletion, J. L. Dunn, Sharon A. Robinson

Sharon Robinson

Concentrations of UV-B absorbing pigments and anthocyanins were measured in three moss species, over a summer growing season in Antarctica. Pigment concentrations were compared with a range of climatic variables to determine if there was evidence that pigments were induced by UV-B radiation, or other environmental parameters, and secondly if there were differences between species in their pigment responses. Significant seasonal differences in the potential UV-B screening pigments were found, with the two cosmopolitan species Bryum pseudotriquetrum and Ceratodon purpureus appearing better protected from the potentially damaging effects of ozone depletion than the Antarctic endemic Schistidium antarctici. Bryum pseudotriquetrum accumulated …