Petrological and geochemical data are reported for a series of Late Cretaceous-Middle Miocene volcanic, hypabyssal and intrusive rocks from King George Island (KGI) and from nearby Ridley Island, South Shetland Islands. Major element data indicate a calc-alkaline, basic to intermediate composition for the analysed samples. Although emplaced on a continental margin, the KGI rocks generally display low abundances of incompatible trace elements, close to those typically observed in calc-alkaline suites erupted in intraoceanic island arcs. A few samples have a significant negative Ce anomaly. Many incompatible elements define smooth positive trends on interelemental variation diagrams which suggests that magmas erupted at different times on KGI maintained a rather constant composition in terms of incompatible element ratios. Geochemical modelling, based on Sr isotope ratios and incompatible element ratios, suggests that the primary calc-alkaline magmas of KGI were all generated in an upper mantle modified by addition of small amounts of pelagic sediments dragged down by subduction processes.

Early stages of toothfish are reported from cruises between 1978 and 2001. South Georgia was regularly sampled, Shag Rocks was briefly sampled in three summers, and Burdwood Bank was sampled in 1997. Most samples were using 8 m2 and 1 m2 nets in the upper 250 m and upper 3 m, respectively. Forty-three pelagic larval/early juvenile stages between 18.2 and 63 mm standard length (Ls) were taken between December and March. Four specimens were taken at Burdwood Bank, one at Shag Rocks, and 38 at South Georgia. Forty fish were from the upper 250 m, and 23 from the upper 3 m. They occurred onshelf and offshore over water depths between 10 and 3000 m. Estimated growth rate, at South Georgia from 11 cohorts (including published data), is c. 1% Ls, d−1 (n = 39). From this and a hatch size of 15 mm Ls, the predicted hatching season is November to mid-December. From seven trawl surveys during summer at South Georgia and Shag Rocks between 1986 and 2000, the mean depth of the smaller demersal juveniles 13–25 cm total length (LT) was < 140 m, indicating that early juveniles probably migrate inshore.

New polydolopid marsupial specimens have been recovered from the La Meseta Formation, a late early Eocene to probably early Oligocene unit cropping out in the northern third of Seymour (Marambio) Island, at some 100 km off the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Our review of the original materials, as well as the new specimens from the same levels, led us to: 1) revalidate the genus Antarctodolops Woodburne & Zinsmeister 1984, 2) regard Eurydolops seymouriensis Case, Woodburne & Chaney 1988 as a junior synonym of Antarctodolops dailyi Woodburne & Zinsmeister, and 3) recognize a new species of this same genus: A. mesetaense. As previously stated, the polydolopid radiation might be related to the expansion of the Nothofagus flora, as both have the same spatial distribution in southern South America and West Antarctica.

The energy expenditure of ten (five male, five female) wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans Linnaeus 1758) brooding chicks on Bird Island, South Georgia, was measured using doubly-labelled water. At-sea foraging behaviour was measured in the same individuals using satellite telemetry and leg-mounted activity recorders. Mean mass-specific daily energy expenditure was 341 kJ kg−1 day−1 during a mean of 4.12 days at sea and did not differ between the sexes. This is significantly lower than previously reported for the species and the lowest recorded for any albatross. There were no significant relationships between energy expenditure and the proportion of time spent flying (59.7%), distance flown (1448 km) or average speed (16.5 km h−1) suggesting that flying is not the most energetically expensive activity during foraging trips.

We surveyed the southern elephant seal population at Heard Island regularly from February 1992 to March 1993, and determined the haulout patterns of the major components of the population. While haulout patterns of moulting and immature seals may give broad indices of population trends, the breeding haulout of adult females was the only reliable haulout that could be used to determine annual pup production. During the breeding season 14 277 adult females were counted. Raw counts were corrected using two models, one purely mathematical and the other based on the haulout behaviour of adult female seals. The two models have slightly different assumptions, but both provided good fits to the observed haulout patterns and estimated total population with a coefficient of variation of less than 5%. Total pup production was estimated at between 17 000 and 18 000 for 1992. Previous counts of elephant seals from 1949–51, 1985 and 1987 were corrected using the same models. The two models gave estimates of the population that were within ± 2.5% for all but one year. The population declined by about 50% between 1949 and 1985 but there appears to have been little change from 1985–92. The previous decline may be related to changes in sea-ice.

A volcanic event, represented by both coarse ash and a prominent sulphate peak, has been detected at a depth of 85.82 m in a 90 m ice core drilled at Talos Dome, northern Victoria Land. Accurate dating of the core, based on counting annual sulphate and nitrate fluctuations and on comparison with records of major known volcanic eruptions, indicates that the event occurred in 1254 ± 2 AD. The source volcano is most likely to be located within the Ross Sea region. In particular, the glass shards have a trachytic composition similar to rocks from The Pleiades and Mount Rittmann (Melbourne volcanic province), about 200 km from Talos Dome. Sulphate concentration is comparable with that of violent extra-Antarctic explosive events recorded in the same core, but atmospheric perturbation was short-lived and localized, suggesting a negligible impact on regional climate. It is suggested that this eruption may represent the most important volcanic explosion in the Melbourne province during the last eight centuries; thus this event may also represent a valuable chrono-stratigraphical marker on the East Antarctic plateau and in adjoining areas.

Methanol-toluene extracts of 17 common Antarctic marine sponges collected from shallow waters in McMurdo Sound in October–December 1989 were tested for suppression of growth of bacteria (gram-positive and negative), yeasts and fungi. Weak to moderate levels of antimicrobial activity occurred in all sponges. Antimicrobial activity was more common when gram-negative bacteria were exposed to sponge extracts; 47% of the sponge extracts caused growth inhibition in one or more gram-positive bacteria, while 100% of the extracts caused growth inhibition in gram-negative bacteria. Particularly strong activity was observed against two species of gram-positive bacteria exposed to extracts of the sponge Latrunculia apicalis and against one strain of gram-negative bacterium exposed to extracts of the sponge Haliclona sp. Antimicrobial responses against yeasts and fungi were generally non-existent or weak, with the exception of the yeast Candida tropicalis, which was strongly inhibited by extracts of the sponges Homaxonella balfourensis, Dendrilla membranosa, Kirkpatrickia variolosa, Gellius benedeni, Cinachyra antarctica and Scolymastia joubinia. Antimicrobial activity in these polar sponges is widespread but generally weaker than that found in temperate and tropical sponges.

Glacial geological studies on the Windmill Islands and along the Budd Coast at the margin of the Law Dome, East Antarctica, indicate that the glacial extent of Law Dome has fluctuated during the Holocene. The morphology and structural geology of the present ice margin and Løken Moraines indicate that Law Dome has readvanced over part of the Windmill Islands since the culmination of the post-glacial retreat. Sedimentological and geochemical analyses show that Løken Moraines comprise reworked proglacial and coastal marine sediments and ice, which supports the morphological and structural evidence for a readvance. A chronology for the readvance is produced from relative lichenometry of Løken Moraines and coastal nunataks in conjunction with 14C radiocarbon dates from the proglacial and coastal zones. The combined glaciological and geological evidence suggests that the readvance occurred after c. 4000 yr BP in response to a positive mass balance on Law Dome during the Holocene.

Samples of Loligo gahi from the Falkland Islands Interim Conservation and Management Zone collected in March 1987 were analysed to determine the relationships between mass of reproductive and somatic organs during maturation. There was a progressive increase in mass of the reproductive organs with growth in males, while in females these organs did not show a conspicuous increase in mass until a body mass of c. 40 g was reached. No change was found in the mass of the digestive gland in relation to body mass or in the water content of male and female somatic tissues during maturation. Growth of reproductive organs in L. gahi seems to be supported by diet and not at the expense of somatic tissue.

We describe a long-range migration of a pre-moulting adult chinstrap penguin from Bouvetøya, a small relatively recently established colony, to the South Sandwich Islands, where large, established colonies of this species reside. The trip lasted around three weeks, covered ∼3600 km, and the time of arrival was consistent with the annual moult. The bird did not travel along the shortest path or along a constant bearing, but instead followed what appeared to be a series of two or three rhumb lines of constant bearing. Small southward and northward deviations from the general path were consistent with local water currents. Travel speeds were high during daylight but decreased at night, suggesting that resting or opportunistic feeding occurred preferentially at night. While long-range winter migrations of chinstraps to feeding areas in the vicinity of distant colonies have been previously described, this is the first observation of such a trip during the period between breeding and moulting, and the first record of an individual actually arriving at one of these distant colonies. This has implications for understanding population structure and management of this important Southern Ocean predator.

This paper documents the previously undescribed terrestrial fauna (mites, nematodes, tardigrades) and flora (liverworts, mosses and lichens) of Marion Nunataks, Charcot Island (69°45'S 075°15'W). Species diversity in all groups is low relative to other Maritime Antarctic sites, probably a twin function of very limited ice-free terrain and extreme isolation. The fauna and flora are wholly immigrant and, with the exceptions of two lichens (Psilolechia lucida and Umbilicaria aff. thamnodes), clearly derived from the Maritime Antarctic. The fauna is unique for the Maritime Antarctic in that it appears to contain neither predatory arthropods nor Collembola (springtails), which are otherwise ubiquitous and important members of the terrestrial fauna of the zone. The flora includes exceptional development of three mosses that are encountered only rarely at latitudes south of c. 65°S, Brachythecium austrosalebrosum, Dicranoweisia crispula and Polytrichum piliferum. The southern limit for several mosses and lichens has been extended. This small and isolated site is extremely vulnerable to accidental human-mediated introduction of both native Antarctic and alien biota.

The Bunger Hills were covered by the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last glaciation. During deglaciation the ice sheet margin collapsed into the marine inlets and the sea entered the oasis before 7.7 ka BP. Raised beaches occur widely below 8.5 m and indicate uplift at 1.4 m ka−1 during the middle and late Holocene. After the coastal inlets were formed, the Edisto Ice Tongue and Apfels Glacier still impinged on land margins in the west of the oasis. Two sets of marginal moraines were formed; the Older Edisto Moraines after 6.2 ka BP and the Younger Edisto Moraines during the last few centuries. The margins of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and Apfels Glacier in the south have maintained their present positions since at least 5.6 ka BP and probably 10 ka BP.

Ice cores were sampled at four stations in McMurdo Sound (Ross Sea) between 1999 and 2003. At the beginning of year 2000, a very large iceberg (B-15) detached itself from the Ross Ice Shelf and stranded at the entrance of the Sound, preventing the usual oceanic circulation purging of the annual sea ice cover from this area. Ice textural studies showed that a second year sea ice cover was built-up at three out of the four stations: ice thickness increased to about 3 m. Repeated alternation of columnar and platelet ice appeared, and bulk salinity showed a strong decrease, principally in the upper part of the ice sheet, with associated brine volume decrease. Physical modification influenced the biology as well. By decreasing the light and space available for organisms in the sea ice cover, the stranding of B-15 has i) hampered autotrophic productivity, with chlorophyll a concentration and algae biomass significantly lower for second year ice stations, and ii) affected trophic relationships such as the bacterial biomass/chl a concentration correlation, or the autotrophic to heterotrophic ratio.

Several recent papers have criticized the scientific robustness of the fisheries management system used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), including that for Ross Sea toothfish. Here we present a response from the wider CCAMLR community to address concerns and to correct some apparent misconceptions about how CCAMLR acts to promote conservation whilst allowing safe exploitation in all of its fisheries. A key aspect of CCAMLR’s approach is its adaptive feedback nature; regular monitoring and analysis allows for adjustments to be made, as necessary, to provide a robust management system despite the statistical uncertainties inherent in any single assessment. Within the Ross Sea, application of CCAMLR’s precautionary approach has allowed the toothfish fishery to develop in a steady fashion with an associated accumulation of data and greater scientific understanding. Regular stock assessments of the fishery have been carried out since 2005, and the 2013 stock assessment estimated current spawning stock biomass to be at 75% of the pre-exploitation level. There will always be additional uncertainties which need to be addressed, but where information is lacking the CCAMLR approach to management ensures exploitation rates are at a level commensurate with a precautionary approach.

The mitochondrial COI gene of the Antarctic springtail, Gressittacantha terranova, was sequenced across a polar coastal landscape at Terra Nova Bay, northern Victoria Land. Samples from two altitudinal transects in the foothills directly south of Campbell Glacier were compared with samples from Springtail Valley (northern foothills) as an external reference population. We found that mtDNA haplotypes clustered into two lineages (clades) with a mean sequence divergence of 10% (uncorrected distance). However, there was no phylogeographic structure found at this spatial (landscape) scale with haplotypes from both divergent clades found sympatric across most populations. At the landscape scale, the considerable genetic divergence revealed within G. terranova is around five times greater than any other continental Antarctic springtail examined to date. These data indicate a Pliocene divergence event in G. terranova around 4–5 million years ago. The unusual distributional profile of haplotypes - occurrence of multiple haplotypes at single sites and genetic contiguity between sites that are not physically contiguous - suggests a subsequent ‘reshuffling’ of haplotypes in the Holocene that has an ecological basis.

Land-fast ice in the vicinity of Adélie Land was sampled during spring 1995. The ice was annual, thin, with no consistent snow cover, and exposed to oceanic conditions. Temporal and spatial variations of the vertical pigment distribution were studied in relation to environmental factors, during the break up of the ice. Different levels were sampled in the congelation ice and the platelet ice-like layer (PLI). Under-ice water and open water masses were also sampled. The algal biomass was greater in the PLI (24 ±14 μg chl a l−1 offshore and up to 9 mg chl a l−1 near-shore), than in the under-ice water, and fell to 0.9 ± 0.64 μg chl al−1 in open water masses. Homogenous low pigment concentrations were detected in the upper levels of congelation ice. A gradient was identified along a 7 km seaward transect, sampled in November, with the lowest biomass offshore. The integrated pigment concentrations in fast ice reached very high levels 500 mg chl a m−2 near the coast and 0.8 mg m−2 offshore), with apparently no relationship with either the ice thickness or snow cover. In the congelation ice nutrient concentrations were low and their distribution homogenous, whereas in the PLI high concentrations of nitrate (up to 100–300 μM NO3) and silicic acid [30–100 μM Si(OH)4] were detected, often related to high pigment concentrations and proximity to islands. The sea ice algae communities were diverse, but mostly composed of chain-forming and tube-dwelling pennate diatoms (Amphiprora, Berkeleya, Nitzschia and Navicula). Cell densities in PLI reached up to 1010 cells l−1. At very low biomass and cell densities 2 104 cells l−1) the phytoplankton also had a low diversity; some species were similar to those of the PLI, such as Navicula glaciei, but other were typically planktonic (Chaetoceros). At sea ice break-up it is estimated that a significant proportion of particulate matter (up to 0.5 g chl a m−2 near-shore) was transferred to the underlying water masses (on an average 15 t POC km−1 shoreline).

Multichannel seismic data acquired over the northern Pacific margin of the Antarctic Peninsula, have shown the presence of high-amplitude sub-bottom reflections across part of the South Shetland accretionary prism. Detailed seismic data analysis, such as true amplitude signal recovery, reflection coefficient determinations and closely-spaced semblance velocity analysis, have been carried out in order definitely to assign this bottom simulating reflector to the base of the stability field for methane hydrate. This represents the first evidence of gas hydrate layers in the Antarctic Peninsula region.

Palynomorph assemblages are reported from the Kotick Point and Whisky Bay formations in west and north-west James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The microfloras, particularly the dinoflagellate cyst florules, indicate an Aptian to early/mid Albian age for the Kotick Point Formation and a mid Albian to Turonian age for the Whisky Bay Formation on the basis of comparison with records from other Southern Hemisphere localities. The ages adduced broadly corroborate those previously derived from macrofaunas. The dinoflagellate cyst floras are closely comparable with those previously reported from Australasia to the extent that recognition of certain microplankton zones is possible. The miospore flora is largely composed of long ranging taxa of limited age diagnostic value. The palynoflora comprises 77 dinoflagellate cyst, 52 miospore and 7 acritarch, chlorophyte and prasinophyte taxa.

In the Antarctic ciliate, Euplotes focardii, the heat-shock protein 70 (Hsp70) gene does not show any appreciable activation by a thermal stress. Yet, it is activated to appreciable transcriptional levels by oxidative and chemical stresses, thus implying that it evolved a mechanism of selective, stress-specific response. A basic step in investigating this mechanism is the determination of the complete nucleotide sequence of the E. focardii Hsp70 gene. This gene contains a coding region specific for an Hsp70 protein that carries unique amino acid substitutions of potential significance for cold adaptation, and a 5' regulatory region that includes sequence motifs denoting two distinct types of stress-inducible promoters, known as “Heat Shock Elements” (HSE) and “Stress Response Elements” (StRE). From the study of the interactions of these regulatory elements with their specific transactivator factors we expect to shed light on the adaptive modifications that prevent the Hsp70 gene of E. focardii from responding to thermal stress while being responsive to other stresses.

Stable oxygen analyses and snow accumulation rates from snow pits sampled in the McMurdo Dry Valleys have been used to reconstruct variations in summer temperature and moisture availability over the last four decades. The temperature data show a common interannual variability, with strong regional warmings occurring especially in 1984/85, 1995/96 and 1990/91 and profound coolings during 1977/78, 1983/84, 1988/89, 1993/94, and 1996/97. Annual snow accumulation shows a larger variance between sites, but the early 1970s, 1984, 1997, and to a lesser degree 1990/91 are characterized overall by wetter conditions, while the early and late 1980s show low snow accumulation values. Comparison of the reconstructed and measured summer temperatures with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) yield statistically significant correlations, which improve when phase-relationships are considered. A distinct change in the phase relationship of the correlation is observed, with the SOI-AAO leading over the temperature records by one year before, and lagging by one year after 1988. These results suggest that over the last two decades summer temperatures are influenced by opposing El Niño Southern Oscillation and AAO forcings and support previous studies that identified a change in the Tropical-Antarctic teleconnection between the 1980s and 1990s.