What is the flora and fauna in Antarctica?

There are around 100 species of mosses, 25 species of liverworts, 300 to 400 species of lichens and 20-odd species of macro-fungi. The greatest diversity of species is found along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula where the climate is generally warmer and wetter than elsewhere in the Antarctic continent.

Is there any flora in Antarctica?

Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic are home to a variety of plants and microbes. These include lichens, mosses and liverworts, algae, kelp and microscopic organisms.

What tropical plants were found in Antarctica?

Today the frozen Antarctic ice sheet borders the Southern Ocean. But tropical palm trees once flourished there. An intense warming phase occurred 52 million years ago, leading tropical vegetation, including palms and relatives of today’s tropical Baobab trees, to grow on the continent’s now frozen coasts.

What plants live in the polar climate?

Combinations of mosses, lichens, sedges, grasses, and dwarf woody shrubs dominate most Arctic tundra, and miniature flowering plants dominate the polar deserts.

Are there sharks in Antarctica?

Tens of million years ago, sand tiger sharks hunted in the waters off the Antarctic Peninsula, gliding over a thriving marine ecosystem on the seafloor below. That current, which flows around Antarctica today, traps cold waters in the Southern Ocean, keeping Antarctica cold and frozen.

What is the biggest animal in Antarctica?

The largest land animal in Antarctica is a wingless midge, Belgica antarctica, which is less than 1.3 cm long. All the other, larger, animals in Antarctica are considered marine animals, meaning that they feed and live largely in the ocean.

Can anything grow in Antarctica?

There are only two vascular plants that grow in Antarctica and these are found only on the coastal region of the Antarctic Peninsula. They are Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica) and Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis). For starters, like all plants, mosses need water to survive.

What food grows in Antarctica?

The eight-nation team of EDEN ISS researchers chose to grow “high-water-content, pick-and-eat-plants,” Bamsey says, “things that can’t normally be stored for long periods of time.” The crops include lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, swiss chard, and herbs — basil, chives, cilantro and mint.

Can plants grow in Antarctica?

What animals live in polar?

Species

• Polar Bear.
• Whale.
• Arctic Fox.
• Arctic Wolf.
• Pacific Salmon.
• Brown Bear.
• Polar Bear.
• Whale.

Do 2 headed sharks exist?

Two-headed sharks may sound like a figment of the big screen, but they exist—and more are turning up worldwide, scientists say. The catshark embyro was not your average two-headed beast—it’s the first such specimen known from an oviparous shark species, or a shark that lays eggs.

Are there killer whales in Antarctica?

Orca whales are found almost everywhere throughout the earth’s oceans. Furthermore, small calves have been sighted in mid winter, indicating that orcas are the only species of whale to breed in Antarctic waters. They are common in Antarctic waters, with a population estimated at about 70,000.

What kind of plants are on the Antarctic Peninsula?

The only flowering plants present on the Antarctic Peninsula are Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort, which can be found along the milder western and northern shores of the peninsula as well as on the nearby islands.

How many species of flora are there in Antarctica?

It has 366 pages, 1000 species, 120 plates, and figures 220 species. According to Hooker, the flora of New Zealand ‘s Antarctic islands is so different from that of the remainder of the territories visited during the voyage, that it merits a separate description.

What are the fauna and flora of the polar regions?

The fauna and flora of polar regions: Antarctic The polar regions are deserts of ice and snow, swept by powerful winds. They are among the most inhospitable places on Earth.

What are the conditions for vegetation in Antarctica?

There are few favourable conditions in the Antarctic which promote vegetation in light of thick ice cover, little light, dry and very saline soil, and extremely short vegetation periods.