A new study challenges recent claims about dramatic “greening” in Antarctica and how this conflicts with decades of field-based ecological knowledge.
A new study challenges recent claims about dramatic “greening” in Antarctica and how this conflicts with decades of field-based ecological knowledge. The new opinion article ‘Is Antarctica Greening?’, published in Global Change Biology, responds directly to recent high-profile studies that asserted unprecedented ecological transformations based on remote sensing data.
The critique disputes findings suggesting a 14-fold increase in vegetation over recent decades and calls for a rethink of vegetation trends following a Satellite Study from 2024.
Professor Peter Convey from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) was one of the co-authors of this critique. BAS participated in this international research collaboration that challenges misinterpretations of Antarctic vegetation trends and calls for more accurate scientific analysis grounded in biological reality rather than potentially misleading satellite data.
Read more at: British Antarctic Survey
A diverse moss and lichen fellfield habitat on Bird Island, South Georgia. This is a characteristic habitat of maritime and sub-Antarctic regions. (Photo Credit: Richard Phillips, BAS)
