Tiny Life, Global Lessons

Water connects it all.

For millions of years, Antarctica’s tiny life forms have claimed isolated pockets for their homes. Watery holes in a glacier. Patches of soil. Rocks on a streambed.

Each separate niche holds a different mix of species. All survive on water trickling off the nearby glaciers.

As the climate warms, more melt water will pour off the glaciers, sweeping through these pockets of life. Scientists believe the organisms—and the stuff that nurtures them—would spread out over the landscape. Variations between the many, specialized ecosystems would disappear. The planet might lose some species that live only in Antarctica.

^{Header photo: Algal mats from the McMurdo Dry Valleys.}^{(Mike Gooseff / NSF)}

Glaciers

At the edges of the Dry Valleys, glaciers release water into the landscape when they melt a little each summer. They also harbor miniscule communities in water-filled holes, like buried terrariums.

Water in summer: ice, waterfalls, cryoconite holes
Water in winter: ice

^{Taylor Glacier entering the Taylor Valley. (Peter Rejcek / NSF)}

Soils

In summer, water seeps into the ground, especially around streambeds. That’s enough to support microscopic, worm-like animals called nematodes.

Water in summer: permafrost, seeping groundwater
Water in winter: permafrost, ice

^{Wright Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. (Collin Harris / Era Images)}

Streams

Water moves through these channels for only one or two months each year, on average. Even during that time, the flow isn’t constant. Living things on rocks and streambeds have adapted to survive the dry spells.

Water in summer: ephemeral streams
Water in winter: none

^{Onyx River in the Wright Valley. (Nate Biletnikoff / NSF)}

Lakes

Permanently covered in ice, lakes are the only places on the continent where water stays liquid throughout the year. They harbor more kinds of life than anywhere else. In summer, inhabitants from other places float down streams into the lakes.

Water in summer: ice on surface, liquid below
Water in winter: ice on surface, liquid below

^{Blue ice covering Lake Fryxell. (Joe Mastroianni / NSF)}

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