Polar regions contain vast, undiscovered biodiversity but are both the most-threatened and least-understood areas of the world.
Now scientists led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are calling for a roadmap of polar ecosystems to fill that knowledge gap, preserve polar life and even protect “our everyday life and our planet’s health”. The study would map all biodiversity in those regions, from the atmosphere to the deep sea and from land to the oceans.
The authors said concerted action is required to mitigate the impact of warming on polar ecosystems via conservation efforts, to sustainably manage these unique habitats and their ecosystem services, and for the sustainable bioprospecting of novel genes and compounds for societal gain.
‘Multi-omics for studying and understanding polar life’, is published today in Nature Communications. The paper is co-authored by UEA, BAS and the University of Bielefeld, Germany.
Read more at University of East Anglia
Photo Credit: jodeng via Pixabay