Fully terrestrial life in Antarctica is extremely limited with only two flowering plants and no vertebrates (no polar bears!). Penguins and seals come ashore to breed or molt, but these are marine vertebrates. In this episode, I explore the plant and animal life in terrestrial environments in Antarctica. While limited to ice-free regions, there are hundreds of species of mosses and lichens. Invertebrates are limited to nematodes, springtails, mites and tardigrades that live in soils of different types and structure, including gelisols, or soils so dry they do not freeze as with permafrost, but remain loose. Ornithogenic, or bird-formed soils also are associated with penguin colonies and are rich in nutrients for more plant growth.
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