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Priorities for terrestrial Antarctic research

During the past 25 years, biological research in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions has made a substantial and important contribution to biology in general, especially with regard to knowledge of pelagic mammals and birds, terrestrial ecosystem functioning, and the interactions between them. Significant contributions to the knowledge of ecosystem functioning, species survival, and evolutionary processes in extreme environments have also been made in these regions, through the International Biological Programme and subsequent national programmes. Much of this knowledge was obtained from studies of subAntarctic islands, particularly because they comprise systems that present exceptional opportunities for studying terrestrial ecological processes. They are semi-closed systems that interact to a limited extent with their surrounding environment. Their biotas are neither so simple that they are affected predominantly by abiotic factors, nor so complex that it is impossible to disentangle the web of diffuse effects. Although they differ from the major continents in that they encompass smaller areas and are