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The frozen continent is home to a few scientists throughout the year who study the remote region in an effort to learn more about the history of the Earth and the effects of climate change. Some projects also focus on marine life in the waters around Antarctica, probing an ecosystem that, in some cases, has remained intact for millions of years. Marine biologist Adrian Glover revealed in a YouTube video how he discovered a new species during his investigation of the diversity of life in the Antarctic deep sea and why it might change.
He said: “I am a marine biologist at the Natural History Museum and my fascination and my particular expertise are in the biology of animals in the deep sea, particularly in the Antarctic.
“People often think of Antarctica as a continent of ice, snow and barren land with almost no biology, but the contrast in the marine environment is striking.
“In recent years we have discovered a wealth of biodiversity, this is diversity throughout the food chain, from microscopic animals on the sea floor to krill on algae and sea ice, to penguins and whales.
“This is what makes it such an interesting place to study.”
Dr. Glover revealed some of the high-tech equipment that is revolutionizing the study of deep sea biology by making sample collection easier.
He added: “Today we have a lot of advanced equipment that we can use to collect animals from the deep sea.
“In particular, remote-controlled vehicles: these are mini-submarines that we take off the ship, controlled from the surface.
“They allow us to actually see the habitats you are working on.
“This is starting to revolutionize deep sea biology, we are able to target our sampling at particular animals of interest.
READ MORE: Discovery of Antarctica: a diver “swept away” by incredible sea creatures “evolved” under the ice
“Big changes are going to happen in the next 10 or 20 years – things we don’t really understand, but we’re already starting to see the changes.
“This, for me, is one of the most important reasons to go to Antarctica and study it.”
Also known as bristle worms, polychaetes are a paraphyletic class of annelid, generally marine, worms.
They are robust and widespread, with species living in the colder ocean temperatures of the abyssal plain, in forms that tolerate extremely high temperatures near the hydrothermal vents.
Polychaetes are found in all terrestrial oceans at all depths, from forms that live as plankton near the surface, to a 2-3 cm sample observed by the Nereus robot ocean probe at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known point of the Land. oceans.
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