Research team shows people are carrying invasive seeds to Antarctica

(PhysOrg.com) -- When thinking of invasive plants taking hold in a new environment, not many people would think of Antarctica; it’s cold and hostile and there aren’t many types of plants that could survive there. Yet, invasive species are invading the continent nonetheless and an international team of researchers led by Steven Chown of Stellenbosch University, in South Africa has found that up to twenty percent of visitors to Antarctica inadvertently carry seeds with them, leading to unpredictable changes in the once pristine environment. The team, as they explain in their paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, made this discovery by vacuuming gear brought by visitors during the summer of 2007-8.

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