STUDY ZONE
At one thousand kilometers south of Chile, the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula is characterized for being a biological “hot spot” or zone of high biodiversity and production of biomass. This zone is in the echo-region denominated “Maritime Antarctica”, that has varied and complex coastal ecosystems that lodge rich marine communities, strongly controlled by local and regional oceanographic processes. During the last five decades, the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a great increase of temperature (up to 2.8ºC) and a decrease in the concentration, extent and duration of sea-ice cover. The IDEAL Center will study how the marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them, respond to these changes.
